Per le organizzazioni

Heidi oggi non ha clienti, né progetti pilota, né casi di studio — e questa pagina non ne rivendica. Quello che segue è una descrizione del vostro problema per come lo conosciamo da fuori. Diteci dove sbagliamo.

• Care and nursing homes

  A resident with dementia loses her second languages first. What is left is the Zurich German of her childhood. The carer on the late shift arrived from Lisbon two years ago and learned Standard German — not that.

  Quanto costa

  This is not a comfort question. Somebody who is not understood is misread: pain becomes agitation, a request becomes resistance.

  Cosa fa Heidi

  Heidi translates and explains dialect — on a phone, in the corridor, in seconds. And it practises the sentences that are actually said on your ward.

  Cosa dovremmo chiedervi

  We do not know whether your staff may hold a phone at that moment. That decides everything about how this would work.

• Hospitals and emergency care

  At triage a patient answers the question about her pain — in dialect, because pain does not speak a second language. The junior doctor trained in Heidelberg.

  Quanto costa

  Misunderstanding a patient history is a documented clinical risk, not a service issue.

  Cosa fa Heidi

  Understanding first: what was said, immediately and re-readable. Not a substitute for professional interpreting — the case before that, which today is covered by nothing.

  Cosa dovremmo chiedervi

  Whether this is permissible in your setting at all, before it could be useful. That is your question, not ours.

• Schools and kindergartens

  Kindergarten in the canton of Zurich is conducted in dialect — the electorate decided that in 2011. At the parents' evening the parents discover they cannot follow their own child's school language.

  Quanto costa

  Parents who cannot follow the parents' evening look like parents who are not interested. That is the same misreading as in care, with different consequences.

  Cosa fa Heidi

  Dialect comprehension for parents — and for newly arrived teachers, who are in the same position and say so less often.

  Cosa dovremmo chiedervi

  Whether this should come from the school or from the municipality. We suspect the latter and have never checked.

  In 2011 Zurich voters passed the initiative «YES to dialect in kindergarten» with about 54 per cent; since August 2012 dialect has been the kindergarten language of instruction. www.zh.ch

• Language schools

  Your student passes B2 and still understands nothing at the lunch table. She concludes it is her fault.

  Quanto costa

  It is not her fault and not your teaching — she learned the other language. But nobody told her that, and the disappointment lands with you.

  Cosa fa Heidi

  The dialect half no Standard German course covers, as a complement rather than a competitor. We do not teach Standard German and do not intend to.

  Cosa dovremmo chiedervi

  Whether you would rather resell this or recommend it. That changes the entire model.

• Relocation firms

  You hand over the keys, the insurance and the tax form. The first thing that breaks is the conversation with the caretaker.

  Quanto costa

  You have the client at the moment of highest attention — and that is exactly where your service catalogue ends and the real problem starts.

  Cosa fa Heidi

  Something you can hand over on day one that is still being used in week three.

  Cosa dovremmo chiedervi

  What you hand over instead today. If it works, this page is wrong.

• Employers with international teams

  The meeting runs in English. The moment it turns informal it switches to dialect — and informal is when things get decided.

  Quanto costa

  Somebody who cannot follow that part is present without taking part. That is a question of promotion and retention, not of wellbeing.

  Cosa fa Heidi

  Understanding without the room having to switch to Standard German — the very courtesy §2 describes as the trap.

  Cosa dovremmo chiedervi

  Whether HR buys this or a team does. We have never asked either.

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