The Content Wrangler and Heretto just hosted their latest Coffee and Conversation webinar, and it was a groundbreaking one. Transgender motivational speaker, workshop presenter, trainer, and workplace diversity and inclusion consultant Stephanie Battaglino joined Patrick Boseck and Scott Abel to discuss her experience as a transgender woman in the workplace. Having lived much of her life under the male privilege society allows straight, cisgender men, Stephanie’s transition threw her into a new category. 

While holding a corporate VP position at New York Life insurance comapny, Stephanie came out as transgender, making her the first person in the company’s history to come out on the job. She spent 25 years navigating the corporate space as a white, cisgender man, and moved up the corporate ladder with a singular focus: moving forward. She didn’t realize that her white male privilege was helping her in her career, nor did she realize how much privilege she actually had. She didn’t realize what she’d had until she lost it. 

Although Stephanie’s gender has changed, her skills, leadership style, and accomplishments remain the same. And yet, her new position as a woman in the workplace has created unprecedented hurdles. Since coming out, she’s gained new insights into the importance of language when communicating with transgender and non-binary individuals. Language matters, and an understanding of the language to use is one of the first steps toward transforming the workplace. Stephanie’s book, Reflections from Both Sides of the Glass Ceiling: Finding My True Self in Corporate America, depicts her journey, and discusses the importance of culture and language in creating inclusive workplaces. She believes that language begins with culture; you need to have an understanding of culture in order to transform policy into practice. Once you understand the culture, you can work to implement appropriate language, in order to meet people where they are — people you may not have encountered before, but who deserve to be communicated with in ways that resonate with them.

Incorporating inclusive language is one of Chillistore’s primary pillars. As Stephanie states, language starts with culture. Chillistore is here to help you understand cultural differences, so you can implement the correct language. 

Watch the full Coffee and Conversation episode here.

Diwali is upon us! The Hindu festival of lights is happening on November 4th, and will be celebrated by people all around the world. But what does Diwali celebrate? Well, it’s the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, and happiness over sorrow. It’s essentially a five-day celebration that signifies a fresh start. People typically clean their homes, update their wardrobes, and indulge in treats. At its core, it’s a time to wish friends and family well, and look forward to the year ahead. 

Perhaps you’ve never heard of Diwali, or weren’t aware it’s happening this week? It’s not only fascinating to learn how people and cultures celebrate their traditions, but it’s also crucial to marketing to certain audiences. Chillistore’s International Brand Management services hinge on understanding which cultural references appeal to what audiences, and which do not. They also depend on an understanding of when audiences are reachable and when they are not. Awareness is power, and it leads to better business. Moving into this next year, what will you change along your globalization journey? It’s time to start fresh. 

Read more about Diwali

Learn more about our International Brand Management services

The Content Wrangler and Heretto just hosted their latest Coffee and Conversation webinar, and it was a groundbreaking one. Transgender motivational speaker, workshop presenter, trainer, and workplace diversity and inclusion consultant Stephanie Battaglino joined Patrick Boseck and Scott Abel to discuss her experience as a transgender woman in the workplace. Having lived much of her life under the male privilege society allows straight, cisgender men, Stephanie’s transition threw her into a new category. 

While holding a corporate VP position at New York Life insurance comapny, Stephanie came out as transgender, making her the first person in the company’s history to come out on the job. She spent 25 years navigating the corporate space as a white, cisgender man, and moved up the corporate ladder with a singular focus: moving forward. She didn’t realize that her white male privilege was helping her in her career, nor did she realize how much privilege she actually had. She didn’t realize what she’d had until she lost it. 

Although Stephanie’s gender has changed, her skills, leadership style, and accomplishments remain the same. And yet, her new position as a woman in the workplace has created unprecedented hurdles. Since coming out, she’s gained new insights into the importance of language when communicating with transgender and non-binary individuals. Language matters, and an understanding of the language to use is one of the first steps toward transforming the workplace. Stephanie’s book, Reflections from Both Sides of the Glass Ceiling: Finding My True Self in Corporate America, depicts her journey, and discusses the importance of culture and language in creating inclusive workplaces. She believes that language begins with culture; you need to have an understanding of culture in order to transform policy into practice. Once you understand the culture, you can work to implement appropriate language, in order to meet people where they are — people you may not have encountered before, but who deserve to be communicated with in ways that resonate with them.

Incorporating inclusive language is one of Chillistore’s primary pillars. As Stephanie states, language starts with culture. Chillistore is here to help you understand cultural differences, so you can implement the correct language. 

Watch the full Coffee and Conversation episode here.

With this “holiday” approaching, we decided to take a look at what Halloween means to people and cultures around the world. For the United States, it’s a time to dress up in a spooky or pop culture-related costume; drink pumpkin-flavored beer; and eat way too much candy. Kids go door-to-door, begging for candy with the classic threat, “Trick or Treat!” For Americans, it all feels very common. Doesn’t everyone have this October 31st ritual?

Some countries do, yes. In places like Ireland or Canada, you’ll likely be invited to a costume party or hand out candy to groups of kids. For these countries, the Halloween traditions we see on American TV are widely followed. In countries like Sweden, these traditions only came into play over the last decade or so — perhaps due to the rise and influence of social media. 

While America’s version of Halloween has started to permeate other cultures, its cultural significance doesn’t always translate exactly, or resonate in the same way. And why would it? Other countries have their own things to celebrate. In Mexico and other parts of Latin America, for example, there’s Día de los Muertos — a celebration of the dead returning to their homes. From October 31st to November 2nd, people build altars and provide offerings for family members who have passed on. Tricking and treating are replaced with recognizing and honoring.

Even the phrase, “Trick or Treat,” isn’t consistent in different languages. In Spanish, “Trick or Treat” translates to “Truco o Trato.” This isn’t a direct translation; “truco” means trick, while “trato” means “treatment.” Spanish speakers have adapted and adopted this phrase, despite the fact that it has very little meaning to their culture. If you were to present this saying to a Spanish speaker who’d never heard of Halloween, they’d likely have no idea what you meant. 

In France, where Halloween isn’t usually celebrated (with the exception of Franco-American families), the French have taken to using either “Trick or treat,” or “Des bonbons ou un sort.” People may not actively use either of these expressions; they’re mostly placeholders reserved for explaining the concept of American Halloween in the French language. 

When translating, it’s important to understand which cultural references will resonate with an audience, and which will not. If you’re globalizing a product or service in France, for example, you can’t expect Halloween-related messaging to appeal to your audience. An “exciting” Halloween campaign might go right into the trash bin. Not understanding this cultural difference is the first mistake companies make when it comes to International Brand Management. Luckily, Chillistore is here to help.

Our experts know which key words, emotional appeals, and images resonate with certain audiences, and which do not. Our goal is to help you implement these, so you won’t “Trick or Treat” your audience into ignoring your services. An audience that sees themselves reflected in a brand is an audience that buys. 

Learn more about international brand management.

Adobe’s Director of Globalization, Jean-François Venreusel, gave an insight-filled talk about globalization, and why it’s so important in product management. According to Venreusel, companies “leave money on the table” when they fail to bring their products global. They also open up opportunities for competitors to swoop in and dominate the market. When globalizing, companies need a two-fold approach: the “business side” and the “go-to market strategy.” Each market is different, and companies need to be extremely aware of these differences if they’re going to globalize.

Vanreusel also discusses the importance of localization in his talk. He cites that 40% of users won’t buy a product if it’s not available in their language. So, while English may be “universal,” it’s not always the language in which people want to experience products. 

Vanreusel’s talk is music to Chillistore’s ears! After all, globalization and localization are our bread and butter (chili butter, that is!). Reaching audiences around the world is a crucial part of conducting business, but we understand the process can include several pain points. We’re here to minimize those. Our team helps companies address a range of audiences on a daily basis. We know what culturally relevant information to include, which information won’t resonate, and how to make local audiences feel seen, heard, and understood. We walk clients through the process, from conception to testing and review, to make sure their products run smoothly in each target market. Music to your ears? We hope so!

Learn more about our services.

Chillistore’s parent company, Argos Multilingual, announced it has acquired Venga — a San Francisco-based international language service provider. Venga offers a range of services, including translation and localization, AI and data services, globalization consulting, and global creative services. They deal with over 150 languages, and are dedicated to providing clients with top-notch work. The defining characteristics of their services are solution oriented, transparent, and dependable. This means providing clients with clear, no-nonsense information that they can trust when globalizing. 

Venga’s creativity and dedication to the client are just two of the reasons why Argos considers them a good fit. And at Chillistore, we couldn’t agree more! We’re all about communicating with clients — honestly answering their questions, providing them with clear roadmaps for success, and keeping their best interests at heart. We’re constantly adapting with our clients, to fit ever-changing markets and expectations. Venga’s entrepreneurship will be an asset to the Argos family. 

To learn more about the acquisition, visit https://www.argosmultilingual.com/blog/argos-multilingual-acquires-venga-global. 

Chillistore is a Language Quality Assurance company, dedicated to bridging gaps between clients and language service providers. We act as a natural extension of your team, providing everything from terminology management, to multilingual testing, to SEO research. More recently, we have added subtitling, content creation, and production of inclusive content into different markets to our long list of services. We are linguists, writers, artists, programmers, and managers, living in many different countries and working as a close-knit team, and we’re ready to help you with your LQA needs. For more information, visit us at https://www.chillistore.com/.