Language

[vawontwerp]

Hi guys,

it would be nice if a customer could select his preferred language of communication in the order. Although we don’t mind speaking English, there are a lot of Dutch customers that order at our hub. However, about a third speaks English so it would be nice if we knew the customer’s preferred language in order for a fluent conversation.

Koen de Greef

Van Alles Wat Ontwerp

[gabriela3d]

Hey Koen, with 3D Hubs being an international platform, it is only practical to have English as a default communication language. But since all orders are location-based, which means that almost always the hub and the customer have their native language in common, we cannot really stop them, or you :), from using it. Although we do encorouge chatting in English, as this will allow our very international team to respond much faster to any potential problems.

[vawontwerp]

Dear Gabriela,

as I mentioned, we do not mind to discuss stuff in English; it is just that our customers sometimes prefer Dutch. Besides, there are quite some issues about 3D printing that are difficult to explain/understand. Usually it therefore works best to address them in the customer’s native language.

Imaging going to the computer store/supermarket/warehouse and start every conversation in English only to find out you are struggling and then akwardly asking if the other person speaks your native language, while actually 90% of the people in the store speak it.

Customer service wise, I don’t think it would be a bad idea to have the customer decide in which language they would like to speak: Native or English; a hub could define which languages they speak. The default language could be set to English so those who don’t care in which language they converse will automatically be addressed in English.

Kind regards,

Koen

[gabriela3d]

Hey Koen, of course, it is totaly understandable you’d want to speak in your native language. In the mean time, I’ll pass this on to my coleagues and let you know on the outcome.

[GloomySparker]

Hi totally agree with you. Some swiss customers do not speak French and would like to speak English… some customers will, of course, prefer French but can speak English and will then continue speak in English after the initial start which is in English…

On my side, it should be better to know I could switch

[JulieSillam]

Hi @vawontwerp,

I totally understand your point. I realized when taking over French and Spanish order that it was much better for customers to speak their native language. For Netherlands, the administrator in charge is Dutch, so feel free you to ‘Nederland praten’ As @gabriela3d said, we’ll never stop you for communicating in your own language, but might ask what’s going on in English if we’re not familiar with it.

We’re definitely trying to be the most ‘local’ as possible. Out automatic messages are in English, but feel free to switch then to what you’re most comfortable with. Thanks for your suggestions that are definitely useful.

Best regards,

Julie

[vawontwerp]

Thanks Julie,

I would keep the platform and all automated messages in English. This is somethitng that standard on the internet and no problem for almost all people. We also wouldn’t mind translating when needed.

I am just referring to the preferred language in which the customer would want to be addressed by us. This makes conversations a bit less awkward and more clear.

Kind regards,

Koen

[JulieSillam]

Hi again,

I’m sometimes confused because I’m not sure where customers/Hubs are from. Here is my tip: have a look at the address/phone number/name, you can always (ok, almost) guess where the person is from.

Best regards,

Julie

[vawontwerp]

Except that a lot of people with a Dutch phone number in Eindhoven are not native Dutch speakers. There are a lot of expats and students that require us to speak English.

[JulieSillam]

True… I’m part of those people actually haha!

[Filemon]

Following up on the discussion below, we actually have these language developments on our roadmap. Will need a few months though to implement. Cheers!

Filemon