Intercultural Communication and Translation News

CILT is now entering the second phase of its research into an occupational and functional map for languages and intercultural skills and is currently consulting on the cross-sector applications of languages and intercultural skills in the workplace.

You can contribute to their research

If you are a employer involved in the management or recruitment of any roles using language or intercultural skills or if you are an employee using your language or intercultural skills in your job, they would like to hear from you. They’ve prepared a short questionnaire that should take no more than 5-10 minutes to complete.

Your views are essential to this project. Please download and complete our questionnaire and return it to annemarie.graham@cilt.org.uk by Friday 27th February. If you have any questions or comments about the project, you can email those to the same address.
Alternatively, their research team are conducting one-to-one telephone interviews with employers, employees and key stakeholders. If you have a lot of knowledge with regard to a particular role, or roles, and its (their) use of language or intercultural skills, it would be very helpful to talk to you. Please contact CILT directly to discuss your particular perspective.

Arabic

Arabic is a semitic language closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. It is spoken as an official language in a total of 28 countries in the Middle East (such as Lebanon, Syrian, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Yemen, etc) and across North Africa (such as Egypt, Libya, Algeria, etc). Because of the special status accorded to Arabic in Islam, due to the Quran being written in Arabic, Muslims all over the world are expected to receive some formal instruction in the language to enable reading of the holy scripts.
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)

Modern standard arabic is best charecterized as the form which resembles closest the classical (fus-ha) Arabic of the Quran, which is devoid of any regional accent and intelligble to all Arabic speakers. Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic are infact grammatically and sytanctically the same, the difference lies primarily in the extensive vocabulary of classical Arabic much of which is rarely used in Modern Standard Arabic. This is generally recognized as being the most eloquent variety of arabic. While  Modern Standard Arabic is the only written form used across the entire Arab world, it’s spoken counterpart is usually confined to the media, used in news broadcasting , factual programs and to a lesser extent talk shows. In contrast, spoken Arabic differs greatly  throughout the Arab world with every country possesing its own dialect, which are sometimes so different that they are mutually unintelligable.
The vast majority of spoken Arabic takes place in dialect  all over the Arab world, however all educated Arabs ar expected to be able to converse in standard arabic when the need arises. This is particularly likely when two Arabs from different countries meet and the dialect of each is unfamiliar to the other.

Arabic and Islam

As the Quran is written in Arabic and much of it’s meaning is bound to the cultural context of  8th century Arabia , it is often deemed impossible to produce translations of words or phrases without losing some of the significance and poetic eloquence these same phrases hold in arabic. Because of this, Arabic has maintained it’s position of primacy as the language of Islam and despite the fact that the majority of the worlds Muslims are not Arabs , religious instruction in the texts of Islam still takes place in Arabic in all Muslim countries. This accounts for the knoweldge that many non-Arab Auslims have of the Arabic language although this is usually confined to a memorizing of a few phrases. Although Arabic and Islam are closely linked, there are non-Muslim communities of Arabs (Christians and Jews) throught the Middle East and North Africa who are not only native Arabic speakers but perform their worship and read their holy scripts in the Arabic language.

What are LapJacks™?

LapJacks™ are made from a high quality vinyl and laminate composite which you apply to the laptop lid to personalise and protect your notebook computer. The Lapjack uses a durable and re-usable adhesive which leaves no traces of residue glue.

Why did LapJacks™ come to Kwintessential?

The success of LapJacks™ in the UK market, demonstrated the potential global potential of this product and, as such, a decision was made to translate the website into languages other than just English.

What role did Kwintessential play?

The process was very simple and straightforward. LapJacks™ sent the text which needed to be translated (from English to Danish) to the Kwintessential translation team.  Kwintessential then translated the text and returned it to LapJacks™.  The team, responsible for internet management at LapJacks™, then uploaded the language accordingly into the new Danish version internet site.

Following this, LapJacks™ then sent the link to Kwintessential and one of Kwintessential’s translators went through the whole site with a fine toothcomb to ensure that there were no language / spelling inaccuracies and to ensure that the language read well and flowed effectively.

What was the Outcome?

LapJacks™ are now ready to launch their product within the Danish market, hence opening their market wider and growing their business further.

Find our more about Kwintessential’s Website Translation Service.

Gulf oil producers have made substantial progress in economic development because of their massive crude resources but they will always remain reliant on foreign labour, a United Nations official said yesterday.

Adel Abdul Lateef, Director of Regional Programmes at the Regional UN Development Programme Office, said the six Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries still face the challenge of human resources development despite their remarkable economic achievements over the last 50 years.

One of the problems he cited was that GCC nationals still account for a low percentage of the workforce in most member states as they prefer the public sector in the absence of attractive incentives in the private sector.

“The GCC economies will always surpass the production capacity of the native population and this will make these economies permanently reliant on expatriate labour from all sides,” he told a human resources conference in Abu Dhabi.

“The GCC’s long-term strategies must take into account the rapid demographic consequences resulting from this steady development whether in terms of rights and duties for expatriates or the number of nationals and their contribution to all economic aspects and values.”

Abdul Lateef said the large expatriate presence in the GCC has become a permanent phenomenon, which has “not only offset a sharp labour shortage during the oil boom but also largely contributed to the expansion of the GCC market in terms of commodities and services”.

“There is no doubt this large foreign presence has become a controversial topic of discussion and has raised economic, political, cultural and strategic issues over the past period due to a steady increase in this presence.”

Read more > Foreign Labour

Millions of migrant workers may be out of a job and China’s once booming economy may be locked in a downward spiral as the global economic crisis bites, but for a particular Chinese brand of humor it’s been a boon.

Many of the jokes have been circulating online, or via text message in a country whose population is obsessed with their mobile phones.

A bank worker calls a colleague, goes one joke on the tiexue.net bulletin board.

“Hey, how’s it been going?”

“Not so bad.”

“Oh, sorry, I’ve definitely called the wrong number.”

Others adopt a similar tone, but riffing off Communist propaganda slogans.

“In the face of the financial crisis, I have bravely stood up and am marching forward! That’s because … I can’t pay back my loans and the bank has repossessed my car.”

Internet use has exploded in recent years, but the government keeps a close tab on what appears, removing offensive comments or detaining those who criticize too much on certain sensitive topics, such as human rights.

This hasn’t stopped people taking to the Internet to laugh about the crisis, or crack witticisms.

Read more > Yahoo!

Kwintessential’s website has recently added two new etiquette guides for both Ecuador and El Salvador. The guides offer an introduction to the culture, people and their values (all at a very general level). Rules of business, protocol, and etiquette tips and then provided on a number of areas such as dress, invitations, business meetings and much more.

Visit the guides:

> Ecuador - Culture, Customs and Etiquette

> El Salvador - Culture, Customs and Etiquette