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