Intercultural Communication and Translation News

Australians are in two minds about multiculturalism, a long-term survey has found.

They believe cultural diversity is good for the country but they’re worried that cultural differences will stop everyone from getting along.

An 11-year study by a collaboration of Australian universities has found 85 per cent of Australians acknowledge racial prejudice occurs in the nation and one in five has been a victim of racist verbal abuse.

The study found that 6.5 per cent of the 16,000 Australians surveyed were against multiculturalism.

Professor Kevin Dunn, from the University of Western Sydney’s school of social science, said the study revealed that the majority of Australians are pro-multiculturalism but are anxious that the diversity will not be managed well.

“Over 40 per cent of those surveyed feel that cultural differences pose a threat to societal harmony,” he said.

Read more > Survey

Develop content for your Web site with an international clientele in mind. For instance, be sensitive to cultural nuance, use universal images and metaphors, and develop a slogan that reflects your global outreach, says Ayse Oge, president of Ultimate Trade, an international consultancy based in Encino, Calif. “Include testimonials from internationally known prominent people who use your products. If you have been written up in a well-known publication, include a short piece on it on your front page,” she says.

All these factors will enhance your credibility and help you avoid major blunders. But you’ll need more than an appealing Web site to find and keep international customers, says Peter Zapf, president of GlobalSources.com (GSOL), a consulting and outsourcing firm based in Singapore. “Keep in mind—in addition to the Web content—customer service, logistics, and product delivery and payment,” he says.

Smooth out issues ahead of time with customs duties and shipping procedures, and include UPS (UPS) and FedEx (FDX) international shipping rates on your site in a drop-down box, so your clients don’t get sticker shock when they check out, Oge says.

Be aware that selling outside of your country exposes you to higher transaction fees and a higher likelihood of fraud, Zapf says: “At a minimum, you need to have good fraud management practices in place in order to minimize potential charge backs.”

When it comes to multilingual Web site content, remember that if you include it, you’ll also need a multilingual customer service team to answer telephone inquiries and reply to e-mail. “The key to attracting clients is having content localized for each global market, but this can be costly to maintain, particularly for smaller companies,” says Susan Peters, senior director of corporate marketing and Web strategy at ILOG, a software firm headquartered in Silicon Valley and Paris and recently acquired by IBM (IBM).

Read more > Businessweek

While universities have been warning of a surge in applications for courses this autumn - some language courses are struggling to attract applicants.

The University of the West of England is to stop courses in French, Spanish and Chinese this year because they received only 39 applicants.

The university has seen a 14% rise in applications for other subjects.

But the university’s vice-chancellor says “there are too few students who wish to study languages”.

As such there will be no new intake for these modern languages this autumn.

Read more > BBC

The tool will make it easier for web users to understand blogs, websites and messages written in Farsi by Iranians protesting the recent election results.

Google Translate can now convert text from Farsi (Persian) in to English, and from English in to Persian. Google said it was working hard to quickly provide Farsi support for the other 40 languages featured in its translation service.

“We feel that launching Persian is particularly important now, given ongoing events in Iran,” said Google in a statement. “Like YouTube and other services, Google Translate is one more tool that Persian speakers can use to communicate directly to the world, and vice versa — increasing everyone’s access to information.”

The search giant warned that the translation service was still a work in progress, and was not perfect. “We’re launching this service quickly, so it may perform slowly at times,” warned Google. “We’ll keep a close watch, and if it breaks, we’ll restore service as quickly as we can.”

Read more > Google

Kwintessential have today added a new DVD title to their library of cross cultural communication training DVDs.

Cross-Cultural Communication and Customer Service

In Part 1, service representative Valerie receives a call from Lois, a customer from another culture. Valerie speaks quickly and uses slang, frustrating Lois. Valerie is impatient with Lois’ accent and English, and belittles her, despite the fact that Lois has taken the time to learn Valerie’s language. Valerie insults Lois, and loses a customer.

In Part 2, Valerie approaches the same situation differently, adapting to the customer’s unique needs. Valerie speaks slowly, clearly, and properly. When Lois uses unfamiliar words, Valerie seeks to reframe to understand her. Despite being challenged by the communication difficulties, Valerie takes personal responsibility, finds a solution, and ultimately triumphs with yet another happy customer.

Order now for only $300/£185!

It is a well-intended initiative which is meant to offer immigrants a helping hand. Yet now an investigation has found that many of the expensively-produced foreign-language leaflets have never been read.

Documents which have failed to attract a single reader include a pamphlet for gipsies translated into Polish, and a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender directory translated into French.

No-one read the Haringey Women’s Directory when it was translated into Albanian, Bengali, Kurdish, Somali or Urdu.

All were made available by Haringey council, in north London, on its website, which records the number of times each document is downloaded.

A spokesman for Haringey Council said: “Haringey has some 193 different languages spoken. We generally offer translations where required rather than translate routinely.

“Where translations are produced they will be made available on our website as an additional service.”

Read more > Telegraph

According to the findings of a survey of 180 managers by London-based consultants Brookfield, more than two thirds of the major multinationals are expecting to post fewer employees abroad this year.

Nannette Ritmeester of the Dutch consultancy Expertise in Labour Mobility recognises the picture. She sees two possible responses to the crisis: either send fewer employees abroad, or economise on the facilities for expats, by cutting back on housing allowances or air tickets for trips back home.

However, spokespersons for Shell, Philips and Akzo Nobel are keen to stress that they won’t be skimping on perks for expats.

“They’re set down in the collective labour agreement – they’re agreed beforehand so you can’t change them,” says a Philips spokesperson.

Read more > Expats

A biennial conference on the intercultural communication between China and the world opened here on Friday.

Titled “Intercultural Communication between China and the World: Interpersonal, Organizational and Mediated Perspectives,” the 8th China Association for Intercultural Communication (CAFIC) Intercultural Conference aims to enhance the mutual understanding between China and the world as well as the teaching and studying of the subject.

This year’s conference is co-hosted by the Intercultural Studies Center of the School of English and International Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) and Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

The three-day conference will cover more than 100 topics, including intercultural competence, intercultural identity, organizational communication and China’s image as well as the overseas Sinology study.

Read more > Conference

Manners and attitude speak volumes in Asian countries. When making a new business contact, ensure your intentions aren’t lost in translation.

When conducting business in any country, certain customs are assumed: a firm handshake, eye contact, an exchange of business cards followed by friendly conversation. Although Asian countries often have similar customs, it is important to understand that even something as simple as direct eye contact can be misconstrued and cause a business interaction to end before it even begins.

Manners and attitude speak volumes in Asian countries, pointing to your inner character. Here are some basic tips to help make introductory business exchanges in China and Japan successful.

Business Introductions
When first meeting a new business contact, it is important to make a good impression and present yourself according to the customs of the country. In Japan and China, this entails bowing to indicate respect, says Asia Pulse’s Guide to Business Etiquette in Asia. In Japan, bowing is especially important, although the Chinese also consider bowing a key part of any introduction.

Read more > Etiquette

Having an English-only website is no longer sufficient. For those under the illusion that their potential customers are all surfing the web in English, it is time to realize that the language of the web is multilingual.

People prefer to search and interact online in their own language: it’s natural and comfortable. And the more relaxed a potential customer is when they’re browsing an online store, the more likely they will make a purchase. That is, of course, if they even find your site in the first place.

International online visibility is becoming a major priority for online businesses. From big names like Universal Music Group, to the smaller niche e-stores realising their massive potential for sales in relatively untapped markets with newly acquired online access, businesses are cashing in on their ability to be seen online.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is not a new thing. But international SEO is its newest evolution, and it’s causing a major stir in the online world.

By having experts write new content in their target market’s native language, building key links, and setting up valuable, culturally-appropriate pay-per-click campaigns, businesses are now able to tap into markets they never before dreamed possible.

The trick is understanding that every culture searches differently. Learning how those cultures search is a complex process, but the knowledge is invaluable. For example, knowing that French people tend to misspell the keyword “holiday” as “holliday” can be a key factor for an online travel agency’s pay-per-click campaign.

Read more > Online