January 29, 2021

Engineered Wood Flooring Seminar with Gene Wengert, President of The Wood Doctor’s Rx LLC, Bishop, GA, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sponsored by CFI University.

Certified Flooring Inspectors in attendance:

Albert Carlson, Anthony Smith, Barry Flath, Bill Houle, Billy Yackee, Brian DeTolla, Brian Smart, Brian Stebner, Bryan Williams, Carl Howard, Daniel Levin, David Zeagler, Ed Crawford, Elton Ko, Eric Bunker, Garrett Lopez, Greg Elsen, Jerry Mills, Jerry Selig, Jim Tobin, John Bush, John Lunsford, John Mace, John Wabeke, Keith Moore, Kevin Goodwin, Kevin Weinheimer, LeVante Carrington, Linda Lockwood, Mark Reagan, Michael Cohn, Mike Burgener, Mike Pivar, Paul Comtois, Peter Hawley, Phil Carter, Ray Fournier, Ray Fuessel, Raymond Servaes, Ricky Bunker, Robert Hanna, Robert Keep, Roger Stratford, Ron Ellsworth, Ron Gould, Samuel Zarcone, Scott Noebels, Stephen Cascioli, Steve Howell, Steven Johnston, Steven Rockfeld, Tim McAdoo, Vincent Ferranti, Wayne Brown, Wayne Cooper, Wayne Laforet, Zachary Howard, Zaim Islam.

Flooring inspections can be challenging enough, but when we’re trying to communicate with a consumer who doesn’t speak our language, even the simplest conversation can be difficult.

Before Smartphones, flooring inspectors had difficulty when communicating with non-English speaking consumers. We pointed, made drawings, hand signals, and played Charades until one, or both of us gave up.  We often left the inspection without the information our commissioning parties ask for, and without being able to explain the process to the consumer. It was frustrating for all involved!

Well, folks, there’s an App for that!

Translation Apps are available for iPhones and Androids, and they work great! You can speak into your cellphone, and play the comment or questions back in the consumer’s language. While the apps aren’t perfect, they’re good enough to get the message across and not leave everyone frustrated.

We’ve tested and found Google Translate works well, it’s free and it has and it has 103 different languages. Microsoft Translator claims to have over 60 languages. Other translators are available for purchase, or by monthly subscription.

Google Translate allows you to speak to text, then the app will read the message out loud on your cell phone.

Certified Flooring Inspectors University:
Ricky Bunker 843-222-1029
Linda Lockwood 609-660-1717