Intercultural Communication and Translation News

Greeting people

* Greetings in Lebanon are an interesting mix of both the French and Muslim/Arab cultures.
* A warm and welcoming smile accompanied by a handshake while saying “Marhaba” is a greeting that can be given without causing offense.
* You will see the greeting close friends with three kisses on the cheek, alternating cheeks in the French style.
* Take time when greeting a person and be sure to ask about their family, health, etc.
* If man is greeting Muslim women you may find that some wish not to shake hands; it is best to see if a hand is extended or not first.

Gift Giving Etiquette

* Gifts are part and parcel of the culture and are not only for birthdays and special occasions.
* Gifts may be given to someone who has provided a favour, to someone returning from a trip overseas, or simply out of want.
* The cost of the gift is not nearly as important as what it represents – friendship.
* If you are invited to a Lebanese home, it is customary to bring flowers. If invited for a meal, you may bring sweets or pastries.
* If visiting a Muslim family, it is a good idea to say that the gift is for the host rather than the hostess.
* Gifts of alcohol are welcome in many circles. Muslims though generally do not drink alcohol.
* A small gift such a sweet for the children is always a nice touch.
* Gifts may be given with the right hand or both hands. It is best not to offer a gift with the left hand.

Read more >> Culture and Customs of Lebanon

As an international careers adviser, I receive questions daily from people of varied backgrounds who hope to try their luck in the global marketplace. Many job seekers mistakenly believe that they can’t begin an international career until their feet are on foreign soil. They overlook their own backyard for resources and training opportunities.

The Most Sought-After Skills

What do international employers really look for in employees and what skills will be needed by professionals to perform successfully in the global marketplace?

A study commissioned by the College Placement Council Foundation surveyed 32 international employers and colleges to determine what international employers seek in prospective employees. They identified the following areas of required knowledge and skills:

Domain knowledge

Colleges in the U.S. are presently preparing their graduates well in domain knowledge, or knowledge in one’s academic discipline, although employers expressed concern that increasingly greater demands and higher standards may soon result in inadequately prepared graduates.

The three most important skills were cognitive skills, social skills, and “personal traits.” Problem-solving ability, decision making, and knowing how to learn are highly prized generic skills. Social skills were described as the ability to work effectively in group settings, particularly with diverse populations. Personal traits mentioned frequently included flexibility, adaptability, and the capacity to be innovative. Employers often mentioned that colleges do not adequately address this type of skill development.

Cross-cultural competence

Students must make a concerted effort to acquire the knowledge, skills, and traits gained through cross-cultural interaction because we are more geographically and linguistically insulated than most other countries.

On-the-job training and prior work experience. Employers seek applicants who have been successful in applying their domain knowledge or academic studies and generic skills in the workplace. They say that colleges do not place sufficient emphasis on work experience.

Read more >> By Debra Peters-Behrens

The first ever National Occupational Standards for working with people from different countries or diverse cultures will be launched today at a high profile event in central London. The new Standards provide a quality benchmark for building mutual respect, improving communication and workforce relations, and reducing racism.

The new National Occupations Standards for Intercultural Working describe the skills, knowledge and understanding required by anyone wishing to work effectively in a multicultural environment. They can be used to inform policy and procedures, provide a good practice guide for human resources professionals, and identify training needs to promote social and community cohesion.

CILT, the National Centre for Languages led the government-funded project to develop the new Standards, which were approved by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills in September 2008. Today’s launch celebrates the completion of the project, which has involved hundreds of organisations, employers and individuals from across the UK over the past two years.

Read more >> CILT

As global workforces become the norm, HR must manage an increasingly diverse range of cultures. What difficulties do they face and how can they overcome them?

The advent of satellite TV and the internet has whittled away at national cultures to the extent that we may have begun to assume that everyone lives, acts and even works in a similar way. But that’s not always the case. Global workplace furniture manufacturer Steelcase recently surveyed its European clients’ ways of working, and the results, if not entirely unexpected, certainly provide food for thought.

The British are individualistic, self-controlled, class conscious and natural team workers, according to Steelcase. The Germans, however, are more conservative, place a greater emphasis on privacy and prefer a formal, hierarchical workplace. The Italians are hierarchical and bureaucratic, insisting on face-to-face meetings and preferring manager-led processes, whereas the French are more egalitarian and participative. At French meetings, it isn’t uncommon for everyone to talk at the same time – yet decisions are still generally made by senior people. Italian meetings, which rarely start or end on time, involve lots of emotion and noise, but no-one expects decisions to be reached until much later.

Read more >> International HR

Seasonal scene somewhere in Scottish theatre land:

“Whit did ye get her fir Christmas?”

“Ah firgoat.”

“Ye firgoat? Aw, did she gie ye hell?”

“Eh?”

“Well ye said ye firgoat”

“Naw, ah fir goat.”

And so the pantomime joke continues, for as long as the colourfully clad dames can draw it out. Eventually the smaller, fatter ugly sister will understand that her taller, scrawnier stage sibling has given a present of a fur coat. But the confusion inevitably won’t end there. “Whit fir?” The answer: “Fir tae keep her warm.” Obviously.

Oh, they’re funny things, vowels. Well, funny until we have to deal with speech recognition technology – as complaints about a new iPhone application’s inability to recognise British accents have highlighted.

Read more >> iPhone

Lenovo Group, the world’s fourth-largest computer maker, has been lagging behind competitors.
Its acquisition of IBM’s personal-computer business catapulted Lenovo onto the world stage: Now about 60% of the company’s sales come from outside China, and it is the fourth-biggest computer maker by shipments.

Lenovo has filled its ranks with Westerners from IBM and Dell Inc., opened factories in Mexico and Poland, and gone on an Olympics-led marketing blitz. While Lenovo has fared better than other Chinese companies that have tried to become global players, it has fallen behind competitors in the PC industry.
In the early days after the IBM deal, cultural clashes and power struggles nearly derailed the Chinese computer maker’s aggressive strategy to become a world player, say current and former executives. Now the company’s global ambitions must confront the economic malaise in the U.S. and Europe — two markets that were key to its expansion plans.

Bill Amelio, a former Dell executive who became Lenovo’s CEO in late 2005, was sometimes frustrated by his Chinese colleagues’ reluctance to speak their minds. “You don’t want everyone saying ‘Yes, Yes, Yes’ all the time,” says Mr. Amelio, a brawny former college wrestler. “You want them to be able to smack you upside the head and say ‘Hey, I’ve got a better idea.’” Conference calls were difficult as Americans hogged the airtime. “The Americans would just talk and talk,” says Qiao Jian, a vice president of human resources. “Then they’d say ‘How come you don’t want to add value to this meeting?’”

Read more >> Lenovo

A British Airways (BA) check-in clerk who claimed she was religiously discriminated against for wearing a crucifix on a necklace has lost her appeal case.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld the employment tribunal’s ruling from earlier this year, that Nadia Eweida was not indirectly discriminated against on the grounds of her religion when her employer insisted the cross worn on her neckline be concealed by her uniform.

Eweida was suspended in September 2006, after she refused to conceal a small crucifix at her post at Heathrow Airport, claiming it was her human right to express her faith by having the crucifix on display. She returned to work in February 2007 after BA revised its uniform policy.

Eweida claimed discrimination on the grounds of her religion and had sought £20,000 in back pay and compensation from the airline. She said that she turned down £8,500 from BA to settle out of court.

Read more > BA

According to a survey of more than 100 senior human resource managers, 81 percent of companies agree that international work experience is a crucial criterion for leadership in a global organization.

The survey, “The Importance of Cultural Skills in Senior Managers,” conducted by RW-3 LLC, an online intercultural training organization, and ORC Worldwide, a global human resource consulting firm, was designed to measure the importance of cultural competencies and global experience as criteria for senior management.

“During the current liquidity crisis, we’ve seen yet again how the global economy is entirely interconnected and how international cooperation is critical for the world’s economic well being,” said Michael S. Schell, president of RW-3. “Understanding and appreciating how things get done in countries around the world is crucial for success. That means gaining an appreciation and understanding of culture. This survey reinforces how important the global HR community believes those intercultural skills are for their leadership.”

Read more >> HR Leaders

PLANNING TO EXPLORE YOUR FAMILY ROOTS?

Ricochet TV are looking for families who are either planning, or would like the opportunity to plan, amazing journey of discovery back to their parents’ country of origin for a new TV series.

If you would like to take a trip to get back in touch with your cultural heritage, then give us a call on 01273 224800 or email: familyroots@ricochet.co.uk

Example of Spanish Web Page

At Kwintessential where possible we love to give real life examples of our work as well as how businesses are tackling international markets. We recently teamed up with a very forward thinking company by the name of Armadillo ScooterWear.

As the name suggests Armadillo sell clothing and accessories for scooter riders and thus have a very niche market. Realising that the niche spans borders the company embarked upon a project to translate its website. “We wanted trade in bigger markets,” explains Tim Hebden, the company’s CEO. “We looked at the countries we had distributors in and targeted them as this was the logical next step.”

The ambitious project went about translating everything from descriptions of clothing, ordering instructions and most importantly script (or ‘strings’) used in the background of the website to generate auto-responses and the like.

Read more > Armadillo Scooter Wear