6 Most Popular Languages Spoken in the Greater Boston Area
Boston is a city full of language diversity! If you conduct business in or around Boston, you have to be mindful that many of your potential clients are not native English speakers.
In fact, recent census data shows that over 20% of Massachusetts residents speak a language other than English at home! That’s literally one out of every five people who are more comfortable speaking a different language with their loved ones.
If you are considering a new strategy that would reach these customers, such as translating your website, but you are not sure where to focus your efforts, this list will help:
Top Languages Spoken in Greater Boston
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- Chinese
- French/Creole
- Russian
- Vietnamese
So you’ve started marketing in these other languages, what do you do next? What do you do when it starts to work? Wouldn’t it be too difficult to take on these new customers without actually speaking their language?
The good news is that while 20% of the population is more comfortable speaking another language at home, it doesn’t mean that they are not proficient in English. In other words, you can market to someone in their native language but then do business in English.
So why bother with another language? Well, it pays to reach people in their native tongue. According to the Journal of Consumer Research, there is a strong emotional benefit to reaching consumers in their native language, even if they are proficient in a second one. Talk about having an edge over the competition!
Language Services can offer more than just marketing material. “Escort interpreters” can help by accompanying you to meetings and facilitate strong relationships with international business partners . An interpreter can also provide “sight translation” for when you receive documents that you need help understanding, but don’t want to send them to someone for translation.
Look for yourself, visit your competitor’s websites (in State or out of State) and see where you have the opportunity to take the lead expanding to new audiences.
