Language barriers can create significant challenges across a variety of sectors including education, healthcare, emergency services, national and local government, and logistics. Pocketalk is on a mission to remove those obstacles with its AI-powered translation solutions. UC Advanced spoke with Matt Steel, Business Development Manager UK, Pocketalk, to discuss the company’s journey, its impact on public services, and its role in supporting multilingual classrooms.
Q Can you tell us about Pocketalk and how it started?
Pocketalk was created to enable seamless communication across languages, breaking down barriers that limit opportunities and understanding. Initially, our focus was on travel and business, providing a simple and effective way for people to communicate across more than 84 languages. However, as global challenges evolved, so did our mission. The pandemic highlighted the urgent need for real-time translation in business whether in healthcare, emergency care, public services, or education, pushing us to refine and expand our solutions.
Q How has Pocketalk adapted?
The pandemic reshaped the way people work. Businesses that were once restricted to local talent could attract skills from anywhere in the world. With that opportunity came language challenges. We pivoted to ensure Pocketalk could serve as a vital tool for global communication, incorporating our Ventana software, a secure, centralised administration panel. Our technology has since been deployed in hospitals, schools and other sectors, ensuring that people who speak different languages receive clear, accurate information.
Q What role does Pocketalk play in education?
We were keen to attend Bett this year, one of the world’s largest education conferences, as we know that language diversity in schools is growing, with many students speaking English as an additional language (EAL). Some schools we work with have almost 100% EAL students. Pocketalk is helping educators create more inclusive learning environments by allowing teachers and students to communicate more effectively. Our technology supports instant, accurate, two-way translation, bridging gaps in understanding and helping students feel more confident in the classroom. It alleviates teaching and support staff time, so every student, including those who speak English as a first language, can receive the help they need in the classroom.
Recently, we launched an initiative for five UK schools to become ambassadors for language diversity. The selected five schools are demonstrating how translation technology can encourage and aid equity in education. By providing instant support, the Pocketalk handheld device reduces reliance on human translators, limited online translation services and ensures every student can thrive. It also plays an important role in communicating with parents who don’t speak English, further supporting their children.
Q Beyond education, where else is Pocketalk making an impact?
In the UK, we are working across multiple sectors. As well as education, we are heavily focused on healthcare, logistics, Government and policing. In a public health context, language barriers can prevent patients from engaging quickly, accurately and easily in seamless conversations with their doctors. This can result in miscommunication which could potentially be life-threatening. Conversely, evidence shows that the better the communication between practitioner and patient, the better the clinical outcomes are.
We understand the scale of the need in healthcare after a study with UK healthcare workers highlighted that more than a third of healthcare workers agreed that language barriers make it more difficult to assess a patient’s needs.
The research also showed that healthcare workers are losing as much as half a working day every week – four and a half hours – overcoming communication challenges.
GP surgeries and hospital settings are using Pocketalk to improve patient communication, reducing delays and improve overall patient experience. The versatility of Pocketalk means that wherever communication is a challenge, we can offer a seamless solution.
Q What’s next for Pocketalk?
We are continuously refining our technology and expanding our capabilities to meet evolving needs. Our focus is on deeper integrations with enterprise solutions, and as we grow our brand awareness, we are opening up conversations with key resellers and distributors to partner with, enabling more businesses and organisations to embed Pocketalk seamlessly into their workflows. As language diversity grows, we want to ensure that no one is left behind due to communication barriers.
For more information about Pocketalk and further discussion around collaboration opportunities, visit https://www.pocketalk.com/en_gb/
