Intercultural Communication and Translation News

Facts and Statistics

Location: Western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Benin and Cameroon
Capital: Abuja
Population: 135,031,164
Ethnic Groups: over 250 ethnic groups including Hausa and Fulani 29%, Yoruba 21%, Igbo (Ibo) 18%, Ijaw 10%, Kanuri 4%, Ibibio 3.5%, Tiv 2.5%
Religions: Muslim 50%, Christian 40%, indigenous beliefs 10%

Nigerian Society and Culture

Religion

Many religions are followed in Nigeria. The constitution guarantees religious freedom. Christians predominantly live in the south of the country, whereas Muslims live predominantly in the north. Native religions in which people believe in deities, spirits and ancestor worship, are spread throughout the country. Many Muslims and Christians may also intertwine their beliefs with more unorthodox indigenous ones.

The major Christian celebrations of Christmas and Easter are recognized as national holidays. Muslims observe Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, and the two Eids. Working hours in the north often vary from those in the south so that Muslims do not work on their holy day, which is Friday.

National Pride

Along with South Africa, Nigeria is considered a super-power in the African continent and consequently Nigerians are generally proud of their country. It has the largest population in Africa and the land is endowed with vast quantities of natural resources. It is the sixth largest oil-producing nation and has a well-educated and industrious society. They are fond of the expression, “When Nigeria sneezes, the rest of the African nations (with the exception of South Africa) catch cold.”

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Fact One: What is British Sign Language?

British Sign language is a visual-gestural language which makes use of three dimensional space and the movement of hands (and other parts of the body) to convey meaning. It has its own vocabulary and syntax.

An aid to understanding British Sign Language can be helped by understating the processes of spoken language. Spoken language involves the use of the oratory faculties to produce sounds mapped against specific words and grammatical combinations. The oratory elements are then received by the auditory faculties and processed accordingly. British sign language however, makes use of the visual faculties as opposed to the auditory faculties. In the same way that spoken language makes use of rules to produce comprehensive messages, British Sign Language is also governed by a complex grammar which allows both the tangible and the non tangible to be discussed thoroughly.

Contrary to the beliefs of significant parts of the speaking population, British Sign Language is not a mixture of arbitrary signs modelled on the visual referent.

Fact Two: Who uses British Sign Language?

It is estimated that up to 70,000 individuals use British Sign Language as their first language. Clearly however, use of British Sign Language is not confined to this community of people. It is also used by families, friends and colleagues of deaf individuals and also, professionals such as British Sign Language interpreters and teachers.

Fact Three: How does British Sign Language differ from spoken language?

As mentioned above, British Sign Language makes use of visual channels, whilst spoken language makes use of auditory channels. The differences do not stop here however. Speed is also a key differentiating factor and as such, words in the spoken mode can be produced twice as quickly as signs. Even though this is the case, this does not make the communicating of British Sign Language any slower than spoken language; the reason being that the eyes can perceive multiple signals – therefore, the signs maybe combined with other movements of the face, head and body.

Read more >  Facts about British Sign Language

Hotels.com has started 2008 with the launch of five new European local language sites in Greece, Turkey, Iceland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

This move comes as part of Hotels.com’s continued roll-out across the EMEA region and has seen each of the five sites go live with IP based country recognition, local-language interfaces and local currency pricing.

These launches solidify Hotels.com’s position as the world’s favourite hotel booking specialists*, with the company now operating 25 sites across Europe including sites in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia and Benelux. The launch of the new sites continues Hotels.com’s local language expansion plans which also saw Poland and Russia go live in 2007.

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Babbel is launching today and it’s a rich Internet application built in Flex that is going to help you learn a new language. Like any site now there is a bit of a social twist. Users of the site can message back and forth and study together. Currently the site supports Spanish, French, Italian, German and English. You pick what language you’re interested in learning and then it walks you through a series of quizzes that get harder as you go along.

Read more > Babbel 

Japan will consider tightening its long-term visa conditions by requiring applicants to pass a language test, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said.

There is at present no requirement for Japan’s more than 2 million foreign residents to master the language, which in its written form includes about 2,000 Chinese characters in everyday use.

“For foreign people living in Japan to be able to speak Japanese is not only important for improving their own quality of life, but also necessary for Japanese society as a whole,” Kyodo news agency quoted Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura as telling reporters.

Read more > Japanese 

The importance of advertising can hardly be overemphasised in the competitive environment we live in today. No matter what the field may be, whether it is education, health care or the latest fashions, a large part of business success seems to hinge on advertising wizardry. Geographical boundaries are fast disappearing, allowing for exponential business growth across continents. In this scenario, language translation services occupy a niche segment in the services industry today.

Surprisingly enough, when it comes to cross cultural advertising, the implications of effective translation services and localization of advertising content is not that well understood. Somewhere along the way, companies falter in choosing product names or marketing slogans. The impact is felt much later and at great expense to the company, that the marketing spiel is not well received by the target audience owing to a simple slip up in the advertising effort.

A 1985 study consumer behavior covering diverse markets like the U.S., Quebec and Korea, highlighted that there are important differences in the reasons why consumers in these countries buy similar products. The reasons are steeped in the respective cultures. The buying of wine, for example highlights the cultural differences very well. In most countries of northern Europe, wine is considered as a drink for special occasions. In many South European countries, however, it is an every day drink. To use the same marketing terminology for the same product in both regions would be a marketing mistake. Language translation services, when used in the field of advertising, must take these factors into account. Otherwise, it would mean that a lot of money spent in advertising, would just be going down the drain.

Read more > Advertising 

As we know, translation metaphors abound. Some bring us closer to the truth, some confuse and confound. The nature of translation makes it difficult to understand the phenomenon, hence the countless number of metaphors which are often contradictory. On the one hand, translators are asked to be as faithful as possible, but on the other hand, they are told to never translate word-for-word. Translators are told to mirror the text often in an almost mechanical way, yet the very task of translation is itself extremely creative.

Thus, the question that really interests translation theorists is whether the translation process is a ‘primary’ or ’secondary’ process. Is translation ‘creation’ or is it ‘recapitulation’? If, on the one hand, we assume that translation is a ‘primary’ process then the question of authorship is paramount - the translator is the ‘creator’ of the text, a ‘co-author’ of sorts. If, on the other hand, the process is ’secondary’ then the ‘creativity factor’ is of less import and, in effect, the focus is on the source rather than the target text.

Read more >  transubstantiation

According to the Xinhau news agency in China, the country is currently looking for volunteer translators & interpreters. The main shortfall is for languages from “smaller” nations attending the 2008 Beijing Olympics to ensure nothing gets lost in translation.

Games organisers will provide 55 language services other than the official languages, French and English, of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

“Out of these 55 languages, about 10 languages are classified as ‘minor’ languages that will scarcely be used,” Zhang Yong, Director of International Liaison Language Service Department for the Games organisers, was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

Beijing planned to recruit 1,300 translation volunteers but organisers are having difficulty meeting the quota.

Read more > China 

Los Angeles police Capt. Dennis Kato stands in a rooftop parking lot, a device in hand resembling a clunky 1980s-era cellphone.

He selects Korean from the device’s menu, then speaks into the microphone: “Medical assistance.” A speaker on his vehicle booms in Korean: “If you require medical assistance, please approach the nearest officer.”

Switching to Spanish, Kato says: “Welcome.” The screen lights up: “Welcome to this event. We are here to facilitate your 1st Amendment rights.”

“Bienvenidos a éste evento. Estamos aquí para facilitar sus derechos de la primera enmienda constitucional,” the words echo toward the L.A. River.

Read more > LA Times 

“Guanxi” (pronounced (gwan-shee) is one of the most powerful forces in Chinese culture. Though the direct translation of “guanxi” is “relationships”, the concept as it is used and applied in Chinese culture is much richer and encompassing. “Guanxi” does express the relationship of one person to another, or one party to another. However, more importantly the term also expresses an obligation of one party to another, built over time by the reciprocation of social exchanges and favours. If one has “guanxi” with another, one will be quick to do a favour, act on another’s behalf and depending on the depth of the relationship, do anything necessary for the other party. By establishing this type of relationship with someone, the other party is implicitly agreeing also to be available to reciprocate when the need arises. In such a way “guanxi” can be considered as a type of currency that can be saved and spent between the two parties. Like money, it is a resource that can also be also be exhausted, so one must be sensitive not to overextend the “guanxi” that has been established.

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