23 Jan How embarrassing! (If you have an English speaker read in Spanish!)

Some customers sometimes ask us if they can have a switchboard “office closed” message read in Spanish by the same English speaker! Perhaps there is a tendency to think that a professional result is that given by a telephone message read in any way, provided it comes from the same voice?

In this article we want to explain why the exact opposite is true: for switchboard audio messages, using the same speaker to read in multiple languages gives an impression of an inadequate and “questionable” company! Your business does not deserve this! So here is why we insist on advising our customers not to choose an English speaker to also read the Spanish (or other language) version of audio messages.

1) If you want to give your business an important image, it is certainly better to show that more people are working for it! So 2 speakers (one English and one Spanish) talking about your company are certainly better than one. Your switchboard speaker is like a doorman/woman who welcomes your customers at the entrance, being greeted by two who keep the door open for you … this is so “cool”!

2) When you order a switchboard audio message for a company that does business in more than one country, you also have to imagine the effect a foreign customer would have on calling the company: so imagine your Spanish customer calling you and being greeted by a message read by an English speaker who may even be good at their job, but reads Spanish incorrectly! Your client would probably smile, but it would be a smile of pity! This is exactly what you would do if you were to call a Spanish company and were greeted by a Spanish speaker who speaks in English! First of all, perhaps, you would feel a bit like having been taken for a ride, and then the feeling you would have is that you were dealing with a local company wanting to be a multinational, but struggling. And then, if it is so imprecise in the welcome message, perhaps it is just as imprecise in the services it provides? Imagine instead the effect of being welcomed by a native speaker who speaks YOUR language perfectly! You would feel at home, and you would form a very serious impression of the company you called.

Although the Spanish pronunciation of one of our English speakers may be good, it will never be as flowing and phonetically perfect as that of a native speaker!

Meditate on these points and I urge you to always opt for presenting yourselves as true professionals! This reaps rewards!