05/29/2007 - 05/30/2007

How not to be a cultural knucklehead in a global business world

These days, even the smallest-scale entrepreneur working out of her home office in Boise, Idaho can have a circle of clients and partners from around the world. She may have an Australian graphic designer create her logo. She may manufacture her product line in China. She may hire technical developers and e-commerce experts from India. She may have customers from Bolivia and Belarus. But if interacting with global partners is all new to her, she may be missing some important communication skills.

Understanding gender, culture and trust in the workplace

Understanding why and how people trust at work is critically important for organisations, as they become more diverse in terms of gender and culture.

Past research shows when employees judge each other as trustworthy, the organisation benefits in many ways. Citizenship behaviours and concern for the needs of others increase, for example, when employees trust one another. Also, employees are more likely to share their ideas, their specialised knowledge and vital information with each other. Similarly, when trust is present they are more likely to perceive their company as being supportive, to feel attached to it, and to be less likely to leave it.

Multilingual website targets foreign tourist market

A new $2.7 million travel website has been launched today in Brisbane to promote international tourism to Australia.

The Australia.com website uses the 'where the bloody hell are you' tag line and is available in seven languages. Federal Tourism Minister Fran Bailey says more than half of all international tourists to Australia last year used the Internet for research. "It's using the latest technology to drive Australia further into all those major markets where we want to increase those international visitors coming here," she said.

Word of the Day: chortle

chortle \CHOR-tl\, transitive and intransitive verb:
1. To utter, or express with, a snorting, exultant laugh or chuckle.
noun:
1. A snorting, exultant laugh or chuckle.

Benjamin himself chortled now, an odd laugh to which I grew accustomed in years to come. -- Jay Parini, Benjamin's Crossing

Nokia launches China English-language learning service

Nokia Corp has launched an English language learning service for ihandset users in China, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Marko Vanska, director of Nokia''s emerging-business unit in China.

Nokia, the world''s largest handset maker, plans to charge users for the "Mobiledu" service which it launched yesterday, which includes both audio- and text-based lessons, the newspaper said.

Google Leaps Over Language Barriers

"Here at Google, part of our mission is to make the world’s information universally accessible to our users, regardless of differences such as language. Today we are releasing a tool from Google Translate that takes us one step closer to this goal. We are happy to announce the arrival of a new cross-language search feature that allows users across the world to find and view search results on foreign language web pages in their own native language. Now, more content on the web is accessible to more users, regardless of what languages they speak. This means, for example, that if an Arabic speaker is searching for restaurants in New York, he/she can now conduct a search in Arabic, and Google will translate the results (most of which are from English language websites) and provide the most relevant search results in their native language."

Word of the Day: fecund

fecund \FEE-kuhnd; FEK-uhnd\, adjective:
1. Capable of producing offspring or vegetation; fruitful; prolific.
2. Intellectually productive or inventive.

For 21 years after the birth of the Prince of Wales, the fecund royal couple produced children at the rate of two every three years -- eight boys and six girls in all. -- Saul David, Prince of Pleasure