It can be the elephant in the room at times, but for many landscape companies, a good percentage of their workforce only speaks Spanish or has a very limited English vocabulary.
This language barrier can cause issues with safety, executing jobs, company culture and overall employee morale and retention.
Having a bilingual team member on staff can help mitigate miscommunication, but they cannot be everywhere at once, so it’s important to empower your team with the tools to learn a second language. Doing so can provide more confidence for your Spanish-speaking employees and opportunities for them to move up within the company.
Language learning shouldn’t be one-sided for your team members. Rather having both your native English speakers learn Spanish and native Spanish speakers learn English shows respect for one another and a sign of meeting in the middle. Shared language skills can enhance your productivity, customer service and employee relationships.
“Oftentimes, we want our workforce to learn English and while that is something that everyone should do, you can also put an effort to learn Español to become closer to your hardworking teams,” says Pam Berrios, president of Infinity Group, LLC.
One way to improve your team’s understanding of English/Spanish is to utilize language learning apps.
While language learning apps can never make an individual completely fluent in a second language on their own, they are useful tools that can increase language skills. Conversations with native speakers can help provide cultural context as well as grammar and improved oral skills.
Below is an outline of some of the popular options available that offer business-related learning models.
Babbel for Business
Over 200 linguists have crafted Babbel for Business’s content. It offers app courses as well as interactive classes with certified tutors. Users can access content that caters to different learning styles including writing, speaking, listening and flash cards.
The courses take about 15 minutes and cover grammar, the correct pronunciation of words and conversational scenarios. Learners can choose the topics and content based on their level of learning and professional areas. Monarch Landscape Companies is one company already using this platform.
“When we look at a program, we also have to look at the type of employees we have. We have employees that are Hispanic,” said John Shin, vice president of risk management for Monarch, in a testimonial. “Most of them don’t speak English, and this is another reason why we like Babbel, because a lot of our branch managers and account managers are learning Spanish, so they can communicate more efficiently with employees.”
One con is that there is no gamification with this platform, so it lacks the addictive hook of other language apps.
Companies have to contact Babbel for business pricing but individual pricing starts at $13.45 per month for six months, $8.95 per month for 12 months or $299 for lifetime access.
Duolingo for Business
If you are looking for a more engaging app, Duolingo for Business features gamified learning to keep users coming back. The lessons are bite-sized and positive, building user confidence. Leaderboards can also tap into your team’s competitive streak, showing who has made the most progress each week.
The business tier of the app provides language learning with no ads and no limits to the mistakes users can make. Quizzes can track users’ progress over time and personalized lessons are available. Aggregate engagement reports are available, outlining the sign-up rate, engagement level and languages learned.
It offers mobile and desktop compatibility. The main drawbacks is it is light on speaking and listening as most exercises focus on reading and writing. Also, there is a heavy focus on general vocabulary versus industry-specific terms.
A Duolingo for Business plan is based on the number of accounts you purchase. For instance, if you have 30 learners, the price is $67.09 per year, totaling $2,012.70 per year. It is important to note you cannot decrease the number of accounts you hold once your purchase is complete. However, account codes can be redistributed to other team members.
You can test out a 14-day free trial of the Super Duolingo before purchasing accounts for your company.
Rosetta Stone for Enterprise
When you think of language learning software, Rosetta Stone is one of the most well-known options. Rosetta Stone takes an immersion-style approach without explanations or translations. It focuses on listening and speaking.
With Rosetta Stone for Enterprise, employees can gain full access to a personalized language learning curriculum covering business communication skills and industry-specific courses to build proficiency in the language skills they need for work. Learners can be placed at the right starting level and track their progress.
It provides detailed reports to company leaders about their team’s engagement with the training program and their linguistic progress based on various learning assessments. It can also be integrated into other learning management systems.
Some drawbacks of Rosetta Stone are it has time-intensive lessons that may not suit busy professionals, and it can be a bit dry and formal compared to other apps.
Companies have to contact Rosetta Stone for business pricing, but there are several different license tiers that offer different features, like live individual tutoring. Pricing for an individual Rosetta Stone account starts at $15.99 per month for three months, $10.49 a month for 12 months or lifetime access to all 25 languages for $149. They also offer a three-day free trial period.
Busuu for Business
Busuu for Business mixes self-paced study, teacher-led live lessons and community engagement to build fluency faster.
This platform has short 10-minute lessons available on the app and desktop. They also offer industry-specific vocabulary and detailed terminology. While they don’t specifically have a course for the landscape industry, English for Logistics with Busuu for Business helps make professionals confident in speaking, listening and writing English for a sector where customer experience is a must.
The live lessons can be held in groups or in private. Native speakers are also on hand to provide helpful feedback, pronunciation tips and cultural insights. The platform says it encourages long-term learning with their bespoke AI-enabled study plans that keep learners on track.
The quality of the user review feedback can vary and there is limited content if you opt for just the free tier of this app.
Like most of the other business-tier language learning apps, companies have to contact Busuu for pricing. They do offer a free tier for individuals. The paid plans for individuals start at $13.90 per month or $6.95 per month for 12 months.
