[Sigia-l] inquiry regarding bilingual IAs

[Livia Labate]

Hi Samantha,

In my experience as a bilingual IA (here in Brazil and also in Australia) I
was never rewarded because of that language 'plus' (which as absurd sounding
as it is, is one of those "if I don't do it, someone else will" situations).

I feel that more than language understanding, the bilingual IA you are
looking for (though I don't know what your project is) can contribute a lot
more if they are a native speaker of the language you are seeking because
the native speaker has a better 'contextual understanding' of the user in
that particular language.

My point is: If you are, for example, developing a banking portal in the US
for an audience that is composed of a group of Spanish-speaking clients
mostly from Mexico, a bilingual IA from Mexico will not only provide the
language tools to interpret the differences, but also the 'Mexican's take on
things. This, of course, is my view on things because I feel multi-lingual
sites are a matter of CULTURE not language.

Aaron Marcus article from New Architect (March 2003) is one of the few
articles I have come across that treats that in a very straightforward way:
http://www.newarchitectmag.com/documents/s=2450/na0303r/index.html

But back to your questions:

: *What kind of hourly rate increase should I anticipate (in my budgeting)
: for a bilingual professional? Does anyone know of any resources where I
: can learn more about how these kinds of skills are "priced" when needed
: on top of other skills?

I would suggest you consider the regular IA rate and proportionally add the
additional amount of work; I'd measure that in terms of 1) added research
time and 2) added 'products', meaning: Will the IA need to create project
documentation, wireframes, etc in the second language as well? Will the IA
need to create other explanatory documents that explain the context to other
team members, etc?) I guess you first need to see what the project will
demand that is different from an "ordinary project" (using that term in a
very lose way!) and how that IA will be part of the added work. It is VERY
tricky. Sadly, what usually happens is the IA 'added work' is taken for
granted.

: *Any tips/thoughts on finding & working with bi-lingual IA
: professionals? This will be a high-visibility project where we'll
: be highly dependent on our bilingual partner since the in-house
: team has very limited Spanish speaking resources.

Apart from the cultural considerations I mentioned and the preference for a
native speaker, I think that it varies a lot depending on the kind of
project. If you are developing a solution for a local audience who speaks a
second language, your approach is different than creating a solution for an
audience who speaks a second language in the neighbour country. I feel the
number one thing you need there is an IA with good skills in user research
and contextualization. In this particular context, I would not hire someone
that doesn't use personas and scenarios because it will make a big
difference.

I hope it helps a bit. Multi-lingual projects are not simple.

Livia Labate
_______________________________
www.livlab.com | liv at livlab.com