Article

Do records not in English still count?

By TrustPast

Updated October 27, 2026

A framing crew in Texas writes its daily notes in Spanish. The office sends estimates and invoices in English. The owner reads about companies being paid for their records and stops at one question: do ours count, when half of them are in another language? This page settles it from what micro1 publishes, word for word, and labels our own advice where micro1 says nothing.

It is a fair question to ask first. Our cornerstone page on what data buyers actually want from a trade business says the value is in how the work was done. Work gets done in many languages. The buyer still sets a language bar, and it is worth knowing exactly where it sits.

The short answer

Mostly English is the bar. micro1 asks the question on its own page: “Can company data and documentation be in languages other than English?” Its answer: “At this time, we are primarily looking for companies that operate in English and maintain their documentation, workflows, and knowledge bases in English.”

Three words in that answer do most of the work. “At this time” says the bar is today’s, not forever. “Primarily” says mostly, not only. And “operate in English” is about the company, not just its files.

So a US company that runs its office in English, with some crew notes in Spanish, is the easier case. A company whose estimates, work orders and procedures are all in French or German is the harder one. micro1 makes the call either way. Our job here is to show you what it has published, so you know what to say when you apply.

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What micro1 says, word for word

micro1 talks about language on two of its pages. It is worth having them side by side.

On its data partnerships page, under who is eligible: “Data should be primarily in English.” The same answer adds: “We’re currently prioritizing US companies, followed by other Western markets.”

On the same page, the question about other languages, quoted above, ends with a second sentence owners tend to skip: “Company representatives must also be able to communicate with the micro1 team in English throughout the partnership and onboarding process.”

On its company referral page, the requirements for the programme for operating companies are four short lines: “30+ employees”, “US and Western markets”, “English” and “All industries”. Its programme for companies that have closed lists “English” too, and the same page repeats “Data should be primarily in English.”

That is everything micro1 publishes on language, on the pages we fetched. It doesn’t publish a percentage. It doesn’t say how it counts mixed records. It doesn’t say whether it translates, or whether it wants you to. Where its pages are silent, the honest answer is that they do not say, and the place to ask is the call.

Two tests, not one

Read together, micro1’s lines set two tests, as our own reading.

The records. Are the documentation, workflows and knowledge bases mainly in English? For a trade company, that means the estimates, the work orders, the procedures, the office email.

The people. Can whoever speaks for the company carry the calls in English, from first review to onboarding? micro1 says representatives must communicate in English “throughout”.

As our own reading, the second test is often the easier one to pass, and the one owners forget. A company whose field crews speak Spanish often has an office manager, an estimator or an owner who runs the customer side in English. That person is the one on the calls.

The first test is where mixed records need thought. The next sections take the common cases one at a time.

A US crew that writes in Spanish

This is not a rare case. The US Census Bureau reports that the number of people in the United States who spoke a language other than English at home grew to 67.8 million in 2019, “almost 1 in 5”. It also says “Spanish was the most common non-English language spoken in U.S. homes (62%) in 2019”. As our own reading, many owners in framing, drywall, roofing, concrete and landscaping will recognise their own crews in those numbers.

Here is what such a company’s records often look like, as our own hypothetical. The estimate goes out in English, built in the office software. The customer’s emails are in English. The change order is written up in English for the customer to sign. Then the foreman’s daily notes come back in Spanish. “Se encontró pudrición en la viga, se cambió una sección de seis pies.” Rot found in the beam, a six-foot section replaced. Photos attached, hours logged.

As our own reading, that company operates in English. Its customer-facing records are in English. Its office runs in English. One stream of its job notes is in another language. That is a long way from a company that keeps everything in Spanish, and it matches what “primarily” seems to allow.

It still has to be said out loud. As our own advice, describe the split in the data manifest: which records are in English, which are in Spanish, roughly what share of each, and for which years. micro1’s referral page says the company “completes data manifest” when it sets up its profile. A plain line there is better than a surprise at review.

Which half carries the value

Owners with mixed records sometimes assume the English half is the valuable half, because it is the tidy half. As our own reading, it is often the other way round.

The English estimate shows what was priced. The English invoice shows what was paid. Neither shows what happened in between. The Spanish job notes do. They show the rot found when the wall was opened, the decision to replace rather than sister, the extra hours, the material run. That is how a change order came to exist, written by the people who did the work.

micro1 says it is “looking for data that reflects how work is actually performed within an organization.” It says the most valuable datasets capture “real operational expertise, decision-making processes, and repeatable workflows”. As our own reading, the foreman’s notes are exactly that, in whatever language he wrote them.

That doesn’t change micro1’s bar. It changes how you describe your records. Don’t write off the notes in Spanish as noise. Count them, date them, and ask what micro1 wants done with them. Our page on job files and work orders shows which parts of a job file matter most.

Email is the same story. The office inbox is in English. A thread between the estimator and the foreman may switch languages halfway. As our own reading, that thread still shows how an estimate became a job. Our page on email archives covers which mailboxes hold that kind of thread.

A company outside the US

For a company in Quebec, Lyon, Munich or Madrid, the language bar matters as much as the location. micro1 says: “While the program accepts referrals globally, current demand is strongest for companies based in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.” And: “Companies from other regions may still be considered, but selection will depend on the specific needs of active opportunities and customer demand at the time.”

A German heating contractor whose quotes, job cards and procedures are all in German doesn’t meet “primarily in English” on its face. As our own reading, that is a hard case, not a closed door. “At this time” and “primarily” leave room for micro1 to decide, and micro1 is the one deciding. Say so at application, plainly, and let it answer.

Some companies outside the US sit in between. A Canadian firm may quote in English and French. A Dutch contractor may run its international jobs in English and its local ones in Dutch. The same advice holds: describe the split honestly and ask.

Our page on companies outside the US covers the rest of what micro1 publishes for them: headquarters, who receives the records, and the rules on records crossing a border.

What a translation step does and does not change

Owners often reach for the obvious fix: translate the records first, then apply. micro1’s pages say nothing about translation, either by the company or by micro1. So this section is our own advice, labelled as ours.

What a translation changes. The words. A note in Spanish becomes a note in English. A reader who doesn’t speak Spanish can follow it.

What it does not change. The work. The steps were the steps. The rot was found, the section was replaced, the hours were logged. A translation doesn’t add judgment the record didn’t hold, and it can’t put back steps that were never written.

What it can lose. Trade shorthand, local terms and the crew’s own words for a part. A translator who doesn’t know framing may turn a precise phrase into a vague one. As our own reading, the original is the record. A translation is a new document about the record.

What it can expose. Sending raw files to an outside translator means sending them with customer names, addresses and phone numbers still in them. micro1 says companies don’t need to strip those first: “No, micro1 has processes for de-identifying and transforming sensitive information.” As our own advice, don’t hand the raw files to anyone else before you’ve asked micro1 how it wants them.

What it costs. Time and money, before you know whether it is wanted. Our page on whether messy records still count makes the same point about tidying: don’t rewrite old records before you apply. Translation is a kind of rewrite.

So the order is: ask first. If micro1 wants translated records, it can tell you how, and whether the original should travel with the translation.

De-identification still happens first

The worry about customer names doesn’t change with the language. A Spanish job note can hold a customer’s name and street just as an English one can. A French invoice holds an address. The rule is the same.

micro1’s announcement of 9 October 2026, a commitment “to spend $1 billion over the next 12 months acquiring and licensing enterprise operational data”, says it “uses de-identified company data”. Its privacy list says “Personal and identifying information is removed or transformed before your data is shared with third parties.” Its protection answer says “Personally identifiable information (PII) is removed when relevant”. After sharing, it says, “certain datasets may undergo synthetic rewrites that preserve workflow structure while reducing direct ties to original records.”

micro1 doesn’t publish a different rule for records in other languages. It also doesn’t say how its de-identification handles them. As our own advice, ask on the call: which languages it handles, and whether you can see a de-identified sample drawn from the notes in Spanish, not just the English estimates. micro1 says companies have “the opportunity to review representative samples before use”. Make the sample match your real records.

Our page on how de-identification works shows, record by record, what comes out and what stays. How it’s safe gives the short version of the protections.

How the work was done, in any language

Customer names and payments are never what is wanted. The work is. That holds whatever language the work was written in.

As our own examples, here is what “how the work was done” looks like on the page.

How an estimate became a job. The first estimate, the customer’s questions, the revised price, the signed version. In English, in French, or in an email thread that changes language halfway.

How a change order was settled. The note from the field that the subfloor was soft. The photo. The added line. The customer’s yes. “Subfloor soft under the tub, replace 4x6 section” or “Contrapiso blando bajo la tina, reemplazar sección de 4x6” records the same decision.

How a repair was diagnosed. The complaint, the readings taken, the first guess, the second visit, the part that fixed it. A service ticket that says “Druckabfall am Ausdehnungsgefäß, Membran defekt, getauscht” is a repair diagnosed: pressure loss at the expansion vessel, membrane failed, replaced.

How the company learned. The callback log. The procedure rewritten after a failure. The checklist added after the third time the same mistake happened.

In each case the value is in the sequence: what was found, what was decided, what was done. As our own reading, the language changes how easily a buyer can use the record. It doesn’t change what the record shows.

What this means for a company with 30 or more staff

micro1’s referral page lists “30+ employees” among its company requirements. Here is one company, as our own hypothetical: a remodelling and repair contractor with 48 people and twelve years of records. Most of its field crews speak Spanish.

What it has. Estimates and invoices in English from its office software. Customer email in English. Change orders written in English for signature. Daily job notes and punch lists in Spanish, typed on phones by three foremen. A crew group chat, mostly in Spanish. Written safety procedures in both languages.

What it says in the data manifest. That the office, the estimates, the invoices and the customer email are in English for all twelve years. That job notes are mainly in Spanish, and from which year. That the safety procedures exist in both languages.

Who takes the calls. The operations manager, who runs the office side in English.

What it asks on the first call. Whether the Spanish job notes are wanted as they are, wanted in translation, or not wanted at all. Whether de-identification covers names in the Spanish notes. Which de-identified sample it will see before use.

What it does not do. Translate twelve years of notes before anyone has asked for them.

Our page on companies with 30 or more staff covers the lane in full, and our page on who qualifies for the data partnership covers the rest of micro1’s bar. For a sense of scale, our estimate gives a range in a few questions. It is our range, not an offer. micro1’s own estimator says the same of its figure: “Indicative estimate only.”

What is never included

micro1 doesn’t publish a fixed exclusion list. It says it protects “sensitive information through data anonymization and secure handling,” and, as we read its pages, scope is agreed with each company.

As our own advice, keep these out unless micro1 agrees otherwise in writing: attorney-client privileged records, health information, payment-card and financial-account details, Social Security numbers and national identity numbers, minors’ data, biometric data, and classified or export-controlled material. Leave out payroll and staff files. Leave out anything a client owns under its contract with you, and the customer list itself.

Records in another language make this harder to check, not easier. If the person scoping the export doesn’t read Spanish or German, a note about a tenant’s medical reason for an urgent call can slip through unseen. As our own advice, have someone who reads the language look over a sample before anything leaves the building. Our page on what is never included shows where those records tend to hide.

Questions to bring to the call

Because micro1’s pages stop at “primarily in English”, the useful detail lives in the conversation. As our own advice, bring these.

How do you count records that are partly in another language?
Do you want the non-English records as they are, translated, or left out?
If translated, by whom, and does the original travel with it?
Does your de-identification handle names and addresses in that language?
Can we see a de-identified sample drawn from those records before use?

micro1’s referral page says qualified companies “are invited to connect with a Data Partnership Manager to discuss their data, licensing terms, and next steps.” That is where these questions belong. Our page on what happens after you apply shows the steps in order.

Worth two minutes to see your range?

Where we fit

We, TrustPast, explain how this works and give you a range with our estimate. You apply to micro1 yourself, through the button below. micro1 pays us a referral fee. You pay us nothing. We never hold your records, and we don’t translate them. As our own advice, don’t translate them yet either.

TrustPast

Questions and answers

Do our records have to be in English?

Mostly. micro1’s data partnerships page asks “Can company data and documentation be in languages other than English?” and answers: “At this time, we are primarily looking for companies that operate in English and maintain their documentation, workflows, and knowledge bases in English.” Its eligibility answer says: “Data should be primarily in English.”

Our crew writes job notes in Spanish, but estimates and invoices are in English. Do we still qualify?

micro1 doesn’t publish a percentage or a rule for mixed records. As our own reading, a company that quotes, invoices and runs its office in English is a company that operates in English, with some notes in another language. Say so plainly in the data manifest and ask on the call. micro1 decides.

Does the person on the calls need to speak English?

Yes. micro1 says: “Company representatives must also be able to communicate with the micro1 team in English throughout the partnership and onboarding process.”

Should we translate our records before we apply?

micro1’s pages say nothing about translation. As our own advice, don’t translate anything before you ask. A translation is a new document, not the record you kept, and sending raw files to a translator means sending customer names out before anyone has removed them.

Are customer names removed from records in other languages too?

micro1 says “Personal and identifying information is removed or transformed before your data is shared with third parties.” It doesn’t publish a different rule by language. As our own advice, ask how de-identification handles the languages your records use.