Intercultural Communication and Translation News

“Business needs good people and Somerset attracts very good people who also want to enjoy its quality of life”

Deborah Meaden, Dragons’ Den investor and entrepreneur

We get a lot of questions as to why Kwintessential are based in Somerset. We were born in Croydon in 2003. In 2005 a strategic decision was made by the company to move away from the bright lights of London to the more tranquil surroundings of Somerset in the South West of England. Since that time the company has grown and now boasts offices in London, Monterey (California), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Cape Town (South Africa). The point being that a business can grow and expand without being located in a big city.

Why Somerset?

Somerset has proven to be a great home for the company offering a number of benefits including:

* Lower costs (rent, services, etc)
* Higher calibre employees
* Less competition from the translation market
* A significant number of multinationals and global market-leaders in Somerset
* Access to key regions of the UK through transport links
* Two international airports
* Excellent IT and broadband connectivity
* A cleaner, relaxed and less-stressful way of life
* A fantastic commute to work every morning! (Fields, sheep and cows rather than crammed into the 7.45 to London Victoria!)

Read more > Somerset Translation and Interpreting

South Africa is guaranteed tourism in the summer of 2010 as it plays host to the biggest sporting event in the world - the World Cup. With thousands of foreign fans coming through the airports in search of football, fun and a fantastic holiday what are local companies doing to ensure they get the business? Have they started implementing multilingual strategies on their websites to grap the attention of all the fans who will be doing some research online for hotels, restaurants, safari parks or anything else? Or are they doing nothing and assuming all these people will come to them?

This is the question being asked by Kwintessential (Africa) in its online survey of the South African tourism industry. If you own a business that is related to tourism in South Africa why not take part and get automatically entered into the draw for a free website translation?

Take the survey > South Africa 2010 Survey

China is the top expat destination followed by the U.S., UK, Singapore and Switzerland, survey reveals.

China is ranked as the top destination for international assignees in the annual Global Relocation Trends report from from Brookfield Global Relocation Services. In second place was the United States followed by the UK, Singapore and Switzerland.

China was also ranked as the top emerging destination followed by India and Russia.

China presents greatest challenges
Paradoxically, China was seen as presenting the greatest challenges to both international assignment managers and assignees due to the difficulty in finding suitable homes and schools, accessing medical care, immigration formalities, tax compliance, communication and knowledge of international regulations, the remoteness of the destinations and increasing costs. India ranked second and Russia third in terms of presenting the greatest relocation challenges.
The survey of 180 multinational firms reveals a significant move by companies to control costs with the number one relocation challenge being the overall cost of assignments, followed by finding suitable candidates and controlling policy exceptions.

Read more > China

Donna Marsh is a business woman and cultural awareness trainer specialising in many fields. Over her 30 year professional career she has visited more than 140 countries. As a strue globe-trotter this has given her a great insight into the field of intercultural communication, awareness and skills.

Now this experience has translated itself into a new publication entitled “Yanks in Blighty”. As the title suggests the book is aimed at Americans moving, working or living in the UK who are looking for a better understanding of their new environment and the natives.

Review:

Having readthe book we are pleased to offer a glowing review and thoroughly recommend it to our readers. The one major factor that sticks out in the book is how much ground is covered in terms of topics. Donna leaves no stones unturned in her examination of what the UK is, where it is and how it is. We are given quick, informative facts on subjects such as the present situation the country is in, the Royal Family, government, the cultural diversity of the population, language, transport, housing, health care and of course the weather. In short this book contains probably everything anyone would ever need when moving to the country.

As well as the fantastic details, the book also offers the reader answers to questions they were probably thinking but most authors never thought to answer. Although it may sound trivial, knowing how a washing machine works, how the rubbish (or should I say trash?) is collected and when the sales start are all little things people really do need to know.

The book wins in a lot of ways due to its focus. As it is targetted at Americans specifically wanting to understand the UK it allows the author the luxury on concentrating on what they want to know and specific areas of concern for Americans (rather than some other nationality).

Excerpt:

“As a rule, the British are likely to overlook or at least keep silent about most social behaviour that they do not approve of. Queue jumping a notable exception.”

Where to buy?

You can buy the book by clicking the link below to Amazon or at any decent online bookstore. The ISBN is 978-1-906710-37-8.

The British are known culturally for many things, one of them “reserve”. Reserve relates to the general disinclination to show emotion, feelings or to act in any way that could be viewed as slightly off-centre. The cultural concept heavily correlated with the sense of privacy the British hold.

As a result of British reserve you will note that language is heavily tempered and gestures are restrained. Neutrality and diplomacy in communication are seen as necessary components of courtesy. British reserve does not mean that Brits are boring, lifeless and unemotional. It simply means that in British society people are trained from school-age to be self-contained and not to be open emotionally.

Read more > British Reserve