09/29/2006 - 09/30/2006

Ethnic games tainted by cross-dressing cheats

Touted as a celebration of sport, culture and national unity, the Ethnic Minority Games held in southwestern China descended into a farce of cross-dressing cheating and mob violence, state media reported.

Athletes representing China's 55 ethnic minorities assembled in southwestern Yunnan province last week to compete in blow-pipe darts, horse-riding events and other traditional sports. But blind pursuit of victory lead to some unorthodox tactics, Xinhua news agency reported.

Business South West: Talking their language

Businesses have the chance to find out how they can easily improve their business performance in developing export sales by making contact with the Regional Language Network (RLN SW) at Business South West.

Valentina De Micheli, RLN SW’s Devon and Cornwall business advisor based at Plymouth Business School, is available to share some simple tips as to how using foreign languages and cultural understanding can boost international trade.

the expatriate project

Have you – or your employees – returned home from an international assignment in the past 12 months? For many repatriates, this last stage of the expatriation process is fraught with challenges and frustrations. Indeed, studies report that about 25 percent of employees quit their jobs within the first year of returning from an international assignment.

Amicus say failure to use qualified interpreters is resulting in justice failures

The trade union Amicus has warned that the use of non qualified interpreters by police and court authorities is causing serious malpractice by police and court authorities.

The union says they have a documentation detailing serious cases of malpractice resulting from the use of unqualified interpreters. Amicus say that the evidence shows that the use of poorly trained and inexperienced interpreters by the public sector means that non-English speaking people are not being fairly represented.

British police' spending on interpreters shoots up

Britain's police department has recorded a steep hike in its spending on language interpreters to now touch 21 million pounds a year, mainly due to the large influx of immigrants to the country.

In some cases, the spending on language interpreters shot up by 2,000 percent in the past five years, according to The Times newspaper.

Law firms honoured for efforts to promote diversity

Eight law firms and legal departments were honoured by the profession last night for their efforts to promote equality and diversity.

Wragge & Co, the Birmingham-based firm, was named the best employer among firms of more than 25 partners at a ceremony hosted by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer. Lovells was awarded the best race equality initiative for its range of programmes promoting diversity, in particular its work with Muslims.

the world office

With its explosive economy and billion-plus population, China has an almost-magnetic pull for companies with global ambitions—and their employees. But China, as well as nearby Japan and South Korea, are tough places for foreign businesspeople to succeed, according to a new survey released Sept. 26 by executive management outfit Korn/Ferry International (KFY). The firm found that more familiar regions like Western Europe are more conducive to strong expatriate performance.

One country, one language

This article, by Ramona Binder from cafebabel.com, stresses that despite the Commission's efforts to improve young Europeans' grasp, EU Member states find it difficult to implement concrete measures.

"Every citizen should have a good command of two foreign languages together with their mother tongue," claims the action plan for language teaching presented by the European Commission two years ago. This is a requirement for all citizens who want to live and work in Europe.

However, only a few EU member states come close to this aim – many school children don’t even speak a single foreign language. Why is this?

Translation important for the future of search, says Google

Google’s vertical markets director, Jeff Levick, highlighted the importance of translation, machine translation in other words, during the “Future of Search� panel debate at London’s AdTech, which I was fortunate enough to moderate.

Jeff pointed to the fact that there are twice as many Chinese speakers in the world as English - not all the world speaks English. And there are great information resources in Chinese andArabic, he said.

word of the day: monomania

monomania \mon-uh-MAY-nee-uh; -nyuh\, noun:
1. Pathological obsession with a single subject or idea.
2. Excessive concentration of interest upon one particular subject or idea.

One of the themes in the book was the necessity for a leader to be passionate about the work. And sometimes in a corporate setting, passion becomes monomania. -- "Balancing the Personal and the Professional", New York Times, October 10, 1999

It is a monomania that approaches a frenzy in which girlfriends or wife, family and sleep, mean nothing. -- Newgate Callendar, "Crime", New York Times, January 4, 1987