32: The Importance of Language Accessibility within a Business - with Loretta Mulberry

Lori Highby: 00:00:02

Alright ladies, I think you guys notice that. In my office, we do a question of the day we rotate who's responsible for asking it? And

Erin: 00:00:21

Oh, golly. Ah,

Lori Highby: 00:00:25

well, you think of that, I'll

Erin: 00:00:25

tell you. Yeah, yeah, go. I need some aberration. Yeah, yeah. So

Lori Highby: 00:00:29

I What are the like most amazing experiences that I can recall is being in rotana Honduras on a rooftop with like, no lights there, and

Kris: 00:00:53

Yes. Wow, that sounds beautiful.

Erin: 00:00:57

Wow, that is, that's a good one. Thank you for sharing that. Let's see,

Kris: 00:01:06

I've got one, if you're still playing, go, go. I have always said that. Everybody should travel to a foreign country at some point in their

Kris: 00:01:48

taught me a lot. And then of course, I carried that into different travels that I had with work and, you know, both personally and professionally. So

Erin: 00:02:02

Agree. Yeah, that's a vital one. I'm gonna go off in a totally different direction and experience that everyone should have, it's going to

Erin: 00:02:38

frustration of boredom. I think that's a really good experience for everyone. And one that I just don't think is going to be part of future

Lori Highby: 00:02:55

Yeah, that's fascinating. I like you always have the most unique perspective, Aaron.

Erin: 00:03:02

I love you're just a weirdo. And it's why I like you, guys. All right. All right. Yeah.

Kris: 00:03:10

You're bored. It's when you're bored that you use your imagination, right?

Erin: 00:03:14

Yeah, I think it's a muscle that you develop through from boredom. And you can you're probably like, well, you must have been bored a lot.

Kris: 00:03:27

Yeah, no, I, I used to travel in the car to my grandparents house, you know, six hours in the car, on the ride there. And on the way back, and

Kris: 00:03:58

hmm. Great question.

Erin: 00:04:02

Yes. I liked that one. That's a really good one. Yeah.

Kris: 00:04:05

But let's get on to our guest. We have a wonderful, wonderful guest with us today. So let me tell you about Loretta Mulberry. Loretta is a

Kris: 00:04:48

barriers in her community both socially and professionally. Loretta is the proud mother of one and half future linguists and holds a bachelor's and a

Lori Highby: 00:05:07

Hello. So

Unknown: 00:05:07

happy to be here. Oh, hi.

Erin: 00:05:10

Loretta. Is that half linguist with us right now?

Unknown: 00:05:14

Yes, yes, he very much is more so every day in October.

Erin: 00:05:20

Congratulations. That that's where we were going with that.

Unknown: 00:05:26

Absolutely. Yep. So number two, we'll be here in just a few months now.

Erin: 00:05:29

Oh, great. Well, we're so happy to have you.

Kris: 00:05:34

So before we jump into some, you know, maybe some more personal questions. Can you just tell us a little bit about Tara translations?

Unknown: 00:05:41

Yeah. So I understand translation is largely an invisible sort of industry. Even though we touch virtually every industry on the planet. If

Unknown: 00:06:17

in Argentina. Of course, a love story brought us here to Milwaukee, as it always does. So we have gotten a wonderful second home here, which works

Unknown: 00:06:49

stated, is really to bring that knowledge, equity, that information equity to as many organizations and communities as we possibly can.

Kris: 00:07:00

Yeah, that's wonderful. So yeah, tell us what language accessibility means for the manufacturing industry.

Unknown: 00:07:10

Absolutely. So the United States is not monolingual and mono cultural, as I mean, we all know that on some level, but it really can feel

Unknown: 00:07:41

have materials, such as training materials, specifically, my focus right now, in our native languages in a way that is meaningful to us, we're

Unknown: 00:08:11

lives on the line and you know, there's a high risk of injury and even death in these jobs. So language accessibility, could mean the difference

Kris: 00:08:28

Such a great definition. Thank you.

Unknown: 00:08:32

No, really, you know, of course, we apply it mostly to to the workers, because these are the people who are experiencing these languages

Unknown: 00:09:03

okay, who is my audience? Who could my audience be in the future and making sure that no matter who is experiencing this, they're going to have the

Erin: 00:09:16

You know, Loretta, I went to, to the manufacturing matters conference a few years ago, and there were was a presenter, manufacturer who had put a

Erin: 00:09:51

experienced as well?

Unknown: 00:09:52

Yes, I'm so glad you said that. I actually, before I got into professional translation work, I was simply a A Language nerd who was dying

Unknown: 00:10:24

that gap. So I took it upon myself to start translating simple materials, like invitations to parties in the break room, little things like this. And

Unknown: 00:10:56

it's, it really is heartening to see that the language barrier is there. But it's not as bad as it seems always just a little bit of effort goes a

Kris: 00:11:10

Yeah, it almost seems like just a basic level of kindness, right? That that's what was coming to my mind, as you were speaking, how we could

Unknown: 00:11:34

anybody who's traveled knows there is a big difference. When you're testing out a language, you're maybe not totally comfortable in that

Erin: 00:11:55

There's a little bit of a stereotype there, you're not alone. I understand.

Lori Highby: 00:12:02

Loretta, so we build websites. And every once awhile we'll get asked to do you know, multilingual websites. And our the clients that we

Unknown: 00:12:24

Well, I mean, you kind of said it right? In the question too, it really is an investment, there can be a sticker shock associated with it,

Unknown: 00:12:58

okay, let's take a look at what our materials are that our most important is that our health and safety? Is it our you know, are there legal

Unknown: 00:13:29

looking to dip your toes into the water before you really commit. But looking at it in the grand scheme of things, that investment is always

Unknown: 00:13:58

number of lawsuits in many industries. If you are not properly or not at all translating your materials into other languages. I'm talking, you know,

Unknown: 00:14:31

well, you are possibly leaving money on the table if you're not reaching out to these new audiences who might respond to you better in a different

Lori Highby: 00:14:50

Yeah, very persuasive. I'm ready

Unknown: 00:14:55

to sign up for some translation.

Erin: 00:14:59

That Loretta Oh Oh, sorry, go ahead.

Kris: 00:15:01

Well, and I was just gonna say that it's also applies to your customer base, right? So when you extend it to manufacturing and

Kris: 00:15:36

all of those translated, the very important documentation for safety and health. So who,

Erin: 00:15:43

yeah, so why is business decision? So let's say let's kind of do a little mind experiment. One of our listeners is, wow, this, this does sound

Erin: 00:16:19

multilingual as they could be?

Unknown: 00:16:21

Absolutely. You know, we did used to do physical mail, that's how the whole industry was ran. And actually, our founder was the best house in

Unknown: 00:16:51

providers come in all shapes and sizes, but we attire we like to keep it real simple, no mess. So we would form a relationship with you make sure we

Unknown: 00:17:21

electronically. Our Linguistic Team will run through it, we can send you any questions we have along the way. Again, email, phone call teams,

Unknown: 00:17:50

translation. So if you do have an established localization program, and you're more familiar with those, you know, we can work with the higher tech

Unknown: 00:18:21

back to you. But we really pride ourselves on a continued relationship with our partners. So if at any time you have feedback, we are dying to hear we

Erin: 00:18:41

That's awesome. So and I would imagine that these relationships are ongoing because there's always new material being produced new needs for

Unknown: 00:19:02

Yeah, we do we love our longer our long term partnerships. Of course, if you just need to document here and there I understand. And like

Unknown: 00:19:30

with you the more consistent and accurate we can make sure that everything is I myself started as a linguist and a project manager. So I know from

Unknown: 00:20:01

of our partners, just to make sure that that quality is right where it needs to be, and it stays where it needs to be throughout all of the

Erin: 00:20:10

Excellent.

Kris: 00:20:11

That's great. Very educational. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. I know I want to think about when it comes to languages, and I do think you need a

Unknown: 00:20:32

not know. Hmm. Well, I would say this is something from my past that I still fall back on quite a lot. As a point of pride was in high

Unknown: 00:21:09

started, and they just never stopped. Really. Wow. So it took us on quite a journey. And it's, it was a really fun chapter in my life.

Kris: 00:21:19

So do you have horses today? Are you involved in that? No,

Unknown: 00:21:23

not today, I did actually recently get the chance to go back to my barn in Heartland to take my daughter for the first time, a little while

Kris: 00:21:48

that's great. That's great. All right, well, we're gonna move into our next segment. And that is I just learned that and Aaron, I thought I

Erin: 00:21:59

You just Oh, goody. Um, speaking of international travel that we started the show off with, I just learned about so one of my bucket list

Erin: 00:22:36

want to do the whole thing, but there are at some temples that you Buddhist temples that you visit, and along the way that people are incredibly

Lori Highby: 00:23:01

but you humans Cool. Cool.

Erin: 00:23:03

Yeah. What about you, Chris? Would you just learn? Well, I was

Kris: 00:23:07

getting ready this morning, and I typically listen to music from from my phone and I'm, I just was tired of my playlist. So I searched for what's

Erin: 00:23:34

So the most downloaded song ever? Yes.

Kris: 00:23:39

So that oh, and I didn't know that the weekend was from Canada. So I just learned that too, because it had said it in there. So then I just

Kris: 00:24:09

what other new songs get played. Yeah, so

Erin: 00:24:11

yeah, that's how I learned about music now because it's not the radio anymore.

Kris: 00:24:18

Different world. Laurie, how about you?

Lori Highby: 00:24:21

Alright, I'm gonna I'm gonna take my two for today. So to talk about AI, which is only the only time we get to do the to fart, and a QI

Lori Highby: 00:24:56

who made the a QI and when did this start and you know, And apparently, the EPA created it in 1999. Because there was really no true way to measure the

Erin: 00:25:09

really it wasn't till 90 there. Yeah, that's surprised me too. Yeah. Because I mean, the air quality has been problematic far before. Especially

Lori Highby: 00:25:23

It makes sense to have some, some form of measurement. Yes, for that to gauge and to communicate what's happening. I didn't get as deep

Lori Highby: 00:25:56

proposal to protect patients from false and misleading AI generated medical advice. And I think that's extremely important. And you've all heard me say

Lori Highby: 00:26:28

around it. So that's good that there are steps being taken with regards to regulation around AI.

Erin: 00:26:34

Well, when it comes to medical advice online, like the time has been, well, nine for some, you know, Dr. Google can mislead you, even without AI.

Lori Highby: 00:26:46

We're gonna die every time I google something I'm about.

Erin: 00:26:50

Definitely. Recently, I learned. I have dementia, apparently, in early stages. So Oh, my goodness, not a lot of people

Kris: 00:26:59

search for that stuff.

Lori Highby: 00:27:02

I just always search for the most rent like why is my arm tingling then? Gonna die.

Erin: 00:27:13

Have you learned anything interesting recently,

Unknown: 00:27:16

I have well, now most recently, I've learned that Lori and I need to have a very lengthy conversation about AI because I am not in like a

Unknown: 00:27:45

the safety of your employees, for the common courtesy of your clients, and for your own legal safety, please, please hire a professional translator of

Unknown: 00:28:23

completely immersed in the world drove through the cones had to go up on top of the building and boop a little thing. And at the end, I was very

Erin: 00:28:41

Wow. Well, I did have listeners, I want to clarify because I never wanted to take things for granted. vr Virtual Reality. We're all hearing

Erin: 00:29:16

to really believe in your experience. And that's really fascinating. And something to keep in mind. Right? Like you don't want if somebody has a

Kris: 00:29:31

Yeah, great point.

Unknown: 00:29:33

Cheaper to find out in VR too before you do any.

Kris: 00:29:41

Well, Loretta, if anybody wants to get in touch with you after listening to this episode, how could they do that?

Unknown: 00:29:48

LinkedIn would be great. I am pretty confident I'm the only Loretta mulberry on LinkedIn. But if there are more than one of us, I am

Unknown: 00:30:15

Yeah, well,

Lori Highby: 00:30:16

well include all that information in our show notes. Thank you so much for taking the time you all's it's been great. All right. This is