Intercultural Communication and Translation News

We will now be closed until January 5th 2009.

Google Inc has developed a Cross-Language Search feature for its Google Enterprise Search Appliance that should let businesses with a diverse and multi-national workforce to seek out and read corporate content in any one of 34 languages.

The cross-language tool is currently under test. It uses Google’s machine translation technology to translate the document on the fly, and is said to be capable of finding any relevant internal documents written in any language, no matter what language was used to create the query.

The Google Search Appliance is a rack-mounted device which bundles Google software that crawls enterprise content to create a master index of documents, so that they can be searched and retrieved whenever an employee types in a search query.

Its security features ensure that users can only access the information that they have permission to view.

Read more >> Google

The employment prospects of some of the UK’s ethnic minorities have failed to improve and may well have declined markedly since the 1970s, according to research.

A study by research professors at both Manchester and Oxford universities found that minority ethnic groups had a much harder chance of finding work as their white counterparts, and that employment for ethnics had got worse since the 1970s. The news comes as the number of people out of work grew to 1.86 million in the three months to October – up 137,000 from the three months to July.

Anthony Heath, a professor at the University of Oxford, called on the government to do more to improve employment for ethnic minorities: “Previous government attempts to use legislation have failed to narrow the gap, although the proposals in the Queen’s Speech this month may offer some hope of progress.”

Read more >> Employment

Nicole Kidman could be left unable to have more children after playing a didgeridoo.

The actress appeared on German TV blowing into the traditional Australian instrument while promoting her latest film ‘Australia’, but Aborigine folklore warns that women who play the didgeridoo could become infertile.

Aborigine language teacher Richard Green warned: “People are going to see Nicole playing it and think it’s all right. But it will mean she has no more children. It is not meant to be played by women as it will make them barren.”

Alan Madden – a cultural officer with Sydney’s Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council – thinks Australian star Nicole and the film’s director Baz Luhrman should have known better – particularly after filming the epic movie on location in the outback of Australia, and using Aboriginal actors in the film.

He said: “I presume she doesn’t know of the taboo, otherwise she wouldn’t be playing it.

Read more >> Kidman

A respected research institute wanted Chinese classical texts to adorn its journal, something beautiful and elegant, to illustrate a special report on China. Instead, it got a racy flyer extolling the lusty details of stripping housewives in a brothel.

Chinese characters look dramatic and beautiful, and have a powerful visual impact, but make sure you get the meaning of the characters straight before jumping right in.

There were red faces on the editorial board of one of Germany’s top scientific institutions, the Max Planck Institute, after it ran the text of a handbill for a Macau strip club on the front page of its latest journal. Editors had hoped to find an elegant Chinese poem to grace the cover of a special issue, focusing on China, of the MaxPlanckForschung journal, but instead of poetry they ran a text effectively proclaiming “Hot Housewives in action!” on the front of the third-quarter edition. Their “enchanting and coquettish performance” was highly recommended.

The use of traditional Chinese characters and references to “the northern mainland” seem to indicate the text comes from Hong Kong or Macau, and it promises burlesque acts by pretty-as-jade housewives with hot bodies for the daytime visitor.

Read more >> MaxPlanckForschung

Muntazer al-Zaidi throws a shoe. Or rather, he threw two. Both were aimed at the head of George W. Bush, as he gave a press conference in Baghdad this weekend. “This is a farewell kiss, you dog,” the Iraqi TV journalist shouted. “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.”

It was a powerful sentiment, rendered strangely ridiculous. Because he threw a shoe. Who throws a shoe?

Arabs do. In fact, in the global scheme of things, we in the West (you, me, George Bush, Austin Powers) are somewhat in the minority in not having a problem with feet at all. In much of South East Asia, it’s considered rude to cross your legs while sitting down, for precisely this reason. In the north Indian town of Dharamsala, my friend Hamish was once nearly lynched by a mob of pacifist Buddhists for accidentally pointing the soles of his feet at the Dalai Lama. True story.

Read more >> The Shoe

The South West must meet global export challenges head on with improved world class communications using effective language and cultural awareness skills, warned two West Country experts at the International Trade Forum in Bristol today.

The prestigious event this week sought answers for increased business opportunities worldwide, notably China.

The event’s Question Time panel led by broadcaster Peter Sissons included Professor Peter Gold of the Regional Language Network South West (RLN SW) based at the University of the West of England.  RLN SW helps businesses in the region overcome language and cultural barriers.

Effective intercultural communications are seen as a must to open doors to export opportunities for South West businesses wishing to succeed in overseas markets.

Read more >> Export Challenge

More and more workers have relocated abroad in recent years, but despite the growing numbers, family issues remain a major factor in the failure of overseas postings.

The initial excitement of an exotic new posting can turn to culture shock, loneliness, identity loss and depression, and it is often the employee’s spouse and children — without the familiar routine of work — who are most affected.

“I thought it would be an adventure, and it was,” said Francesca Kelly, an American who moved 10 times in the first nine years as a Foreign Service spouse, living in places like Belgrade and the former Soviet Union during the cold war. But it “was much more difficult than I ever imagined it would be.”

Brenda Fender, director of global initiatives for Worldwide ERC, a not-for-profit association concerned with work force mobility, said a family’s happiness was crucial. “If the family cannot adapt, the employee will likely not succeed,” she said.

And not succeeding can be expensive.

Scott Sullivan, senior vice president at GMAC Global Relocation Services, told the story of a man from Cleveland with an important role in building a large manufacturing plant in rural China. He left the project midway through and returned home when his wife and child became desperately unhappy. This disrupted the project, a joint venture with a Chinese company, which then backed out — a loss for the American company of hundreds of millions of dollars, Sullivan said, and it could have been avoided with a better assessment before the man left home.

Read more >>> IHT

The vast movement towards e-learning is clearly motivated by the many benefits it offers. However much e-learning is praised and innovated, computers will never completely eliminate human instructors and other forms of educational delivery. What is important is to know exactly what e-learning advantages exist and when these outweigh the limitations of the medium.

Features Unique to e-Learning

Like no other training form, e-learning promises to provide a single experience that accommodates the three distinct learning styles of auditory learners, visual learners, and kinesthetic learners. Other unique opportunities created by the advent and development of e-learning are more efficient training of a globally dispersed audience; and reduced publishing and distribution costs as Web-based training becomes a standard.

E-learning also offers individualized instruction, which print media cannot provide, and instructor-led courses allow clumsily and at great cost. In conjunction with assessing needs, e-learning can target specific needs. And by using learning style tests, e-learning can locate and target individual learning preferences.

Additionally, synchronous e-learning is self-paced. Advanced learners are allowed to speed through or bypass instruction that is redundant while novices slow their own progress through content, eliminating frustration with themselves, their fellow learners, and the course.

In these ways, e-learning is inclusive of a maximum number of participants with a maximum range of learning styles, preferences, and needs.

Collaborative Learning

All collaborative learning theory contends that human interaction is a vital ingredient to learning. Consideration of this is particularly crucial when designing e-learning, realizing the potential for the medium to isolate learners. With well-delivered synchronous distance education, and technology like message boards, chats, e-mail, and tele-conferencing, this potential drawback is reduced. However, e-learning detractors still argue that the magical classroom bond between teacher and student, and among the students themselves, can not be replicated through communications technology.

Read more >>> Kevin Kruse

We have just uploaded some new games testing your knowledge of worldwide domain names. So if you know your .ru from your .ae then put yourself to the test.

• Domain names of Africa
• Domain names of Asia
• Domain names of Europe
• Domain namesof North America
• Domain names of Oceania
• Domain names of South America