Over the years, we have had to deliver a variety of our team building activities to groups that require a translator. This is normally because the particular teams or delegates participating don’t all have English as a first or second language. After our recent trip to the USA to deliver a morning icebreaker for 400 Chinese delegates using a translator, I thought it might be useful to explain how easy this was.
I’m sure there must be many lost opportunities to reach other countries or business communities because the organisers think that the impact might get lost in translation. My personal experience has been to the contrary.
We have been trading for almost 20 years. On some of these early trips, for example in Russia, Brunei, Malaysia, Turkey, Thailand and Columbia, our clients had translators working alongside our facilitators. We quickly realised that working with translators was a perfect fit and would cause no problem to the event flow or end result. I think one reason for this is, particularly for music and rhythm events, that the facilitators dramatically express with their hands and their bodies what is needed. No matter if it’s drumming, boomwhackers or Clap Happy, participants instantly understand what is required of them just by watching their instructor or the people around them. Over recent years, we have worked all over Europe where translators have been employed.
All our dance team building activities fall into the ‘easy to translate’ category too. Because of the positive energy and clear-cut delivery of our choreographers, we have taken our interactive team dance activities, including Thriller, Street Moves and Bollywood, to many countries.
We at Creative Team Events think there is a vast opportunity of working with more companies situated in the Far East, Japan and China as these companies look towards the West for insights on employee retention and conducive working environments. More and more, we witness companies investing in maximising the happiness and creative engagement of their employees and teams. This is exactly why we are brought in with our event options. Our expertise is in making group of any size feel happy, motivated and united.
In our recent experience in Seattle with our 400 Chinese delegates, we had a perfect example of the facilitator and translator working hand-in-hand to literary raise the roof! I shared the stage with the translator and, speaking slightly slower than usual and leaving tiny gaps, we delivered a motivating boomwhackers activity, which soon had the room in uproar! I think the photo attests that the delegates had no problems getting involved or finding the session easy to follow. In the end, we had the perfect timing and understanding between facilitator and translator to take the audience to a whole new level of communication.
Sometimes, our clients prefer not to use a translator on purpose, to gently encourage participants to use eye contact and communicate with each other to understand how they can do the right thing at the right time. Our facilitators are skilled in both approaches.
So I ask you to look once more at the image and ask yourself, “Would my conference benefit from that instant colour, sound and energy”? Now that you also know there are no language barriers to hinder you, please do contact us. We can provide a quote for any event within an hour.
Other pages you may be interested in:
Boomwhackers | Blog Homepage | List of Our Indoor Events | Team Building for Large Groups