Intercultural Communication and Translation News

The Police Service of Northern Ireland has introduced an initiative aimed at making it easier for non-English speakers to make a 999 emergency call.

Now if a caller is placed on hold because they cannot be understood, a multi-language ‘please hold’ message will be heard.

While the caller listens to the message, the operator, as before, arranges for an interpreter.

The initiative is the first of its kind in the UK.

Read more > The BBC 

Multilingual marketing services are in growing demand as the world flattens and more Michigan companies export goods and services. Translation businesses say they are thriving despite fierce competition.

“It’s a good business these days with everything going global,” explains Lori Ann Elzerman, founder of Expert Language Services in Rochester Hills. “With the slowdown of the U.S. economy, companies are trying to sell their products abroad.”

Elzerman, who confesses her own lack of foreign language expertise, focuses her business on technical automotive documents and human resources materials, as well as on marketing pieces for advertising agencies. It specializes in multi-language projects, often translating one document into 14 others.

“Basically, if you were interested in a Lincoln MKX and walked into a dealership in Central America, you would pick up something we translated,” she says.

Other services include interpreting for business meetings, corporate training, voice-over services, scripts and Web site translation, which is growing at a fast rate. Consulting goes hand-in-hand, as in the case when Elzerman was given a memo to translate regarding snow removal and ice that wasn’t applicable that time of year in Brazil.

Read more > mlive.com 

Around 250 charities and organisations will be promoting Deaf Awareness in events taking place across the country this week, coordinated by the UK Council on Deafness. The week aims to highlight the different methods of communication used by deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people in the UK, including British Sign Language and lip reading.The Deaf Awareness Week website contains useful information for anyone looking to use the week to promote awareness of deafness, including interviews with companies and individuals showing good practice, interesting facts about deafness, and downloadable posters and leaflets.

British Sign Language is the first or preferred language of a huge 70,000 people in the UK. CILT’s Languages Work website provides information on how to become a British Sign Language interpreter, as well as a case study describing the experience of Linda, a BSL interpreter for the BBC.

CILT will be providing information for teachers and managers involved in or interested in providing British Sign Language courses for adults as part of this year’s Adult Education Languages Show. Catherine White from Action Deafness Leicester will be leading the workshop on ‘Teaching and Managing British Sign Language’ at the national Show, which takes place at the University of Derby on 6 June.

Read more > Deaf Awareness 

Indian companies are clueless about local cultures and the social mores that prevail in their associates, joint ventures and subsidiaries abroad. 

Like our ancestors we are now crossing the seven seas and establishing outposts in foreign lands. Indian companies are going global as never before! The excitement and can-do attitude of the corporates is palpable. Strategies, business plans, budgets, travel schedules and manpower in Indian companies are increasingly international. Boundaries are being erased not just on maps but in minds.
Key asset ignored

Many companies are however unaware of the cultural nuances involved in global business. Most of the time the acquisition programme is confined to “hard” business due-diligence. The information processing about a new business possibility is restricted to number crunching, contingency planning and future opportunities. The assets most central to the entire opportunity, people and personal networks, are entirely ignored!

Read more > India 

Macedonia on the face of it is still a fairly formal society. This reflects in the rather proper and reserved nature of initial meetings. Within the business context a firm handshake, direct eye contact and the appropriate greeting for the time of day suffices. The hierarchical nature of Macedonians results in an emphasis on rank and position. As a result if people have official, educational or work titles ensure you use them. If you are unsure then simply use Mr or Mrs followed by the surname. Only friends and family address each other with first names. One should always wait for their Macedonian counterparts to determine when it is appropriate to become this informal.

Some useful phrases to make a good initial impression include:

* Good morning. dobro utro
* Good day. dobar den
* Good evening. dobra vecher
* Hello. zdravo
* How are you? kako si?
* I’m fine, thank you. dobro sum, blagodaram

Business cards are exchanged on initial meetings but there is little protocol to follow in their exchange. As a basic courtesy do not write on the card or treat it nonchalantly. If your company/firm has been established a long time (25-50 years) it is a good idea to include the founding date on the card as this gives credibility. Also add any academic qualifications to the card. Translating cards may not always be a necessity but it would certainly impress recipients.

Read more > Doing Business in Macedonia 

Nurses and health care providers who care for patients of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds often face such challenges as unfamiliar languages and cultural beliefs. To provide optimum care, cultural sensitivity and knowledge are crucial, especially in the case of patients facing cancer.

In the April 2008 issue of MEDSURG Nursing, authors Marcos Pesquera, Linda Yoder and Marilyn Lynk outline key aspects of provider care that help patients understand their disease and reduce the anxiety that comes with facing a serious illness in an unfamiliar setting.

Nurses and other professionals first need to assess their personal attitudes and identify any biases or assumptions, Pesquera writes. Providers should then seek to understand a patient’s particular culture and its influence on cancer prevention and control. To further build trust, health care professionals need to demonstrate empathy and validate the patient’s comprehension by asking such questions as “Do you understand what I am asking you to do?”

The authors point out that culturally-competent care “requires a commitment on behalf of an entire institution - personnel, programs, policies, and resources - to embrace cultural competence and reduce health disparities.”

Cancer: Caring and Conquering’ column: Improving Cross-Cultural Awareness and Skills to Reduce Health Disparities in Cancer
Marcos Pesquera, MPH, RPh; Linda Yoder, MBA, PhD, RN, AOCN®, FAAN; and Marilyn Lynk, PhD;
MEDSURG Nursing April 2008 - http://www.medsurgnurse.org

About MEDSURG Nursing - The Journal of Adult Health

MEDSURG Nursing, The Journal of Adult Health, is the official journal of the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN). The journal provides its readers with the multidisciplinary information they need to provide clinically excellent patient care and to enhance their nursing practice. MEDSURG Nursing supports adult health/medical-surgical nurses as they strive for excellence in patient care, private practice, and outpatient health care settings in urban, suburban, and rural locations. Each peer-reviewed issue of MEDSURG Nursing features a comprehensive discussion and description of today’s clinical issues in adult health/medical-surgical nursing. MEDSURG Nursing and AMSN are committed to the advancement of adult health/medical-surgical nursing practice. The journal is published six times a year.

Read more > MEDSURG Nursing

Trivantis, a leading global provider of tools and services that enable its customers to create and manage eLearning content and multimedia communications, today announced the availability of multilingual versions of CourseMill 5.0, its leading Learning Management System (LMS) and Lectora 2008.

The solutions are now available in the following languages: CourseMill 5.0 in Dutch, French, German, Italian and Spanish
Lectora 2008 in French, German, Spanish and Swedish.

Read more > Trivantis 

“Modern” China is still disconnected from the West by confusing and complex cultural exchanges that prevent each from understanding the other, academics will suggest at a Cambridge University conference this week.

In the first event of its kind, scholars from Britain, China and the US will attempt to explain how ideas are transmitted between the two cultures, amid concerns that the very process of translation both shapes and misshapes mutual understanding.

Focussing on ideas about modernism and modernity, experts in Chinese studies, literature and linguistics will argue that despite the perceived westernisation of Chinese culture, western concepts are in fact being reinterpreted and transformed in a uniquely Chinese way.

The result, they will suggest, has been a surge of exciting new ideas and forms in Chinese culture, society and art . Failure to break through that translation barrier and “unthink” our own western cultural systems, however, potentially limits the relationship between countries like Britain and America, and the world’s biggest emerging superpower.

“The rise of China as a major force in the age of globalisation makes it more urgent than ever to ask what processes of transmission mediate cultural exchanges between China and the West,” said Professor Mary Jacobus, from Cambridge University and convener of the conference.

“It’s very easy to assume, in light of events such as the Beijing Olympics or the appearance of branches of McDonald’s in major Chinese cities, that Chinese modernity is interacting with the west in a seamless way, rather than effecting transformations.

“In fact there is still a need to understand its culture more deeply, and in particular to understand how not just words, but ideas and metaphors are crossing the East-West divide and producing new and different concepts of modernity.”

Read more >  China 

Launch of ‘Welcoming the World’ - an initiative to help Londoners give great customer service to international visitors

London is already attracting millions of visitors every year and with the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games on the horizon, many more will come to our city. Regional Language Network London’s initiative ‘Welcoming the World’, which is funded by the London Development Agency, is helping people and businesses from across London to understand the expectations of these international visitors from a customer service point of view, and to find out a little about different countries and languages. A range of events, country profiles and a guide to dealing with visitors will help London businesses and Londoners go that extra mile.

Events

Our first one-day workshops are taking place on 7 May (Stratford) and 22 May (City Lit, Holborn) with further dates soon to be announced. Participation is free of charge for London residents. Find out more.

Guide to giving great customer service

Our downloadable guide gives tips and advice on dealing with people from different cultures – helping you to understand your own cultural view as well as other people’s. Find out more.

Country profiles

We’ve created profiles which give cultural advice on 11 different countries and territories – including China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Middle East, Poland, Russia, Spain and the USA. Find out more.

Learning Spanish is best achieved in the language’s cultural context, which is why thousands of students every year choose to study Spanish in Barcelona. University courses in this international, bicultural city are offered at a wide range of universities that place great emphasis on a quality education for today’s globalized world.

The University of Barcelona (also known as the UAB or Barcelona University) is one of the most prestigious and forward-looking educational institutions in Barcelona. Spanish courses at the UAB are available to students of all levels in standard, intensive and individual formats, and include week, month and semester-long programs.

Because of the prestige associated with these internationally recognized universities, many students consider them the best option for Spanish courses. Barcelona places great emphasis on promoting itself as a center for international studies, and much work has been done in the city to increase its appeal as such.

Thus, taking a language course in Barcelona represents a good choice for one’s education as well as for one’s future employment possibilities. Language courses in Barcelona are known and respected in international business circles, a world community that is very aware of the value of Spanish (Barcelona is arguably the world’s preferred destination for business-oriented Spanish courses).

There are also a wide range of Spanish language schools in Barcelona that offer comparable quality to that of a Spanish course in Spanish universities. Language courses at these smaller language schools often offer the advantage of increased flexibility and ease of registration.

As a city in which to have a study abroad experience, Barcelona is appealing to international students in many regards. Not only is it a large, cosmopolitan and stimulating city; it’s also graced with a coastline and numerous beautiful beaches (Madrid, in contrast, is a fantastic city but lacks this type of refreshing escape).

The historic center of the city is full of fascinating architecture and winding streets hiding charming restaurants and sidewalk cafés. Las Ramblas is one of the city’s most famous boardwalks; this wide pedestrian avenue is constantly alive with curious visitors, street performers and vendors of all types.

Nightlife is known to be excellent year-round, although it’s perhaps at its liveliest during the summer months. The city’s largest and most emblematic disco is Razzmatazz (formerly known as Sala Zeleste). Another interesting night spot is Dow Jones, a crowded bar where prices for drinks imitate the rise and fall of the stock market and can be tracked on overhead monitors.

Barcelona holds countless other sites of cultural and recreational interest, such as the world-famous Sagrada Familia cathedral and the huge and beautiful Parque Guell (both designed by the late architect Antoni Gaudi).

Getting around Barcelona is made easy by the city’s excellent and dependable public transportation system, which includes an extensive metro network that stays open until 2:00am on Friday’s and operates continuously on Saturdays. A leisurely walk through the city, however, is a pleasure that shouldn’t be overlooked. Wide streets lined with intriguing monuments and unique architecture (the hand of Gaudi is prevalent) make Barcelona one of the world’s most enjoyable cities by foot.

Lie Chan who works for Barcelona University, a website that offers Spanish courses at Barcelona University.