Intercultural Communication and Translation News

Picture it: the CEO of a pharmaceutical company is brainstorming with his staff, and the idea of gift certificates is tossed around. One employee, an accountant and a recent immigrant from Romania, has never heard of a gift certificate, because although she’s fluent in English, gift certificates don’t exist in Romania. She asks, “What’s a gift certificate?” and everyone looks at her like it’s the stupidest question they’ve ever heard.

Unfortunately, this is a true story. It’s just one example cited in Recruiting, Retaining and Promoting Culturally Different Employees by Canadian cross-cultural specialists Don Rutherford and Lionel Laroche.

Although cross-cultural challenges exist in Canadian workplaces, entrepreneurs can employ tactics that help minimize the difficulties to ensure they retain and capitalize on the ideas and skills that culturally diverse employees bring.

Read more: Recruiting, Retaining and Promoting Culturally Different Employees

GMAC will offer a complimentary “Webinar” presentation that will explore the intricate aspects of doing business and living in the Republic of Singapore. Titled, “Singapore: Doing Business with This Unique Island City-State,” the Webinar will be held Tuesday, August 7 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time.

The Webinar will: — Provide an overview and explanation of life in Singapore. — Discuss common stereotypes and perceptions of Singapore nationals. — Analyze business and social protocol “do’s and don’ts” for interacting and working in Singapore. — Provide a framework for comparing and contrasting cultural differences found in Singapore with participants’ own cultures, to enable them to identify and resolve challenges in their own communication. — Suggest communication strategies for bridging cultural differences between personal, national and the target cultures.
Participation in the Webinar is free and limited to the first 100 registrants.

To register, click here.

Think you haven’t got the aptitude to learn a foreign language? New research led by Northwestern University neuroscientists suggests that the problem, quite literally, could be in your head.

“Our study links brain anatomy to the ability to learn a second language in adulthood,” said neuroscientist Patrick Wong, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders at Northwestern and lead author of a study appearing online today (July 25) at , in Cerebral Cortex.

Based on the size of Heschl’s Gyrus (HG), a brain structure that typically accounts for no more than 0.2 percent of entire brain volume, the researchers found they could predict — even before exposing study participants to an invented language — which participants would be more successful in learning 18 words in the “pseudo” language.

Read more: Language 

Americans are quite proud of their melting-pot ideals and unorthodox business practices, but in the international business world, “we tend to stand out wherever we go,” says Dana Persia, owner of DP Image Consulting.

But in most countries, she cautions, your career can depend on your ability to go native.

“Awareness of cultural traditions can make or break deals or relationships,” says Judith Bowman, president and founder of Protocol Consultants International.

Something as simple as exposing the soles of your shoes can spell disaster, as it almost did for the president of a cable TV company. He learned the hard way when, during an important business meeting with a Japanese counterpart, his lawyer put his feet on the desk, exposing the bottom of his shoes. Needless to say, follow-up calls went unreturned for a year.

Read more: J. Bowman 

Most Americans believe their fellow citizens hold strong biases against minorities, according to a landmark poll by Zogby International commissioned by GSN. The survey of 10,387 American adults, one of the most comprehensive ever conducted on prejudice, according to Zogby, explores attitudes about race, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender, physical appearance, and politics. The poll’s margin of error is +/- 1 percentage point.

The “Report Card on American Prejudice” is part of a wide-ranging effort by GSN to spur a national dialogue on intolerance and bigotry. The survey’s release provides a powerful follow-up to the July 17th premiere of the groundbreaking new television series, “Without Prejudice?” which airs Tuesdays at 9 pm (EST) on GSN — the network for games.

Read more: Zogby 

According to a new survey from Cartus, the premier provider of global mobility management and workforce development solutions, an accelerated shift from long-term to short-term international relocation assignments is expected during the next two years.

The Cartus Emerging Trends in Global Mobility: Policies & Practices Survey also revealed that international assignment volume has grown and is expected to increase in the future. The study also found that the number of assignment destinations is surging. Respondents named 51 different countries in their list of top three destination locations, a 76 percent increase over 2004. The United States continued as the most common destination for relocation assignments, but China overtook the UK for second place while Germany replaced Singapore for fourth place. China is expected to take over the top spot within the next two years, according to the survey.

Read more: Cartus 

UK employers are failing to address workplace diversity, despite the country’s long standing equality legislation.

A survey conducted by online recruitment firm Monster, questioning 660 employers, found that six in 10 respondents did not have a diverse workforce or were unaware whether they did.

Four in 10 said diversity is a “big priority”, while 36% said it was not at all, with 15% unsure.

One employer in 10 said was starting to think about it, but was not yet a reality.

Read more: Survey 

Culture and Mental Health: Intercultural Perspectives in Mental Health is a conference to be held on 3 September 2007 at The Resource Centre 356 Holloway Road, London N7 6PA.

Mental distress or “madness” is recognised worldwide. However, culture influences the presentation and meaning individuals, family members and community members give to experiences and matters to do with the mind. In one culture mental distress may be seen as a result of demonic possession or as a result of the effects of witchcraft or sorcery requiring spiritual healing. In another cultural context it may be seen as a result of genetically inherited disease such as schizophrenia requiring administration of anti psychotic medication.

Where different cultures have divergent meaning systems, what counts as a symptom and what do the symptoms signify?  Are the notions derived from some cultures given less value because of racism or cultural arrogance? Are mental health services equipped to deal with the diverse definitions of what constitutes a ‘problem’ and ‘treatment? How universally applicable is Western biomedical disease medicine? Does one size really fit us all? To what extent are psychological therapies such as psychotherapy which promote an individualised notion of the self applicable across all cultures?

Read more: Conference 

• Background

The BMW Group invites academics in many disciplines, including education, to submit qualifying papers and research projects that represent innovative approaches to the advancement of intercultural learning. Entries should be closely aligned to the basic philosophy of the LIFE concept.

• Deadlines: 

October 15, 2007

• Eligibility:

In the Theory category, prizes are awarded for degree work and other academic research projects that address the issue of intercultural learning. In all disciplines, work should demonstrate new ideas and an innovative approach to the issue of “Intercultural Learning” that can be seen to be original with respect to current academic teaching.  Papers of an interdisciplinary nature are especially welcome.

In the Practice category, BMW is looking for committed individuals, groups and institutions that are planning and carrying out initiatives for intercultural learning processes and carry them out in the form of concrete projects – for instance in child, youth and adult education, in neighbourhood projects, cultural and sporting programmes, etc.

• Value:

Prize money total is 25,000 euros. Individual prize amounts are not specified. Prizes will be awarded to the candidates who submit the best entries and be presented during the official award ceremony in Munich.

Read more: BMW

The Western work ethic of rewarding individual hard work is at odds with the cultures of New Zealand’s many indigenous groups, according to UQ social science graduate Dr Ruby Welch.

Her 222-page thesis, called We walk into the future backward, includes some of the interviews with more than 200 Maori and Pakehas from 1993-2003. Dr Welch said traditional Western work ideas focused on individual effort and money to acquire material goods, whereas for Maori, their culture governed their economic actions.

She said personal ambition took a step back as success was not measured by one’s job but by one’s standing in the Maori community. Wealth is shared in the whanau (extended family), the hapu (subtribe) and traditional roles of the Marae (village).

Read more: Dr Welch