One day, while chatting with Sandip, one of my colleagues in the Global Lingo Singapore office, I learned of his interesting background. Sandip moved to Singapore from India. He told me that in India, if you travel just a couple of miles across the country, you will undoubtedly hear a local language that is completely different from the language spoken in the place where you started your journey. This unique linguistic and cultural diversity affects the tourism industry which must consider investing in translation services for multiple languages.
Multiple languages in India
Hearing tales of India’s astounding linguistic diversity had me keen to find out more. When I took a closer look, I learned that India is home to no less than 453 individual living languages that are used as a first language in the country. In fact, 22 of these languages are even recognised as official languages in the country’s constitution, the second-highest number of official languages of any country in the world.
So celebrated is the vernacular variety of the country that it even spawned the popular Hindi saying kos-kos par badle paani, chaar kos par baani — the language spoken in India changes every few kilometres, just like the taste of the water.
Multiple languages around the world
Interestingly enough however, India is not unique for its linguistic diversity among countries in Asia. In fact, it’s not even the country that hosts the most languages in the region.
That accolade belongs to Indonesia, home to 710 languages used as a first language by the Republic’s inhabitants accounting for 10.73% of all the living languages in the world. Mainland China takes third place in the region where over 300 languages are spoken.
Even without factoring in any other country, it’s already clear that Asia is well-deserving of its reputation as one of the most linguistically diverse regions in the world.
Why you should translate into multiple languages
Such variety in spoken language presents some unique challenges for those who are looking to do business in the region. This is particularly true of the leisure and tourism industry.
With over half the population of Asia residing in India, Indonesia, and China alone, businesses will require a robust and coordinated translation strategy in order to translate into multiple languages and properly service the region — especially as the world waits expectantly for the lifting of COVID-19-related travel restrictions and the surge in recreational travel that is likely to follow.
Let Global Lingo help you translate into multiple languages
Whether it’s the translation of customer-facing marketing collateral, advisory notices for travelers, or even an entire website, Global Lingo is a one-stop-shop for tourism-related translation services.
Our extensive team of account managers, project coordinators, and linguists manage the entire process from end to end, working directly with our clients’ various departments. From sales and marketing through to legal and compliance, we translate into multiple languages and ensure that there is someone on hand to support you every step of the way.
Global Lingo’s end-to-end service
We don’t just operate in the customer-facing realm, however. We understand that an industry that services the entire globe requires a global workforce. We also understand the challenges that this can present.
That is why we provide services ranging from organising interpreters to attend human resources (HR) meetings (with internal staff either remotely or on site), to localising internal staff induction or training programmes across multiple media (be it written documents, video webinars, or even more complex e-learning platforms). Whatever your needs, Global Lingo shoulders the burden of translation and localisation across a linguistically diverse region, taking the pressure off our clients and allowing you to focus on serving your clients.
To see the Global Lingo team in action, take a look at how we helped a multinational hospitality company roll out their international safety and security strategy.