05/10/2007 - 05/11/2007

SAP's Plan to Globalize Hits Cultural Barriers

Five years ago, Germany's largest software company decided it had to become less German.

To get more global, SAP AG hired thousands of programmers in countries such as the U.S. and India. It assigned them to key projects that almost all had been handled from its home base in the small town of Walldorf, Germany. It adopted English for corporate meetings, even in headquarters. SAP recruited hundreds of foreign managers, and non-Germans made up half the company's top ranks by last year, up from one-third in 2000. The newcomers sought to inject a faster pace and open SAP's insular culture ...

Language & Culture Shock hinder Refuge intergration

Insufficient knowledge of local languages, differing cultures, a lack of understanding within host societies of refugees' situations, discrimination and unreceptive attitudes towards foreigners, as well as the psychological impact on refugees of protracted inactivity during asylum procedures are the obstacles to their integration, the United Nations refugee agency said in a statement on Friday. The note was timed to coincide with an informal meeting of European Union ministers responsible for integration organised by the German EU Presidency in Potsdam, Germany on 10-11 May.

More Britons learning languages

Language software provider Rosetta Stone (UK) Limited has reported a 34% increase in UK sales of its language software to consumers in the first quarter of 2007, compared to the same period last year.

Michael Lefante, Marketing Manager for Rosetta Stone comments: “Our increase in sales is significant and perhaps reflects the fact that more Britons are realising the many personal, professional and social benefits of learning a second language. Additionally, people are choosing e-learning over other language learning methods because of the flexibility it affords.�

Defense Leaders Announce New Language Corps

The Department of Defense announces the implementation of a pilot "The Language Corps" over the next three years. The pilot will include no fewer than 1,000 members drawn from all sectors of the U.S. population. Members will have the opportunity to join a dedicated pool or a national pool of linguists.

Lack of language and cultural knowledge had negative results in Iraq/Afghanistan

One of the biggest deficiencies exposed by the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is the lack of language and cultural knowledge within the ranks of federal employees—especially among men and women in uniform. It’s hard to win a war for hearts and minds if the only way you can communicate with locals is through translators, who may not always be around and whose work varies in quality.

It’s a mystery to me why, since 9/11, we haven’t launched a crash program to teach thousands of young people Near Eastern languages. Dari, Pashto, Urdu, Arabic, Farsi—all these languages are tremendously important in the global war on terrorism. We should look for inspiration to the early days of the cold war, when we ramped up programs to teach Russian and Chinese.

New Mobile Global Translation Application Released

British company Echo Translatorâ„¢ has developed the first application of its kind to deliver an instant native voice output from a convenient on screen menu, which includes 25 languages.

The Echo Translatorâ„¢ is an indispensable travel tool that will enhance both the business and leisure travel experience. Using Echo Phraselogicâ„¢ technology phone customers can speak, learn and instantly interact with people of different cultures and tongues, without any prior knowledge of the foreign language.

Word of the day: acrimony

acrimony \AK-ruh-moh-nee\, noun:
Bitter, harsh, or biting sharpness, as of language, disposition, or manners.

In years to come, liturgical infighting ranked alongside disputed patents, contested fortunes, and savage political feuds as a source of McCormick family acrimony. -- Richard Norton Smith, The Colonel

Learning and Skills Council urges organisations to group diversity polices in business context for best results

Keeping diversity issues within the context of your business is the key to implementing a successful equality strategy, the Learning and Skills Council has found.

The education and training body gathered valuable feedback from minority groups it serves, using online forums and focus groups, to understand the environment it was working in and help provide a service that better reflected its learners and staff.

China: Seizing Economic Opportunities and Surviving Cultural Challenges

As the impenetrable barriers of doing business with China dissolve, companies and entrepreneurs have an unprecedented opportunity to reach one of the largest markets in the world. Seizing these opportunities and being prepared for their challenges is the topic of the May 15 MIT Enterprise Forum meeting.

China's Hot New Export: Its Language

Chinese has become the newest export to the United States, where in the last few years the study of Chinese has gone from pretty much zero to thousands of students. It's growing fast: from Maryland, where a third of the schools now teach Chinese, to Chicago, where most classes are in urban schools, CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen reports.

Word of the day: denouement

denouement \day-noo-MAWN\, noun:
1. The final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work.
2. The outcome of a complex sequence of events.

And perhaps this helps to explain the frequency of the violent denouement in contemporary novels: in the country that embraced the slogan "Today is the first day of the rest of your life," how do you call it quits on a character who is still breathing? -- Brad Leithauser, "You Haven't Heard the Last of This", New York Times, August 30, 1998