Home / Family & Student Communication / Multilingual families
Reaching multilingual families
A family's English level says nothing about how much they care or can help. Communicating in their home language turns "hard to reach" families into engaged partners — and technology makes it realistic to do every day.
Built-in translation
TalkingPoints, ClassDojo, and Remind auto-translate two-way messages — you type in English, the family reads (and replies) in their language, and you read the reply in English. It feels like a normal conversation.
Your translation toolkit
| Need | Tool |
|---|---|
| Two-way messaging | TalkingPoints / ClassDojo / Remind (auto-translate) |
| Translate a handout or flyer | Google Translate (including "Documents") or Microsoft Translator |
| A face-to-face chat | Google Translate "Conversation" mode on a phone |
| Formal / high-stakes meetings | A professional interpreter (your district must provide one) |
Make machine translation work better
- Write simply — short sentences, no idioms or slang. Simple English translates far more accurately.
- Avoid abbreviations and jargon — spell out "IEP," "PTA," dates, and times.
- Confirm the family's language — ask; don't assume from a last name.
- Keep messages positive and clear so nuance matters less.
Know the line
Auto-translation is great for day-to-day updates. But for anything legal or high-stakes — IEP meetings, discipline, special-education paperwork — families have a right to a qualified human interpreter, and your district is legally required to provide one. Don't rely on an app (or a student) for those.
Related
The same translation tools help students access content, too — see Captions & translation.