Intercultural Communication and Translation News

As the evolution of the Internet continues, b-to-b marketers are reaching a crossroads in determining what tactics have worked in the past to attract traffic to their sites versus what approaches will work in the future. According to Internet World Stats, two-thirds of global Internet users are non-English speakers. This growing volume of search activity means that marketing opportunities will continue to evolve on both regional and global levels.

So how can b-to-b marketers capitalize on this trend? Is the answer as simple as translating all Web pages to the targeted country’s language?

Translation is one component of optimizing for international markets, but it’s in no way the end-all answer. A word-for-word translation of a Web site is ambiguous. Instead, Web sites should be translated according to concepts. A simple translation does not take into account cultures, customs and preferences specific to various countries. Additionally, a simple translation loses targeted keywords.

For instance, you wouldn’t think there would be any disparity between a U.S. and U.K. Web page because both countries speak English. However, consider the differences between dialects. In the U.S., speakers use the word taxi, while in the U.K., it’s car hire—both meaning the same thing and both completely different keywords.

Any translation, whether it’s keyword ads or site content, must be relevant to the specified culture. Additionally, human translators will greatly influence the success of your Web page. While automatic translations are easy to use, they have the tendency to kill the keywords that you implement as part of your optimizing campaign.

Read more>  Internet

n angry Italian priest has persuaded soft drinks company Red Bull to withdraw an advertisement setting its product in a nativity scene on the grounds it is disrespectful to Christianity.

Father Marco Damanti, from Sicily, wrote to the makers of the caffeinated energy drink denouncing their commercial as “a blasphemous act” and said on Monday he had received a prompt reply promising to remove it from Italian television.

The advert depicted four wise men, instead of three, visiting Mary and the Baby Jesus in Bethlehem. The fourth wise man bore a can of the soft drink.

“The image of the sacred family has been represented in a sacrilegious way,” Father Damanti told Corriere della Sera. “Whatever the ironic intentions of Red Bull, the advert pokes fun at the nativity, and at Christian sensitivity.”

Read more> Red Bull

As a recent announcement in the official website of EU informs us: Almost three quarters of EU citizens (72%) believe that people with a different background (ethnic, religious or national) enrich the cultural life of their country; a quarter (23%) of citizens disagree with that idea, according to a Flash Eurobarometer survey commissioned by the European Commission. Respondents were asked about the patterns of their interaction with people of different cultures, about their general attitude towards cultural diversity and, specifically, about the upcoming European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008.

Over 27,000 randomly selected citizens aged 15 years and above were interviewed in the twenty-seven Member States of the European Union. The most important outcomes of the survey are the followings: a) Day-to-day interaction among people belonging to different cultures is a reality in Europe; b) a large majority of EU citizens believe that people with a different background (ethnic, religious or national) enrich the cultural life of their country; c) the dominant feeling in the EU is that intercultural dialogue is beneficial, while carrying on domestic cultural traditions is equally important d) Europeans attribute a variety of meanings to the expression “Intercultural dialogue in Europe”; most of these are closely related to the core concept, and are positive; e) and finally a reasonable interest for the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

Read more> EU 

Husbands and wives of work visa applicants will have to prove their English language skills under plans unveiled by the government yesterday.

Home secretary Jacqui Smith announced that foreigners applying for spouse visas will have to undergo language tests.

She also said that criminals with unspent convictions will be refused entry, while the age at which people can come to the UK for marriage will be raised from 18 to 21.

The government is revamping the UK’s migration system, introducing a tougher, points-based scheme. This will be introduced in five stages over the next 18 months.

Read more> Language

What do you think? Should people have to learn the language before they are allowed to work in your country? Take the poll on hour home page. At present  56% of you think they should.