Intercultural Communication and Translation News

People from Western cultures such as the United States are particularly challenged in their ability to understand someone else’s point of view because they are part of a culture that encourages individualism, new research at the University of Chicago shows.

In contrast, Chinese, who live in a society that encourages a collectivist attitude among its members, are much more adept at determining another person’s perspective, according to a new study.

One of the consequences of Americans’ and other Westerners’ problems of seeing things from another person’s point of view is faltering communication, said Boaz Keysar, Professor in Psychology at the University of Chicago.

“Many actions and words have multiple meanings. In order to sort out what a person really means, we need to gain some perspective on what he or she might be thinking and, Americans for example, who don’t have that skill very well developed, probably tend to make more errors in understanding what another person means,” Keysar said.

Keysar is co-author with University graduate student Shali Wu of “The Effect of Culture on Perspective Taking,” which discusses their research and is published in the current issue of the journal Psychological Science.

Read more: Keysar 

L’Oreal, the world’s largest cosmetics firm, says its business is a “celebration of diversity” and its famous slogan is “Because you’re worth it.”  But is the company referring to White women only?

A French civil appeals court apparently saw it that way and found the cosmetic giant guilty of racial discrimination because it ruled out all but White women to promote its shampoo.

Read more: L’Oreal 

The seasoned banker from Rhode Island and the junior banker from Brazil seemed to be worlds apart on the surface. But when Merrill Lynch managing director Kerry Cannella and young associate Selma Bueno joined forces on their first deal, they made a potent cross-cultural duo.

Most Merrill Lynch deals today involve an international party, which makes a diverse global workforce a must. Merrill Lynch boasts 740 offices in 37 countries, with non-U.S. revenue making up 54% of the total revenue of its global markets and investment banking group.

“The world is getting much smaller,” Cannella says. “Borders basically don’t exist anymore.”

In past years, many U.S. companies lost their way in a business Babel, where international workforces are as likely to speak Spanish, Hindi or Mandarin as they do English. Today, though, as more multinationals race into the global economy, they’re tailoring their diversity policies and practices to the new cultural and business order to a greater degree than ever before.

Read more: Merrill Lynch

The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) is calling on high street books to pull a Tintin adventure from its shelves over claims it is racist.

Complaints about Tintin in the Congo have led to Borders and Waterstones moving it to their adult section. A spokeswoman said the book contained “words of hideous racial prejudice, where the ’savage natives’ look like monkeys and talk like imbeciles”. Borders said they are committed to let their “customers make the choice”.

Read more: Tintin 

Interculturalists like Geert Hofstede tell us that Germany and the United Kingdom share identical points for cultural dimensions such as Power Distance (35) and Masculinity (66), but show widely divergent figures for Individualism and Uncertainty Avoidance. Essentially, the British are more individualistic (89) than the Germans (67), resulting in one English businessman’s comment to me that “In Germany everything is either forbidden or compulsory.” Tip: don’t cramp their style. The British are more risk-friendly, with a much lower score (35) for Uncertainty Avoidance than the sicher-ist-sicher guys back home (65). Tip: when you’re presenting new concepts, sell them as flexible rather than total. Conversations also take a widely different form in the UK, with abstract thought and sincere opinion sacrificed for wit and repartee. Yield your turn, don’t bulldoze over that verbal interruption. If at all possible, make it look as if being German is a bit of a laugh, and be ready to feed that curiosity the British still possess for a certain 12-year phase of recent German history.

Read more: Brits and Germans 

“When you’re looking at skills and technical professions there’s a good body there of commonality,” said Tom Ryan, who’s in charge of Communitech’s recruitment strategy. “What we also find is culture shock. We find culture shock and language as a two-part killer.”

Not always, according to Herbert Hess, president of Hess Associates, which provides a placement service for people looking for work in the IT sector. Hess said that while language and culture shock can be a problem for some immigrants looking for work, people from countries such as India are used to working 10 to 14 hours a day - the kind of work ethic employers are looking for. “They’ve got language skills, communication skills and are very well educated. They don’t seem to have a problem in terms of fitting in.”

Hess said he’s seeing more Middle Eastern people looking for work nowadays compared to previous years, when Russian and Asian workers dominated the field.

Read more: Hess 

As companies conduct cross-border courtships and inter-marry , the one glue needed to hold all the pieces together seems to be missing. Language and communication skills seem to be the one major casualty of the technical education pursued by most managers and coveted by most employers. However successful an organisation, the lack of proper language skills can derail the most audacious merger or turn the most breath-taking innovation into an ordinary process shift.

That’s probably why Astra-Zeneca , Boeing and Citigroup have all hired well-known poet David Whyte to figure out how to conduct conversations within their organisations.

Read more: Whyte 

Starbucks has closed a coffeehouse in China’s former imperial palace, the company said, ending a presence that prompted protests by Chinese critics who said it damaged a major historical site.

The controversy over Starbucks at the 587-year-old Forbidden City in Beijing has highlighted Chinese sensitivity about cultural symbols and unease over an influx of foreign popular culture.

Read more: Starbucks 

Many people with knowledge of languages ask how they can get started in freelance translation. These steps can help guide you through the process of becoming a freelance translator.
First things first – Why translation?

Before becoming a translator it is a good idea to consider the pros and cons of the job. On the plus side freelance translation can be varied, interesting, challenging and allows you to be your own boss. On the down side you work on your own, you rely on agencies for your income, it can be difficult to get recognised and you have to be responsible for your own taxes and accounts.

Read more: Getting Started in Freelance Translation 

Without doubt Catholicism can be considered the first and most influential organised faith in the religious history of Argentina . The religion came over from Europe when the first voyages of discovery were made in 1502 with the voyage of Amerigo Vespucci. The Spanish navigator Juan Díaz de Solís visited the areas now known as Argentina in 1516. In 1536 the Spaniards founded a small settlement. The first permanent colony was actually on the site on modern day Buenos Aires in 1580 which at that time was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru.

Read more: Religious History of Argentina