Intercultural Communication and Translation News

Language skills are crucial for growth and jobs. Each year, thousands of European companies lose business and miss out on contracts as a result of their lack of language skills and intercultural competence. The challenge for internationally active firms is to integrate different organisational cultures and communicate efficiently in order to maximise performance.

How can companies acquire a more strategic approach to multilingual communication? Are national education and training systems able to provide dynamic enterprises with enough people with the right skills? Is the European labour market flexible enough for entry into new markets?

Mr Leonard Orban, member of the European Commission responsible for multilingualism, is hosting an international conference in Brussels to discuss the issues of languages as a competitive strength for Europe.
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Case studies from both large and small companies will be presented. Three parallel workshops will be organised on:

* Languages and regional development
* Language skills in companies – supply and demand
* Promoting language learning in companies

The speakers in the plenary sessions and workshops will represent businesses, teaching and training providers, education authorities and regional developers. Participants will include, among others, chambers of commerce, cultural institutes, language schools, developers of language teaching software, management consultants and trade organisations.

The conference is free of charge but participants will have to pay their own travel costs and accommodation in Brussels. Although registration is open, the number of participants is limited. The Commission reserves the right to screen applications with the objective of ensuring participation from a wide range of countries and target audiences. If you would like to join the conference, please register as soon as possible, so that we can confirm your participation early enough for you to find accommodation without problems.

Read more: Conference Website 

Google has recently added the long-desired Search feature to Reader and has come back quickly with a few more changes and updates.

From the initial launch Google Reader has only been available in English which kind of seems a little strange when you think just how global the internet is, good news is that it will now be available in French, Italian, German, Spanish, English (UK), Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Japanese, and Korean.

Read more: Reader 

Japanese company Fuji Xerox has demonstrated a photocopier that can translate text into a number of languages while keeping the original formatting of the document.

The prototype photocopier, which has not been named, will be able to translate between Japanese, Chinese, English or Korean, according to a report in The Japan Times.

It will also retain the original layout of the source document.

The photocopier has Optical Character Recognition software in addition software that can differentiate between text and drawings and lines, the article states.

“The device, which is currently on show only in Japan, can scan a printed sheet of Japanese text and dispense a translation of it into Chinese, English or Korean. Moreover, it retains the original layout of the source document, whether that be from a newspaper, or a magazine, or the like,” according to the article.

Read more: Photocopier 

“Shared products of society material or nonmaterial.”

by  Jennifer (Sellersburg, United States) on Sep 24,2007 at 05:43.
How would you define culture? Click on comments to give us your opinion.