I was introduced to media update the second day I started my internship; it’s been a month now and am still doing the media updates. It is not an easy task with regards to language barrier as a foreigner in Malaysia. Most of the media are using their local language (Malay, Chinese or Indian) which makes it extremely difficult for me as a foreigner to do my job in respect to media updates. The process of doing media updates through the phone is suppose to be the most easy and effective means, but due to language barrier; it became very frustrating because the staffs on the other end will appear non cooperative even though it’s not intentional. For the fact that they cannot speak English, they can go to the extent of lying to you by saying that you called the wrong number or that they don’t know anybody by that name; sometimes they will not be diplomatic with me, they will just hang up on me. Even when I try to tell them that I’m an intern student, they will just say “ooh yeah or I see” meaning that they wish to help because they understand how important it means to me to get my job done, but because they cannot be able to communicate with English; they will simply hanged up the phone. Language barrier is really a great obstacle for a foreigner in the context of media updates.
On the other hand, my supervisors don’t understand or care to consider language barrier as a limitation for me to do my job, they will just tell me ‘Tinnah find a way to get the contact person for this media” that’s all. It’s up to me to find a way to get it done, not just to get it done; but to do it within the time limit. It’s so tiring doing media list under such circumstance, and I think it’s the most stressing, irritating and frustrating protocol in PR. Meanwhile, such a challenge cannot be avoided as a foreign PR staff because; when you talk about Public Relation you talk about media. You simply can’t leave it out. So the question is; how can we overcome such a frustrating obstacle.
The only option is to find a way out since my supervisors do not care to know or accept any kind of excuse rather than getting the job done on time. So I came up with the idea of chatting online with the companies that have instant online chat on their website because it’s easier for the local staffs to read and write English than speaking it, I also used e-mails for those that do not have such mechanism on their site; but e-mails will depend on how much time you have for the task, and how fast the companies can respond to your mail. I use “marketing” strategy on the phone as my final option; I will pretend to be a customer and asked for any staff who can speak English to talk with me. Surprisingly, all of the above mentioned ideas are working perfectly for me because my supervisors are really impressed with my results and report. I get the job done on time in most cases, and I believe it will work for you because the ideas are tested and trusted.
Cheers
Shiroi Bats
LUCT
2 comments:
Hey Baxx,
Well your media update issues are something we all have to face as foreigners i think everywhere but this has got me thinking is the Public Relations sector Globalized enough? or is the common language (English) used by the workers in this field the wrong one? Television Shows, Food you name it have all contributed to globalization around the world so why don't Organizations do the same? Make sure that the staff can communicate in a language that both its's internal and external key publics can both benefit from. I think this would make work easier for all of us and not just interns, who need to get the job done no matter what and also give any organization a good image for taking the time to ensure that all clients requiring any information get what they need in the best way possible.
Just a thought......
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