While Fama is able to identify risk in a wide array of languages, there are certain limitations on a) languages we cover and b) how flagged hits appear on reports. This documentation will help you better understand the capabilities of our solutions, differences by product and platform. Here’s what you need to know about our non-English language capabilities:

Product Capabilities

What are the limitations and what do they mean?

• Fama products and platforms have unique language capabilities. Language capabilities differ depending on the platform and product. Here’s what to know: 

• Essential (Ossa): Eastern Asian text will be hashed – meaning the # symbol will replace non-English text – on the PDFs. Non-English text will, however, display in reports on the Fama online app. 
• Plus (Ossa): Eastern Asian text will be hashed (#) on the PDFs. They will, however, display in the Fama online app. 
• Plus (Core): Eastern Asian text will display blanks (        ) – meaning that there will be empty space in place of the non-English word – on the PDFs. Non-English text will, however, display in reports on the Fama online app. 
• Instant Fit: Screenings can only be done in English. 
• 360: Please note that 360 has different language coverage than Plus. This means that the 360 portion and enclosed Plus report may behave differently.
  • In the 360 part of the report, Eastern Asian text may be hashed (#) or display special characters (like ▯) on the PDFs.
  • The Plus report as part of the 360 is the same as the Plus (Core) report.

• Language requirements for Adding a New Report are different than for screening content in a report.
  • When requesting a new report, candidate names and personal information must be added in English or a Latin-based language. 
  • As of September 2024, customers will be able to add candidate names with accents and special characters via the resume parser or manually in Ossa.
• The Behavioral Models that power Fama’s Behavior Flags only work in English.
  • Fama’s Behavioral Models will only ‘read’ text and video content in English. This means our Behavioral Flags will NOT work in languages other than English.  
  • Exception: Our Behavioral Models can identify and flag misconduct in images regardless of language. Ex. images with a cannabis plant or a firearm will be flagged in any language. 
  • Please Note: 360 reports have special language requirements. Please see additional 360 documentation for information or connect with Ops.
• Customers must use keywords to screen in non-English languages.
  • Users will need to add Keywords to Behavior Kits in order to screen for behaviors or text-based social media content with those keywords.
  • We have pre-made keyword lists in: Italian, Russian, French, Danish, Bulgarian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Swedish, and Portuguese. Typically, adjustments are made by the customer but third party resources can typically help Sales/Customer success create their own expanding lists.
  • For any other language, customers need to provide or add their own keyword list.
• Types of content we ‘read’ and report on is limited in non-English languages.
  • Customers will be able to screen text-based or video-based social posts with foreign language keywords, which means they will need to add keywords to their Behavior Kit.
  • Our coverage on screening foreign language web-based content such as search results or news articles is not as robust as in English. However, our search algorithms and process finds all instances of foreign language keywords. 
  • Our Behavior Models CAN read and report on image-posts that would be normally flagged by our Behavioral Models. Ex. Images with firearms or cannabis plants.
• Fama Plus presents foreign languages in the native language on reports, while 360 typically does translate from native language to English
• Fama does NOT change the sources we screen depending on the language our customer screens in. 

Language Capabilities by Report Format 

Fama’s language capabilities will differ depending on where the report is being accessed. “Fully Supported” non-English languages will appear in our online application and PDF reports.  Limited supported language can only be viewed on our online application. See below for details. 

Fully Supported in the Online App and on PDF Reports

As of September 2024, customers can request reports in Ossa of candidates with names and personal information in Latin-based languages. This means that customers can use accents as part of candidate names and personal information and Fama will still be able to begin the Profile Confirmation process to identify the candidate’s name and social media profiles.

Beyond entering candidate information, in order to find content with misconduct signals, customers can use keywords in the languages listed below. Keywords in the Supported Languages section will appear in both the online application and PDF versions of a Fama report. Keywords in the Limited Support section will only display on the online application.  

Limited Languages Supported in the Online App Only 

Fama offers limited support in the following languages. Limitations include how candidate reports can be submitted, what we screen, and how content in the following languages appear in results across the online application or the PDF. 

Additional details: 

1. In order to request a report, the candidate’s name and personally identifiable information must be written in English or one of the major Latin-based languages, including French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian.
2. Fama reports containing the following languages are available for review within Fama’s web application ONLY. They are NOT available on a PDF report. 
3. Fama can only report on social media posts in the following language through keywords OR through images and video cover photos that would normally be flagged by a Behavior Flag (ex. an image of a cannabis plant or a firearm). Any text or video-based social media post that contains a keyword included in the respective Behavior Kit will display on report results.