Intercultural Communication and Translation News

Language skills are crucial for growth and jobs. Each year, thousands of European companies lose business and miss out on contracts as a result of their lack of language skills and intercultural competence. The challenge for internationally active firms is to integrate different organisational cultures and communicate efficiently in order to maximise performance.

How can companies acquire a more strategic approach to multilingual communication? Are national education and training systems able to provide dynamic enterprises with enough people with the right skills? Is the European labour market flexible enough for entry into new markets?

Mr Leonard Orban, member of the European Commission responsible for multilingualism, is hosting an international conference in Brussels to discuss the issues of languages as a competitive strength for Europe.
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Case studies from both large and small companies will be presented. Three parallel workshops will be organised on:

* Languages and regional development
* Language skills in companies – supply and demand
* Promoting language learning in companies

The speakers in the plenary sessions and workshops will represent businesses, teaching and training providers, education authorities and regional developers. Participants will include, among others, chambers of commerce, cultural institutes, language schools, developers of language teaching software, management consultants and trade organisations.

The conference is free of charge but participants will have to pay their own travel costs and accommodation in Brussels. Although registration is open, the number of participants is limited. The Commission reserves the right to screen applications with the objective of ensuring participation from a wide range of countries and target audiences. If you would like to join the conference, please register as soon as possible, so that we can confirm your participation early enough for you to find accommodation without problems.

Read more: Conference Website 

Google has recently added the long-desired Search feature to Reader and has come back quickly with a few more changes and updates.

From the initial launch Google Reader has only been available in English which kind of seems a little strange when you think just how global the internet is, good news is that it will now be available in French, Italian, German, Spanish, English (UK), Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Japanese, and Korean.

Read more: Reader 

Japanese company Fuji Xerox has demonstrated a photocopier that can translate text into a number of languages while keeping the original formatting of the document.

The prototype photocopier, which has not been named, will be able to translate between Japanese, Chinese, English or Korean, according to a report in The Japan Times.

It will also retain the original layout of the source document.

The photocopier has Optical Character Recognition software in addition software that can differentiate between text and drawings and lines, the article states.

“The device, which is currently on show only in Japan, can scan a printed sheet of Japanese text and dispense a translation of it into Chinese, English or Korean. Moreover, it retains the original layout of the source document, whether that be from a newspaper, or a magazine, or the like,” according to the article.

Read more: Photocopier 

“Shared products of society material or nonmaterial.”

by  Jennifer (Sellersburg, United States) on Sep 24,2007 at 05:43.
How would you define culture? Click on comments to give us your opinion.

Today, the European Commission is publishing the results of its new Eurobarometer survey of people’s attitudes to ‘culture’. The survey covered 26 000 citizens in the 27 Member States and took place in February and March. These findings were presented at the first European Culture Forum in Lisbon on 26 – 28 September 2007, which brought business, cultural operators and policy makers together to explore the importance of culture.

Ján Figel’, European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, stressed the significance of these results: “Our continent is blessed with extraordinary cultural wealth, and this survey clearly shows that Europeans feel deeply about their culture and cultures. For me, this passion for our culture and cultures confirms the central place that ‘culture’ has in the European project. For policy makers in the Member States, the message is also clear: more means should be made available to facilitate cultural exchanges on our continent, to promote mutual understanding, tolerance and respect among our peoples. This is all the more important as we approach 2008, the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.”

The main findings of the survey include:

• A very large proportion of Europeans (89%) perceive a greater need for ‘culture’ to be promoted at EU-level;

• Similarly, 88% feel that cultural exchanges are important, and they call on the European Union to facilitate cultural exchanges for Europeans, and so promote intercultural dialogue;

• 77% of Europeans feel that culture is important in their lives;

• 76% of the respondents consider that Europe’s cultural diversity is the defining characteristic of Europe, and that this diversity actually helps to increase the impact of European culture;

• 67% of Europeans consider that when compared with other continents, the European countries have a lot of cultural aspects in common;

• 58% of respondents were positive about the effects of globalisation on European culture, saying that it will give new dynamism to European culture, thereby extending the influence of Europe in the world;

• Education and culture is considered important in promoting understanding among Europeans: 56% of the respondents state that foreign language teaching in schools would help the Europeans know each other better, and 41% consider that the intensification of the exchange programmes for the students and professors would have the same effect.

For the European Commission, these survey results give clear support for its recent policy statement, in the form of the Communication on a European agenda for the culture[1], in which Member States were encouraged to recognise the importance of culture for:

1. strengthening of intercultural dialogue;
2. driving creativity and innovation in European enterprises, and
3. the relations of the EU with the rest of the world.

The survey covered a number of questions, including: Does culture play an important role in your life? According to you, is there such a thing as a ‘European culture’? How many books do you read per year? What do you expect from the European institutions in the cultural field?

The survey was carried out by TNS Opinion & Social, interviewing 26,755 citizens in the 27 Member States between 14 February and 18 March 2007. The methodology used is that of Eurobarometer surveys as carried out by the Directorate General for Communication. A technical note on the manner in which interviews were conducted by the Institutes within the TNS Opinion & Social network is appended as an annex to the full report.

For further details of the results of the Eurobarometer survey on the cultural values of Europeans please click here.

Language isn’t the only hurdle when it comes to visiting Mexico: Some everyday Mexican customs can feel just as foreign as Español to a U.S. traveler — and can present a potential minefield of embarrassment. Just keep in mind that etiquette in Mexico is firmly rooted in Mexicans’ pride in their country, their accomplishments, their families, their villages and towns. Respect this pride — and the following do’s and don’ts — and you’ll keep your foot firmly out of your mouth.

Prolonged direct eye contact can be seen as challenging and aggressive, especially between men. If a Mexican looks away when you are speaking, he or she is more likely being respectful than inattentive.

* Faux pas alert: If a woman holds a man’s gaze for more than a few seconds, it may be interpreted as a sexual overture.

Read more: Mexico 

The High Level Group on Multilingualism transmitted to Commissioner Orban its final report with recommendations to the Commission for actions in the field of multilingualism, which concentrates on several areas: raising awareness and enhancing motivation on language learning; the potential of the media in evoking, enhancing and sustaining motivation for language learning; languages for business; interpretation and translation – new trends and needs; regional or minority languages; research into multilingualism.

The Group, comprising 11 experts from across Europe, which was set up in response to the 2005 Communication “A new framework strategy for multilingualism”, was given the remit to ‘provide support and advice in developing initiatives, as well as fresh impetus and ideas for a comprehensive approach to multilingualism in the European Union’.

Read more: The EU 

At this moment in time, the increase in cross border human traffic has meant that companies are no longer dealing with a homogenous native community from which they recruit their staff. Companies are now facing cross cultural challenges in how they recruit, manage and develop a multi-cultural staff. One area of note where HR and management are finding difficulties is in the interview room.

With companies recruiting from a pool of candidates from different nationalities, cultures and faiths the cross cultural interview is an area that must be analysed properly if recruiters wish to capitalize on the potential available to them. This is necessary to ensure that candidates in cross cultural interviews are not discriminated against through misperceptions and poor judgements.

Read more: Cross Cultural Interviews 

Friendster may no longer be the newest, coolest kid in Silicon Valley, but the company is hoping to captivate the socially un-networked in Taipei. Friendster today launched a version of its site in Traditional Chinese, the form of the language used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and many Chinese communities overseas.

Unlike myspace.cn, Friendster’s Chinese site exists as part of its main friendster.com URL. A link in the upper right corner toggles you between English and Chinese. In other words, you can be simultaneously be friends with Bob from San Bruno and that guy above, whose name we regrettably can’t read.

Read more: Friendster 

LiveMocha today is unveiling a social network that attempts to connect people who want to learn a new language, a market that founder Shirish Nadkarni believes is worth $20 billion or more.

“It is growing rapidly due to globalization, immigration and travel, but it is a market that has seen very little innovation for the last decade,” said Nadkarni, whose parents stressed learning English when he was growing up in India. He came up with the idea for LiveMocha because he wanted to pass the same lessons on to his children, who are learning Spanish.

Read more: LiveMocha