How to Host Live Webinars in a Multilingual Digital Age of Business

As business process outsourcing becomes more prevalent, even many domestic firms are finding themselves with a need for multilingual webinars for everything from training sessions to business meetings. Find out everything you need to know about multilingual webinars here. Why you need them. How to conduct them. Why LiveWebinar is the place to make it happen.

It should be readily obvious that business process outsourcing is not just some passing fad or the latest trend. We live in a digital world today, a global society that is, at least in some senses, more united than it has ever been in history, despite geographical borders. Business, as with much of the rest of our lives, has also grown increasingly international in nature, the meaning of webinars is an increasingly common need for virtually every business in the world.

The business world is definitely heading more and more towards the online. A report posted on June 11 by CNBC News Group noted that the only sector showing an increase for job hiring was remote workers, mostly working online. Before we entered the post-pandemic era, only about 14% of all people worked remotely. That number has now increased to nearly 60% of the workforce, meaning online live webinars are going to become increasingly necessary in addition to remaining beneficial for companies and individuals alike.

The Increasing Importance of Live Webinars in a Multilingual Digital Age of Business

As business interests are becoming more diversified, it is necessary for communications to remain uninterrupted in order to ensure business continuity in operations. It should also be noted that it will become increasingly important to know how to deliver a webinar for a multilingual audience whether through the use of simultaneous interpretation or other interpretation services. There are many different means for accomplishing this, though live webinars online are by far the most popular option. There are many areas online today where the meaning of live webinars is becoming an increasingly important part of our daily lives in work, play, and even just for social gatherings. 

  • Multilingual Business Webinars Online
    Multilingual online business webinars are common as more businesses continue to expand internationally for business process outsourcing.
  • Multilingual Language eLearning Webinars Online
    Given the number of international students studying, and the increased opportunities to enter more prestigious schools and universities, these types of educational webinars online are almost certainly going to require a multilingual webinar presentation.
  • Multilingual Training Course Webinars Online
    Not only are traditional students increasingly moving online and using webinars, but so are many others seeking training in one fashion or another. The idea of online webinars for training is a long-standing tradition for internet marketers, SEO experts and a host of other people who want to learn to earn a living online. Again, given the increase in foreign students, it would be great to know that more languages were going to be made available and more multilingual webinars were catering to those who are so grossly underrepresented on the internet today.
  • Multilingual Interpretation Service Webinars Online
    The United Nations requires a total of 14 interpreters for even the smallest meeting online. During the coronavirus crisis, the only way to get anything done was to switch to live online webinars using their interpreters. Given the fact that global diplomacy cannot stop merely because somebody gets sick, and a whole lot more people would suffer in the event of the global disruption that would ensue without the United Nations, it is easy to see how live webinars complete with interpreters had to increase in order to keep up with demand. In fairness though, this held just as true for the live interpreters for the World Health Organization who were literally on the front line of the battle against COVID-19. The same is true for multinational educational institutions, researchers and other organizations who continue to work on a global scale even when travel is often banned completely. These are generally, by their nature, extreme examples, but equally important multilingual live webinars with people from around the globe working together to keep the world safe.
  • Multilingual Special Interest Webinars Online
    There are many special interest groups online, and very few of these have complete cloud based servers or other facilities to gather and compare notes. While this may have seemed peculiar mere months ago, it is now quite common for people to host birthday parties, graduation ceremonies and a host of other events online using live webinars. In many cases, a full interpretation service and multilingual webinar capabilities may not be necessary, but there are occasions, most notably many mixed marriages where even social gatherings would benefit from the use of multilingual live webinars online.

So yes, the meaning of webinars is growing.

The Increasing Importance of Live Webinars in a Multilingual Digital Age of Business

​Common Concerns for Multilingual Live Webinars Online

There are some additional concerns that may be more prevalent in terms of live multilingual webinars, each unique to the purpose of the meeting taking place. There are, however, other common concerns that should be addressed before such a time as the live webinar begins.

Is there going to be a live or remote interpreter available for the webinar? There are times when a remote video interpretation is sufficient to meet the needs of those attending a multilingual webinar, though there may be other occasions when a live interpreter is preferential.

Is the live interpretation service provider going to be intimately familiar, not only with the language pairs, but with any industry or other terminology specific to the meeting? Is the live interpretation service going to understand any localized variations within the language pair?

The English spoken in the United Kingdom will be different than the English that is spoken in the United States. There are many localized expressions, vernacular and figures of speech which may inhibit the ability of the interpreter to actively, accurately and completely interpret the context of the conversation in addition to the literal translation.

Just as marketing for a big city audience is going to be different than it will be for a smaller, more rural part of the country, the language used must be specific enough to win over the audience. At the same time, any materials that may cause offense need to be considered carefully. This is one of the reasons that among the priorities for multilingual live webinars online, planning is almost always at the top of the list.

​Planning a Multilingual Live Webinar

In cases where it is possible to do so, ensure that the presenters have an opportunity to sit down with the person providing the interpretation services before the webinar commences. This will give them both the opportunity to ensure that there will not be any potential for anything to be lost in translation.

Are all of the necessary languages covered? Is there going to be a need for more than one interpreter to be present? In the global society we live in today, it is increasingly common for manufacturing to take place in different nations, only to have all of the individual pieces sent to yet another location for assembly.

There are cases where more than one certified interpreter will be required and arrangements should be made to accommodate both the presenters and interpreters before the live webinar online has commenced.

One easily avoided error is in the translation of names. However, this is also a common occurrence when people are unfamiliar with different cultures. In some countries the last name is first while in other countries the last name is last. The interpreter should know the difference but it is also important that the presenters be informed in case they are unaware of such linguistic idiosyncrasies.

Are there going to be any visual aids, infographs or other references used in the presentation? If so, have translation services been afforded the opportunity to translate the visual aids into the appropriate language(s)? While some pictures may be universal in nature, others may not be so obvious.

Is it going to be necessary to ensure that the infographics are made available in all of the relevant languages with all of the documents translated or will supplementary translation services be enough to meet the needs of the audience? These may be minor details in regards to some issues, but in terms of document translation services for things like material safety data sheets or other safety documents that need to be translated in full, the difference can be very important.

The Increasing Importance of Live Webinars in a Multilingual Digital Age of Business

To make webinar translation possible, LiveWebinar offers specific features that ensure participants from different language backgrounds can understand and engage with the content. These features include:

Real-Time Closed Captioning

Automated or human-generated captions that display spoken content as text on the webinar screen, making it accessible to those who are hard of hearing or who do not speak the language fluently. Read more here. 

Simultaneous Interpretation

Integration with services that allow interpreters to provide live translation of webinar content, which participants can listen to in real-time through separate audio channels.

Chat Translation

Features allowing participants to type chat messages in their own language, which are then automatically translated for others to read in their native languages.

By including these features, LiveWebinar can help overcome language barriers and create a more inclusive and accessible webinar experience for all participants.

LiveWebinar can also greatly enhance the ability of virtually everyone, not only to conduct business webinars, but for virtually any other purpose as well. The ability to record webinars, host large groups of people during the webinar and otherwise customize your live webinars online is beneficial to anyone needing the best online webinar services.

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