3 lessons I learned from doing user research in my second language
In the 6 years I have been working as a designer / researcher / strategist, English was the only language I used at work, and Cantonese was the language I would sometimes use when I interact with my friends & family… until this week.
This week at Reliq Health, we ran a design sprint on a project involving chronic conditions management for people. With just 5 days to recruit a very specific type of users to test with, I turned to my family members who are managing their own chronic conditions for help. While the recruitment part is easy, the actual Day 5 research was nerve-wrecking:
For the first time ever, I had to run an entire user research session mostly in Cantonese...
Long story short, the research sessions with my family members were very rewarding, and I learned a few lessons along the way in doing user research with my second language. At the end of the sessions, I got so excited and tweeted about my accomplishment.
To which a friend joking said,
Challenge. Accepted.
A quick overview of the 3 things I learned:
1. Learn how to say and use the key words or phrases in your second language.
2. Read out the entire interview guide in your head, in your second language… and then do it again.
3. Set expectations around your fluency in your second language.
1. Learn how to say and use the key words or phrases in your second language.
For myself (and hopefully a few of you), the field of knowledge we operate in professionally may not have much overlap with your personal life. As such, we may only know certain phrases or words in English. When we have no concept of these phrases in our second language, it is very difficult to convey these phrases well. Prior to running your user research session in your second language, make sure to:
- Translate the key phrases and words you use.
- More importantly, know how to pronounce those phrases and words as they are often anchors in the research conversations.
In my research session this week, the big term that I needed to communicate was chronic condition, and in Chinese - 慢性病. Being able to clarify the purpose of my research around this concept of chronic condition helped me greatly in setting expectations on the questions I asked, and the prototyped I showed.
2. Read out the entire interview guide in your head, in your second language… and then do it again.
It’s one thing to know the how to pronounce those key phrases and words, but another thing to use them in conversation. Normally reviewing the interview questions before a research session helps with keeping the questions at the back of your head, so you can be fully immersed in the interview. In the scenario of running an interview with your second language, reviewing the research guide also means getting comfortable with using those key phrases and words in questions and in conversations. Mentally and verbally going through the interview questions in your second language, greatly helps your mind in getting familiar with engaging your interviewee.
This was a very important point for me, as chronic condition / 慢性病 and other medical terms aren’t phrases I use on the day to day. Walking through the interview guide, in my my second language, helped with formulating questions and talking points. Be warned, it will feel uncomfortable, and you will feel stuck trying to translate some of the interview questions in your head. But it is much better to get stuck in practice, than to stumble awkwardly mid-interview.
3. Set expectation around your fluency in your second language.
At the end of the day, your goal is to engage with your interviewee meaningfully, so you can learn more about a particular subject. Using your second language helps establish familiarity with them, so they can share their perspective comfortably and honestly. In the preparation process, it is easy to get stuck in nailing every syllable, in every phrase and in every question — but that’s not the end goal. Your interviewee don’t expect you to be fully fluent in your second language, practice as much as you can, but it is just as important to set expectations with them upfront — that you aren’t the most proficient at it. This gives you room to pause, think and even make mistakes. By setting expectations upfront, you are also inviting your interviewee to partake in your thought process, which may yield insights that you may not normally gain in a normal conversation in your primary language.
In my interviews earlier this week, I stumbled to communicate the name of a key feature. Flustered and nervous, my interviewee then asked me what it is for. By explaining the outcome and purpose, we were able to work back towards the particular name, and even came up with a better label for it.
Now that I have done it once, I am more excited than ever to run more research sessions in Cantonese. Having struggled with explaining what user experience and service design is in Cantonese, I thought it would be nearly impossible to run a research interview, but I guess you never know until you (are forced to) try!
Do you have your own lessons of doing design in your second language?
I would love to hear your stories and experiences as well☺️
