Founded in 1894, The Chicago White Sox is an American baseball team that competes in Major League Baseball as a member club of the American League Central division. The organization is based in Chicago, Illinois. In addition to their major league team, they have 6 minor league affiliates, located in other parts of the US and in the Dominican Republic. Over a third of all White Sox players are native speakers of Spanish.
On the DSL White Sox, the Rookie team based in the Dominican Republic, the players are mostly teenagers from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Since many of them aspire to pursue a career on major league teams in the US where they will need to communicate in English, language training is worked into their weekly schedule as an important part of their training and development programs.
In addition to supporting communication across multilingual teams, a good knowledge of English can significantly improve opportunities for players in the future. Many teams actively seek bilingual coaches, so the White Sox players are well positioned to pursue a career of this nature after they retire from the field.
Digital language training helps White Sox players to communicate more effectively
The Rosetta Stone Enterprise platform has reinforced in-person language training, which often takes place on the field and focuses on baseball-specific vocabulary so that they can communicate effectively with English speaking players and coaches.
As part of their schedule, most rookie players are required to access their language learning programs at least twice a week from computer centers at the White Sox Academy.
“A couple of our players went through the entire Rosetta Stone program in one year. They went from speaking virtually no English, to being pretty fluent. One became a career player with the White Sox, and would frequently be used as a translator to support other teammates. He is now actively seeking coaching opportunities with other teams.”
Erin Santana, Education Coordinator for the Chicago White Sox
Players leverage downtime to boost their language proficiency.
Thanks to Rosetta Stone’s end-to-end accessibility through the online platform and learning apps, many players are able to exceed the minimum requirement, seeking opportunities to successfully accelerate their language learning through the Rosetta Stone mobile app. In addition to the downtime they have, players use road trips and bus journeys as opportunities to accelerate their learning.
Language training enhances communication across the organization
It’s not only the White Sox players who have been able to improve their professional careers. Many of the administrative staff require English to conduct their work on the team, and have been able to grow their workplace skills by using Rosetta Stone for Enterprise.
“One of our Academy administrators has completed 242 hours in Rosetta Stone in the past 18 months. Most of her professional correspondence is with affiliated teams in the US, and she’s now able to communicate with them in English.”
ERIN SANTANA, EDUCATION COORDINATOR FOR THE CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Rosetta Stone for Enterprise provides endless flexibility and delivers an optimum return on investment (ROI)
Erin Santana, Education Coordinator for the White Sox, explains that the great thing about Rosetta Stone is the ease with which she can administer and reassign user access so that at any given moment in the year, they are making optimum use of their access to language training.
The baseball season runs from March to September. Players return for a short while in October, but spend the rest of the year offsite. What’s more; there is a significant flow of incoming and outgoing players each season.
Since Rosetta Stone saves learning records for every person ever assigned an account under the team’s subscription, players can take a break from their learning during the off season, and the club can redirect their investment by delivering language training to other employees. When and if they return to the club, players can have their licenses reactivated and their learning journey seamlessly picks back up.
“I love that I can just change licenses from one person to another. During the off season when the players are at home, I reassign them to coaches so that they can learn Spanish.”
Erin Santana, Education Coordinator for the Chicago White Sox
Successful results
Cost consolidation
Simple-to-use administrative tools mean that licenses can be assigned and reassigned as needed. Online language training accelerates learner progress without the logistics and expense of additional face-to-face classes.
Talent Development and Retention
Many US pro baseball players originate from Latin America and the Caribbean. In this multilingual industry, players, administrators, and coaches are all able to boost their career advancement by enhancing their language skills.
Global mobility
As they advance, players are relocated to the US from their native Latin American nations. Language is not only a necessary element of their integration process, but also improves communication across multilingual teams and with coaches.
