[syzer]

We have some new guys working with us, one speaks very little English, the other next to none. We need some kind of system in place to train new employees both American and Foreign. Can any of you recommend any videos we can use? This site was recommended to me but they have a video for every single thing, all separate, and very expensive. They could have at least combined the machines in an English/Spanish version sheesh.


http://www.landcarenetwork.org/do/pr...ategoryId=7376

Thanks ahead!

[sleepy]

You will be best off hiring a bilingual employee. btw its unitedstation, not american we're all north americans in the new world order

[syzer]

I hear ya =P. The problem is we're having a heck of a time finding a bilingual to hire =(.

[sleepy]

mabye you could try bable fish??
http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Tenemos algunos nuevos individuos el trabajar con nosotros, uno hablamos muy poco inglés, el otro al lado de ningunos. Necesitamos una cierta clase de sistema en lugar entrenar a los nuevos empleados americanos y extranjeros. ¿Pueden cualquiera de usted recomendar videos que poder utilizar? Este sitio fue recomendado a mí pero tienen un vídeo para cada sola cosa, todos se separan, y muy costoso. Habrían podido combinar por lo menos las máquinas en un sheesh de la versión de English/Spanish.

[syzer]

Yeah I do use bable fish to type some things up, but I need to be able to tell these guys how to do their jobs to where they have no questions. They are very fast learners, but the vids above I think is exactly what I need. Unfortunately they jack you on the price.

[BuenPatron]

Personally, I'd bag getting the videos. After they watch them, you probably won't be able to tell much difference in their performance anyway. You'll wonder if it was worth it. They are most likely trying to do very well by you, and are trying hard to do a good job.. By the time you get the vids it may be moot.
I learned alot of nouns and verbs (in the infinitive) from kids' books from Barnes & Noble. Library books get trashed in the truck. Communication gets pretty easy pretty quick. Lotsa Luck.

[waterfall larry]

Why not make your own videos. When you want something done right, do it yourself. It is a lot less expensive and you can customize it to your needs. Also sometimes all they need is to see things visually.

Can't find hispanics? What corner of the globe do you live in?

check out the nearest big city
check out the h2 program
go online and search for translation services
directory assistance for a company called hispanic services center in Cumming GA has translator services

once you get 1 or 2 hispanics they will get you as many as you need

I don't know what this link is all about, you all can check it out yourselves.
http://stopharass.com/article-landscape-story.htm

Willl someone in the nearest big city help this guy out?

[syzer]

Originally posted by waterfall larry
Why not make your own videos. When you want something done right, do it yourself. It is a lot less expensive and you can customize it to your needs. Also sometimes all they need is to see things visually.

Can't find hispanics? What corner of the globe do you live in?

check out the nearest big city
check out the h2 program
go online and search for translation services
directory assistance for a company called hispanic services center in Cumming GA has translator services

once you get 1 or 2 hispanics they will get you as many as you need

I don't know what this link is all about, you all can check it out yourselves.
http://stopharass.com/article-landscape-story.htm

Willl someone in the nearest big city help this guy out?

Thanks for the info, I cant make a vid I cant speak Spanish =). We have picked up quite a bit in the past 2-3 weeks, enough to have them do what we need.

We don't have any problem finding the hispanic workers, its finding one that can speak enough english to properly convey exactly how to do something, or get a point across.

Thanks for the help fellows.

-C

[waterfall larry]

A lot of landscape management seems to have a finding mentality. My response is that if you think finding is the best method then you don't deserve to have the absolute best employee. In my opinion the finding approach is the cause of failure. My kiss answer is this. Good employees are found but the absolute best employees are good employees found and then made into your definition of the absolute best employees. So the key is to quit finding and start making.
finding = failure
making = success.

It seems your problem as you described it is to find bilingual hispanics. One possible solution is to stop finding and start making. Find some key hispanics who have certain traits or who have a lot of potential and build a relationship with them in which you lay out a plan for advancing their career and salary, the first goal of which is to get them in a esl class assuming there is one in your area. esl = english as a second language. Since they can up an leave any time this may not be the best approach.

You might consider tapping your present hispanics and asking them to talk to their friends and see if they can set you up with a bilingual who is a competent translator.

If this isn't a possible solution then you need to think of more solutions. Another possible solution would be to recruit from a larger labor pool. From what you have indicated if I read between the lines, the labor pool that you have been drawing from is too small. If your present pond doesn't have many fish, mayby you need to fish in the Atlantic Ocean. I don't know what city you live in. I can tell you at least 12 places to go in Atlanta to get as many highly landscape competent bilingual hispanics as you need. Perhaps if you published what city you live in, some of the readers in a large city close to you would help you to some degree.

Finally self made training videos aren't just for the benefit of hispanics. They are a tremendous tool for your gringo work force. So even if you made an english version you still wouldn't be wasting your time. Can you really ever have enough training or enough training videos on enough topicsI? I don't think so.


The reason why I put in the translation service part was so that you could produce your video in english and mail it to a translation service and have them translate it into english. A highly competent hispanic work force is worth 70 times the cost of a translation service.
Ideally it would be nice if you trained your hispanics to be effective trainers of the other hispanics. But this may not happen for several reasons therefore ultimately it should be your responsibility to be the trainers. When you do the training you can provide the highest quality training.

Finally, finally, whatever training method you use, first set down and make a list of all the areas of competency you would like to see in an employee, be they hispanic or gringo. Then prioritize the areas according to your needs or according to what you think are the most valuable competencies. Then decide on which is the best training method.