Guests with limited English
We do a lot of conversation by text because it’s easy for us all to use Google Translate. Once I was working upstairs and one of our guests just sent me a photograph of the washing machine because he couldn’t figure it out!
Our guests speak varying levels of English. While some may be conversational, it’s far more likely that there’ll be some degree of language barrier. Your Placement Coordinator will let you know about their English proficiency before organising a placement. When someone does not have conversational English ability, they will be supported by a referral partner, who will tell us how they communicate with the guest.
In the vast majority of cases, a language barrier doesn’t stop a placement being successful. While it can cause some awkwardness at the start, hosts and guest usually find ways to understand each other fairly quickly.
Some common advice from our hosts is:
- Use translation apps/websites
- Keep things simple and to the point
- Use pictures – some images or symbols transcend language – a green tick or a red cross can be universally understood. Some hosts, particularly where the guest struggles with their own language, find it’s useful to produce a document using these symbols to convey things like house rules.
Some of our hosts actively help guests learn English, but there is no obligation to do this.
While we aren’t usually able to provide interpreters, there may be exceptions in the unlikely event there are particular difficulties. If there are any issues as a result of the language barrier, we’d strongly encourage you to talk to your Placement Coordinator for assistance.
Useful resources
The following are some useful resources to help you and your guest communicate. Please bear in mind that no translation service is 100% reliable.
Google Translate
A free, popular service accessible on browsers and as an app on most smartphones. You can also use the app with your phone’s camera to translate written text. Newer versions of the app come with a ‘conversation’ mode to enable real-time spoken conversations to be translated.
Smart devices
Many assistive tech devices such as Siri, Gemini, and Alexa, have in-built translation capabilities.
Tarjimly
A 24/7 interpretation service aimed at supporting refugees and those experiencing displacement.
My host helped me improve my English and by April it was good enough to get a job in a souvenir shop, which was really nice and I was able to speak to so many people and improve it even more.
