The ability to speak and write English is essential to be a Black Gibbon's staff, especially for those who interact with our clients on a regular basis. For too many years I have witnessed how miscommunication can cause:
Vietnamese people (and Asians in general) are more likely to nod. Even though they don't really understand what is going on. This is due to the cultural phenomenon of saving face and being agreeable (something most of our Western clients are not aware of). Then a week/month later, the spec is implemented, demo'ed to the client and he goes "That is not what I asked for. I thought we were clear!". This issue is largely avoided if both parties have a true understanding of what is going on.
Vietnamese who are born in the nineties in the urban areas almost all have a basic knowledge of English. This is especially true in tech. At Black Gibbon, we further enhance this knowledge by providing day/night English classes to them. Free of charge. Our VN tech leads are required to be proficient in spoken communication w/ our clients. Some have gone abroad to study and are now back home. We also have tech leads based in California, acting as a technical/cultural/language bridge between US client and VN staff.
Most importantly, we encourage our staff to think of themselves as a client's partner and an equal. And to speak up.
Internally, after each sprint, the first thing we talk about is miscommunication issues and how to fix them. We also make most channels public and encourage our staff to fix each other's grammatical errors.
