Housekeeping teams bridge language gaps with translation earbuds
As students move out of residence halls and Hokie families arrive on campus for Commencement, Virginia Tech housekeeping teams race against the clock to clean and prepare rooms between guests. This spring, Student Affairs Facilities and Operations is deploying a new tool to keep pace: language-translating earbuds.
The department first piloted the technology during winter weather operations and has since expanded its use across training, daily operations, and the high-stakes commencement housing turnover.
The earbuds connect to a mobile phone app to translate conversations aloud between users. For housekeeping supervisor Christina Chrisley, the earbuds have become part of her team’s daily routine.
Before using the devices, Chrisley and one of her employees often relied on messaging through translation apps on their phones. Now, when questions arise, the employee simply walks into Chrisley’s office and reaches for the earbuds sitting on her desk.
“It helps people feel more comfortable asking questions, and that makes a difference,” Chrisley said. “Communication flows more consistently, and it saves us time.”
As the university prepares for thousands of visitors this week, Chrisley expects the earbuds to become even more valuable during the fast-paced residence hall turnover.
The department’s housekeeping workforce includes employees from a variety of language backgrounds, with roughly a quarter of staff members speaking Spanish as their primary language. Before the earbuds, the department relied heavily on bilingual staff like Jonathan Ridge, assistant director for housekeeping, to bridge the gap.
“There’s always going to be a gap when you’re not speaking in someone’s native language,” Ridge said. “The technology is not perfect, but it’s been a game-changer.”
The system supports more than 100 languages and accounts for regional dialects, an essential feature for accuracy.
“There are dialects for Mexico, Colombia, Spain,” Ridge said. “That’s important because everybody speaks differently.”
The devices are especially valuable during training, when supervisors explain detailed cleaning procedures, safety expectations, and residence hall standards.
“People say cleaning is cleaning, but we have our way of doing things,” Ridge said. “We clean where people live. The way you clean your house is different from cleaning a public space.”
While some employees were initially hesitant to try the devices, Ridge said adoption has steadily improved as teams become more familiar with the earbuds.
Using the technology effectively still requires patience. Staff members learned that conversations work best when speakers slow down, enunciate clearly, and avoid vague instructions.
Chrisley laughed after discovering the system could successfully translate phrases from local dialect, like “I reckon” into “I guess so.”
“When people get comfortable using it, it really can change communication between staff members,” Ridge said.
