Are you a typical unilingual American? I hate to admit that I am. It is possible to travel to most places the world while speaking only English. But then you will miss the chance to have a deeper understanding of the local language, culture and people. These human connections will enhance your business dealings, especially when outsourcing a collaborative process like software development.
I traveled to Mexico last week to meet new partners and deliver a talk to Mexican companies about doing business with American companies. 
My hosts — the people at the Mexico-IT organization and the business people I met were all very gracious and friendly.
But I was embarrassed by my lack of Spanish. The entire symposium except for my talk was delivered en Español. "Is it okay that I will be speaking in English?" I asked the Mexico-IT people. "Well, if these companies are going to do business in the United States, then they better know English! Don't worry, they will understand you."
And indeed they did. Everyone understood me and we were able to communicate easily.
The toughest problem I had was one person asked me a question about selling their software used to run "pound" stores. A pound store; I wonder what that is, I thought to myself. I finally had to admit to him that I did not know what he meant. "You know, pound. It's spelled P-A-W-N"
"Oh pawn shop!" I said with extra emphasis on the "aw" like I learned to say it growing up in New Jersey (You know, like in "caw-fee" and "chaw-colate"). Your communication issues are likely to be as minor.
But learning a little Spanish will go a long way. And it seems easy to learn. I came with a phrase book and dictionary which came in handy on my first trip. The best way to learn any language is to listen to and repeat phrases spoken and translated by a native speaker. This is the approach made popular by several schools including the Pimsleur method.
Just living in California has given me a Sesame Street level of vocabulary. To improve my Spanish I downloaded an audio book called Learning Spanish Like Crazy from audible.com to my iPhone so I can practice on the airplane and in my hotel room. I also purchased a Franklin Speaking Spanish-English dictionary.
Of course you don't have to travel to Mexico loaded for oso with all kinds of gadgets and dictionaries to do business there. But some understanding of the language will certainly help. Engineers on your team in Mexico or the rest of Latin America, will generally understand English and know about American culture and news events. They are likely to know much more about American baseball than you do about Mexican futbol.
But some communication en Español will certainly be welcome and will help your team be more productive. In fact having someone on your team in the U.S. that is bilingual in English and Spanish is best. Several clients have focused on outsourcing to Latin America because of U.S. team members with knowledge of Spanish. For example, an engineering director at a large company called me one day for help. He wanted to set up operations in China and in Mexico.
"Why those two places?" I asked.
"Because we are selling a version of our software in China and half my engineers speak Spanish." he replied. "Where are you?" "Salt Lake City."
His engineers learned Spanish in school so they could go on their mission for the Mormon Church to Mexico and other places in Latin America when they were teenagers. They must have more bilingual engineers than anywhere else in the U.S.
That's why I tell all Accelerance partners in Latin America that the secret to selling in the United States is to focus on Utah as your target market!
News and Events
March 6, 2008
Steve Mezak at IEEE Offshore Panel Discussion
On the evening of March 6, the Silicon Valley IEEE Technology Management Council is hosting a panel discussion to answer your questions about managing with offshore engineers.
March 7, 2008
Offshoring Pros and Cons Panel
Steve Mezak will be speaking on "Offshoring: Pro's and Con's" at the SD West 2008 Conference in Santa Clara, CA from 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. The session discusses the benefits and the issues involved with offshoring of software development. Read more...
March 15, 2008
Accelerance sponsors the
P-CAMP Unconference for Product Managers
This is a free Saturday event, where participants propose their own topics, run discussions and panels, and network with peers. Accelerance is organizing a session on "How to use a global team to create your software product."
The Runtime Bottom Line
Coincidently the last two issues of Runtime in a row are about outsourcing to Mexico and Latin America but other destinations like India and China are still popular. But Mexico is close, the natives are friendly and they are excellent programmers. Outsourcing to Mexico does not necessarily mean hiring a team in a large city like Mexico City or Monterrey. The talks I am delivering for Mexico-IT are in several smaller cities of Mexico and also where several Accelerance partners are located also. They are easy to reach by air through airports in Texas and Los Angeles.
Until next time,
Steve Mezak, CEO
Steve@Accelerance.com
Accelerance, Inc.
Risk-Free Outsourcing
+1-877-99-ACCEL (877-992-2235) x101 Toll-Free
+1-650-472-3785 Global Calls + Fax
Or contact me at: http://www.Accelerance.com/contact.htm
Author of the new book -
Software without Borders: A Step-By-Step Guide to Outsourcing Your Software Development
www.SoftwareWithoutBordersBook.com
developers in India are doing?" Late night conference calls and IM sessions are required to get the answer. They are starting to take their toll on efficiency and productivity. And the communication issues, whether due to culture differences or lack of experience weigh heavily also. 
