Intercultural Communication and Translation News

The People

Cameroon has a diverse population comprising approximately 250 ethnic groups that then form 5 regional/cultural groups. These are western highlanders (also called grassfielders), which include the Bamileke, Bamoun, and many smaller groups in the northwest; coastal tropical forest people, which include the Bassa, Doula, and many smaller groups in the southwest; southern tropical forest people, which include the Beti, Beulu, Fang, and Pygmies; Muslims of the northern semi-arid regions and central highlands, which include the Fulani; and the Kirdi, non-Muslims peoples of the northern desert and central highlands.

Meeting and Greeting

* Cameroonian greetings vary between the Francophone and Anglophone areas.
* In both areas, men shake hands with each other.
* In the Francophone south, close friends may embrace while brushing cheeks and kissing the air along with a handshake.
* In the Anglophone north, close friends have a unique handshake in which, as they pull their hands back they snap the other person’s middle finger with their thumb.
* As a sign of respect men often lower their head and avert their eyes when greeting someone superior to them in age or position.
* Some Muslims will not shake hands across genders.
* Since this is a hierarchical society, elders are greeted first.
* Women tend not to look the other person in the eye even if it is another woman.
* Greetings should never be rushed. It is important to take time to inquire about the person’s family and other matters of general interest during the greeting process.

Gift Giving Etiquette

* If you are invited to a Cameroonian’s home, bring fruit, whiskey, or wine to the host.
* Do not bring alcohol if the host is Muslim.
* A small gift for the children is always a nice touch. School materials or sweets are standard.
* Gifts are not always opened when received.
* Gifts are given with two hands or the right hand only; never the left hand.

Read more > Cameroon – Culture and Etiquette Guide

Foreign players will have to talk a good game under new immigration rules that are due to come into force in the autumn. Players from outside the European Union will have one year to learn English and to pass an exam to prove that they have mastered the basics. If they fail, they will be forced to pack up their boots and head home.

The measures are part of the new points-based visa system that the Government is introducing, which has been backed by Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager. “Personally, I am for the rule,” Wenger said. “I believe that if you go to a foreign country you have to have the ambition to speak the language. If you want to understand the culture of a country, it is very difficult if you do not speak the language.”

Read more > Wenger

Expatriate executives, who were the flavour of the season when India was riding high on a 9%-plus growth rate, are now becoming the first ones to get the pink slip as Indian industry, hit by the slowdown, starts looking within the country for inexpensive hires.

“Many of the expatriate executives, who have been asked to leave, are subject experts. Their value diminishes in a downturn as companies are no more expanding, and thus don’t need people to guide in a new venture,” says K Sudarshan, MD of executive search firm EMA Partners’ India unit.

Since October 2008, there has been a spate of replacements of expat executives with Indian professionals at the senior level.

Read more > India

It’s the Year of the Ox in much of Asia – a good time to vow not to be as clumsy as one in matters of Asian business etiquette.

While not all Asians observe the Lunar New Year that dawned Monday, travel and etiquette expert Mary Murray Bosrock says being culturally savvy and knowing how to avoid offending your international clients has never been more crucial.

“We just can’t afford anymore to be the ugly Americans,” she said.

Bosrock, a Sandusky native who has written numerous books on international business etiquette and has taught diplomats at the Protocol School of Washington, started hearing complaints about boorish American behavior while writing for Foreign Trade magazine.

As soon as she wrapped up her interviews with high-level trade officials and turned off her microphone, they would lean in and ask her, “Mrs. Bosrock, why do Americans do this?” – then go on to describe some terrible American habit that had offended or mortified them.

She would find herself stammering, “I don’t think Americans mean to do that . . . .” She started writing down the blunders, trying to find a way to teach others how not to repeat the mistakes.

Read more > Mrs Bosrock

Meeting and Greeting

* Handshakes are the norm. They should be firm and friendly.
* It is good manners to wait for a woman to offer her hand first.
* Maintain eye contact during the greeting process.
* Professional or academic titles with the surname are used in business. Professional or academic titles may also be used with the honorific title (Mr., Mrs., or Miss), with or without the surname.
* If someone does not have a title, use their honorific title and their surname.
* Wait until invited before moving to a first-name basis, which may occur more slowly than on other Caribbean islands.
* Business cards are exchanged without formal ritual.
* Treat business cards with respect. When you receive a card, place it in a business card case. The manner you treat business cards is taken as a sign of how you will treat the relationship.
* Writing on someone’s business card in front of them is considered rude.

Bahamian Communication Style

Bahamians have a lyrical, musical quality to their language which probably descends from their West African roots. Although they are direct communicators they are also quite adept at modifying their language to make it come across as friendly and insensitive. Humour is also very much part of their communication style.

Read the full guide at > Bahamas – Culture, Etiquette and Protocol

SDL, the leading provider of Global Information Management (GIM) solutions, today announced the results of its two surveys exploring trends in terminology and branding; the first completed by business professionals and the second by translators. The results clearly identified a strong link between terminology and brand, highlighting the growing awareness of and need for effective terminology management solutions to maintain a consistent global brand.

Over 330 business and localization professionals in industries ranging from IT and Software to Manufacturing completed the survey.  Over 95% of respondents recognised the necessity to have the appropriate processes in place to manage their terminology and localisation, illustrating its importance in maintaining brand consistency.  Without these processes in place, businesses cannot communicate the consistent usage of terminology throughout their organisation and to their translators, which will inevitably create inconsistent global branding.

The respondents comprised of marketing, technical documentation and localisation as well as other professionals such as business analysts and product managers. Interestingly, 49% of the respondents say they already have processes in place.  However, they are still noticing inconsistencies in the application of terminology throughout their organisation, suggesting that the correct procedures have not been implemented and this will therefore impact their global brand presence.

Read more > SDL

The winner of a unique business challenge to attract more overseas visitors to the West of England (Gloucestershire, the Cotswolds, Forest of Dean, Bristol, Bath and Somerset) has been announced on 13 January by South West Tourism in conjunction with Kwintessential, a regional language specialist.

Allium, the celebrated Cotswold Restaurant based in Fairford, Gloucestershire has won a multi-lingual website design package worth £500 to help it attract more Japanese visitors to the award winning restaurant and historic town.

Launched in early December the competition aimed to encourage businesses to improve their marketing advantage and global reach by allowing potential overseas customers to research holiday and business information on the South West in their own language.

Tourism operators were asked to say what they are doing already to attract foreign visitors and/or why they feel they would benefit most from a website translation. Allium husband and wife team James and Erica Graham alongside co-director Patsy Graham have owned the restaurant and adjoining delicatessen since 2004. In 2008, Allium was awarded South West Restaurant of the Year by The Good Food Guide.

Patsy Graham said: “This is great news coming at the start of 2009. We know that the Cotswolds is the number one area outside of London for Japanese visitors and we want them to be able to access information about us online. We have attended a Japanese visitors’ course to learn about etiquette and a little language. The prize translation of the website is going to be the final piece in the puzzle!”

Neil Payne, Kwintessential managing director said: “We are pleased to draw attention to growth opportunities in using language and cultural understanding to attract overseas visitors to the South West. Multi- lingual website translations reach customers in their own language and improve search engine optimisation in chosen markets. We are delighted to help the Allium Restaurant draw more Japanese customers to Fairford and the Cotswolds.”

The strategic importance of looking to overseas markets is emphasised by Malcolm Bell, South West Tourism Director. “Now is the time to be investing in marketing to attract overseas visitors. The Cotswolds is a popular destination for Japanese visitors. Reaching new customers in their own language both at the planning stage and on the move makes commercial sense and promises competitive edge.”

The presentation was hosted by Exeter Airport in their Corporate Aviation Lounge.

President-elect Barack Obama’s speeches are proving a best-seller in Japan — as an aid to learning English.

An English-language textbook, “The Speeches of Barack Obama,” has sold more than 400,000 copies in two months, a big hit in a country where few hit novels sell more than a million copies a year.

Japanese have a fervor for learning English and many bookstores have a corner dedicated to dozens of journals in the language, many of them now featuring the new U.S. leader’s face.

“Speeches by presidents and presidential candidates are excellent as listening tools to learn English, because their contents are good and their words are easy to catch,” said Yuzo Yamamoto of Asahi Press, which produced the best-selling text book.

“Obama’s is especially so. His speeches are so moving, and he also uses words such as ‘yes, we can,’ ‘change’ and ‘hope’ that even Japanese people can memorize,” he said.

Speeches by President George W. Bush and former nominee John Kerry’s four years ago did not have the same appeal, however, and nor do those made by Japanese politicians, Yamamoto said.

Read more > Obama

Oban Multilingual, the international search, SEO online marketing specialist, has completed its experiment to measure differences in responses to websites between different cultures.

The research showed a number of differences between French and German web surfers when responding to a website promoting tourism in Jordan.

The test site used Oban’s multivariate testing software which allows a website to automatically serve up variations in content, and then track user reactions to the changes, giving insight into web design elements in a live environment.

The experiment used a site promoting tourism in Jordan, in French and German, with elements such as text size and colour changed automatically. The text of the site was also provided in straightforward translated format and in a ‘localized’ version that had been rewritten specifically in the native language of the site visitor.

Read more > Oban

It has been 22 hours since the team has had any sleep, and the commander of the small four-man squad is just as tired as the rest of his men. In that time, his team has marched about 12.5 miles and encountered civilians several times. Every such encounter is fraught with potential danger. Now the team has finally reached its destination village. The commander breathes a sigh of relief when the local police chief courteously welcomes the team into his office.
His sense of relief goes away, though, when the chief asks him and his team to stack their weapons off to the side, where they would be out of quick reach if needed. Just as the commander is trying to figure out a polite way to decline, he hears a groan from somewhere in the back of the building. Is a prisoner being tortured?

The marching, the sleeplessness and the fatigue are all real, but the “village” is located in North Carolina, and all the “villagers” are soldiers in the U.S. Army, dressed up to play their roles. It’s all part of an elaborate 12-day “culmination exercise”—or CULEX, in Army terminology. The exercise is designed to test the skills of adaptive thinking and leadership of Special Operations Forces civil affairs and psychological operations personnel in the Army’s Reserve Command.

“Adaptive thinking is about cross-cultural communications,” says Maj. Eric Le Gloahec, a special projects officer at the Army’s John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. “It’s not just problem-solving. It’s thinking outside the box.”

These out-of-the-box cross-cultural communications skills are crucial to civil affairs and psychological operations personnel, who will encounter Iraqi and Afghan civilians in real situations like the scenario described here. The civil affairs function deals with civilian populations wherever the Army is.

Read more > Workforce Management