Communication across a divide: does collaboration work when there’s a language barrier at play?
Collaboration is key at Wayfair, and it’s something I’ve come to really appreciate during my time here. Beyond the practicalities of keeping each other on course and sharing responsibilities, it’s also a way to really connect with other writers and get that extra kick of inspiration. Wayfair’s copy team writes for the German, British and Irish markets, and so we’re comprised of German- and English-speaking writers. This means that in the midst of researching our respective markets, coming up with concepts for a social media campaign or working out ways to best represent the Wayfair brand, we also share our work-in-progress writing with one another.
The tricky part? I can’t speak German.
From a practical point of view, the need for collaboration is obvious. While we localise our copy to suit our respective geos, it still needs to be the same message with the same values and same overall look and feel. We can’t have wildly differing copy that speaks to completely different audiences and propositions completely different directions or Wayfair would seem like it was having an identity crisis. We also need to think strategically and approach everything we do with a customer-centric mindset while showing our stakeholders the thought behind our work so they can trust that our copy comes with a solid foundation.
This role has been my first experience partnering with someone writing in a different language, and I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy a close collaboration with my coworker, Natalie. Natalie already had experience working with an international team in a previous role, so the concept wasn’t new to her. “I worked with French and UK copywriters. It was such a great opportunity for me to learn more about the nuances of each language — and not only on a marketing level.” Natalie has pretty perfect English, which obviously makes things easier for me, but there are occasionally turns of phrase in English which aren’t immediately obvious, so she likes to use DeepL to get as full an understanding as possible. My lack of German requires me to translate, well, everything. On a surface level, this means that there is somewhat of a barrier between us and our work. I have to confess that at first, I couldn’t see how we’d be able to work all that closely together when we had to write completely different texts with different customers in mind. Thankfully, I’ve been proven very wrong.
While our partnership has varied a lot from project to project, our ability as English and German copywriters respectively to collaborate and inspire each other despite this language barrier has been a really wonderful thing to realise. For Natalie, “The biggest pro is how inspiring it is. When you’re able to bounce ideas off with someone creative it sparks so many new ones and elevates the copy to the next level.” A language divide does not equal a communication divide, and getting to work so closely together has only served to strengthen our writing and our relationship as coworkers and helped us understand how important it is to adapt and compromise.
Some of our favourite things to work on have been Wayfair’s brands. They’re quite complex projects that require a deep understanding of the products, the nuances between geographical markets and the target customer, all while telling the story of the brand and providing guidance on how to inspire and delight said customer. Projects like this can be challenging for many reasons. It’s work that allows for more subjective feedback as a lot of it comes down to capturing ‘feels and vibes’ and bringing our stakeholders’ vision to life. It’s also storytelling for something that can be hard to accurately capture, and so there’s a constant balance of adapting vs aligning; ultimately, a brand’s personality should be the same across the board, but must factor in different cultural nuances, types of homes and customers to be truly global. Maybe a choice of wording that I think is simply genius for the average UK customer just won’t land with those in Germany, or a certain style that’s desirable to German customers may not fit the tastes of a British home. Despite the complexities, work like this has really put our ability to collaborate to the test and allowed us to flex our creative muscles. “These projects were so much fun to work on because we had to consider different languages and cultural differences to take an approach that works globally. I loved every bit about this process.”
In the day to day, despite this language barrier and the limitations of translation tools, I frequently find inspiration in Natalie’s German copy. I have borrowed/stolen/used it to direct my own writing when ideas were hard to find (luckily for me, even clunky translations can’t hide what’s just downright great copy) and vice versa. Something Natalie and I have never quite managed to get over is how much fuel to our imaginations this collaboration brings, “I’ve been surprised that I can be the biggest fan of a text even though it’s not written in my native language. Through working with you I learned to appreciate the creativity behind English copy way more than I used to.” Similarly, I’d never have expected that I would be using copy written in a language I can’t speak to such a degree in my own work.
From needing to collaborate in order to wade through the confusion of umlauts and cheesy puns, our partnership has gone beyond just translations. I’m of the opinion that a creative role living in an echo chamber is a really sad thing, and so getting that other perspective or critique of your work is key to becoming a better writer. That it comes from someone with such a different background possibly only makes it more beneficial. “Even though you may not speak the same language, you can learn so much from copy written in a different language. Discover the similarities and differences!” Personally, I’ve learned to get over feeling shy or protective of my copy, and to fully embrace giving and accepting feedback and ideas. I’ve also learned that it’s not a competition to be the best, and that there’s nothing better than partnering with someone who is absolutely nailing their job on a daily basis and inspiring me to want to do better. It’s been freeing to realise we don’t need to be native speakers to be able to give each other valuable feedback — the fact that even now the nature of our work has led to us collaborating less, we still share updates and copy ideas with each other is just proof of how an initially pragmatic partnership has become much more.
Our advice to other writers collaborating across a language divide? “Don’t gatekeep ideas!” says Natalie. The goal is not to undermine each other’s respective language, nor is it to have the ‘best idea’ or the ‘better copy’. I can’t count the number of times I’ve felt like I’d hit a creative wall in a project or was feeling stifled by feedback only to break it down with Natalie and come out feeling refreshed by an approach she wanted to try for Germany which I’d never have thought of for my UK audience. Share inspiration and feedback on each other’s work as much as you can, learn to adapt and compromise if something just won’t work for both of you, and don’t get too attached to your ideas. Strategise on ways to present as a united front and a watertight team who has each other’s backs.
Hitting deadlines and writing good copy for your own market is one thing, and that’s great. But when it comes to collaboration, having a writing partner to offer fresh perspectives, to root for your copy and push you to go the extra mile, to sympathise with difficult feedback while celebrating the wins, all while navigating the challenges of a language divide in a job that’s literally all about communication — that’s the stuff you just can’t put a value on. So the answer to this article’s title? A resounding yes.
