Intercultural Communication and Translation News

January 19th saw the official launch of Korean channel SBS-CNBC at a ceremony at the Ritz Carlton hotel. This channel will operate twenty-hour hours a day and focus on both global and specifically Korean business.

This channel is an important collaboration between the Asia Pacific branch of CNBC (Consumer News and Business Channel) and SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System). As a symbol of the new relationship between the networks government and business officials, as well as the Chairman of SBS and President of CNBC, attended the VIP launch night.

Launched under the collective name of both networks, SBS-CNBC will present Korea’s daily business news, including feature Closing Bell that examines the markets during the final hour of trade, alongside wider CNBC coverage from across the globe. High hopes are held for the long-term collaboration of the two networks, which aim to provide a service that will connect the intricacies of the Korean domestic market with the more extensive business community. The President of CNBC Asia-Pacific, Satpal Brainch, states that although CNBC “has long been the number one global brand in financial news and information…[it has] never lost sight of delivering the news with local relevance”. The co-ordination of the massively successful brand of CNBC with the rich understanding SBS has of the Korean market is, in Brainch’s words, “what SBS-CBNC is all about”.

This new channel enables Koreans to keep up to date with the everyday business situation of their own economy whilst simultaneously bringing the global business world to their doorsteps. Opening Korean television to the global business world will offer a new vantage point for Korean businesses; they will now be able to view the global markets for the first time in their own language and alongside their own domestic markets.

On a business level, for that after all is the channel’s focus, CNBC will gain a better understanding of an increasingly important market and SBS will benefit from the global brand that is its partner and all the globalization experience it brings. The media is ever expanding, could such collaborations provide the starting point for the future of televisual factual broadcasting? Could this presentable format be the move that brings television closer to its trendier more multi-lingual brother, the Internet?

As our economies become more linked, countries paradoxically strive for new ways to hold onto their cultural identities. Through the integration of linguistic specificity and international information, SBS-CNBC certainly hopes to pave the way in this medium and improve the future of both its partner companies.

Kwintessential decided to have a look and see what the most translated languages were for 2010.

Below are the top 15 languages we dealt with last year, translating either from/into English.

1. French
2. German
3. Spanish
4. Arabic
5. Italian
6. Chinese
7. Dutch
8. Russian
9. Polish
10. Portuguese
11. Japanese
12. Turkish
13. Greek
14. Swedish
15. Farsi

2010 saw the emergence of a new trend in Internet domains, the rise of the internationalized domain names (IDNs). As we move into 2011 we can anticipate a change that will mean that URLs are no longer confined fully to the English language or Latin script.

At the end of 2010 existing IDNs were heavily concentrated in areas such as the Middle East and India, the latter particularly because of the high level of official languages within the country.  Beyond this field many more countries were enthusiastic advocates of the move, Russia and China celebrated the idea of taking the Internet and transforming it into their own tongues. Russian President Mednevedev has spoken of how IDNs will become a “symbol of the importance of the Russian language and Cyrillic [script]; the introduction of the РФ registrar on November 11th proved an enormous success with domain registering rising from 18,000 on the first day to 575,000 two weeks later (a rise of over 3000%). These two countries have realized the opportunities IDNs provide to nations, the ability to utilize a global platform whilst concurrently protecting their nation’s own linguistic identity.

IDNs will also offer a practical relief for more than a billion Internet users who everyday have to face using characters from often unfamiliar languages and scripts in order to be able to access the web. Over 50% of Internet content is non-English, but still billions of people face having to enter URLs in English or Latinate scripts. If non-English content increases to its predicted levels of over 75% by 2020 then it just isn’t sustainable to keep forcing global users to access the web in this limited way.

However this move is not a discriminatory one, more IDNs does not mean that there will be less URLs for internet users who speak English or other languages that use the Latin script. Websites are not looking to replace one user base with another, neither are they looking to replace ‘western’ URLs with IDNs; the move is about choice and giving users an alternative, more accessible, avenue to the internet. As we advance towards 2020 websites and companies will have to learn to support a range of domains across many languages and scripts.

IDNs by their very nature are global instruments. The creation of an IDN encourages a wider user base because every user feels the benefit of their own localized URL. If you can access a website through your own countries’ search engines or input your own language’s URL, then you will be more inclined to use that service again and perhaps more intensively. IDNs offer companies a jigsaw of cultural parts across one global network (the internet); they do not cut a company into segments only to find that it no longer works as a cohesive whole.

By creating a more personal experience companies can look to expand their services and invest in each economic market in a way that best suits its nature. Despite the potential profits of such a venture, this diversification will place an increasing demand on companies’ management. The allocation of staff in each country will have to be overseen (these staff must now be literate in that country’s language), as well as the independent protection of each domain a company has. John Yunker, co-founder of Byte Level research, advises companies to “work closely with your in-country offices to understand your users…and invest…in educating your legal, marketing, and product development teams”.

IDNs will provide companies with increased opportunities to break into new markets but they will also require financial and personnel investment. Nevertheless the language of the Internet is changing, IDNs are coming, it is up to companies now: take the plunge or be left behind in the linguistic wilderness.

The European Commission has succeeded in formally presenting a proposal allowing 12 European Union (EU) countries to push for a ‘single European patent’. These member states have acted under the process of ‘enhanced co-operation’; this process allows nine or more countries to ask the commission to support and allow a proposal on which a united EU agreement (of all 27 member states) has not been reached.

Under the current rules the European Patent Office (EPO) is able to grant patents through the deligation of decisions to the patent offices in countries both within and beyond the EU. This method means that if one country opposes a patent request then it can jeopardize the entire patent proposal. The current system can be lengthy and costly with patents taken approximately 4 years to pass through the system. The inconsistencies between the decision-making processes of each EU country, along with the significant cost of translation (75% of the total EPO charge, which for a patent in 13 EPO countries would equate to €20,000), means the current patent system is fragmentary and highly inefficient.

The new proposal from 12 EU countries, including France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, would opt for a single patent plan and judicial system to control it. Patents would be proposed in one of three languages: English, French or German with prosposers able to get their proposal translated into their own tongue. The Commission states that any translation costs the proposer amounts would be “eligible for reinbursement”. Such a method would significantly reduce the period of decision-making and the cost of any proposal on the proposer (particularly important for small to medium businesses).

However the idea of a single European patent has always been controversial and this new proposal faces heavy opposition from Spain and Italy. Only with the European Treaty has the process of ‘enhanced co-operation’ been able to take place and the sticking point with the proposal has always been the role of translation within the patent procedure. Both Spain and Italy have asked for a semi-monolingual translation system if the proposal is to go ahead. This basically would involve all patents being proposed in English and then being translated into a second European language if the proposer desired. The Belgium compromise has tried to placate these concerns by allowing English to be the dominant language but “only in the transitional period” whilst translation equipment is being prepared.

Meanwhile the 12 countries defend their proposal’s use of three languages because they are the first, second, and fourth most popular languages in which patents are proposed (German 18.7%, French 6.6%, followed by Dutch and English). Business leaders such as Keith Hodkinson, Chairman of Intellectual property at Marks and Clerk International, have backed the campaign; Hodkinson states that those presenting the proposal are the “key markets in most industries” and that if the proposal passes it might “kickstart” support in remaining EU member states.

Current legislation states that the commission must now produce a more detailed proposal including translation requirements, this will be presented sometime early this year. The decision to authorize enhanced co-operation must then be approved by member states via a qualified majority and with the consent of the European Parliament.

If this proposal does pass then will the remaining EU states be persuaded to jump on the patent bandwagon or could these states’ nonparticipation help to complicate what is already an extensive and arduous process.

Research published at the end of 2010 shows that Welsh companies could increase their export sales by almost 50 percent if they employed staff with better language skills.

This has lead to Welsh businesses and language experts to call for more to be done to get young people learning foreign languages. These statistics show the enormous benefit of this venture for businesses, but does this ultimately mean that they should take over the responsibility of teaching languages from government schools?

1. THE GOVERNMENT
The Welsh Assembly Government has been trying for several years to boost the number of students learning modern foreign languages. In its 2009 review it revealed that just 27 percent of Welsh GCSE students studied a language. What could the government do to improve this figure and promote the career benefits of studying languages?

Perhaps more ‘trendy’ or youthful initiatives should be used to appeal directly to 14 year olds (those selecting their GCSE options). Financial investment could also be required to increase in-school advertising, put on more events such as language fairs and foreign trips or to implement a review of the current curriculum. But would the government ultimately still be doing too little too late? Many researchers believe that language acquisition is at its best before the age of 6, after which sounds and connections become less efficient and effective.

The problem with teaching languages so early is that before school starts (age 4 or 5) there is no mandatory nursery system into which a language programme could be inserted. Parents would have to take the responsibility for introducing the first stages of a language themselves. Even if schools began compulsory language classes at primary level they could still face difficulties; 5 year olds cannot be taught in the same way as 15 year olds and with Welsh primary classes averaging a 20:1 teacher-pupil ratio second languages could not be taught in as immersive a way as you learn your first language (in terms of cultural environment and focus on your learning). Language experts often state that languages are learnt most effectively when you are immersed within them, either through foreign travel or one-on-one parental/guardian teaching.

2. BUSINESS
However, experts have countered the belief that languages are most effectively learnt young by arguing that the only benefit to infantile teaching is that you have longer to develop the language before needing to utilize it in your independent adult life. Such an argument thus leads into business; we only spend 12 to 14 years in free education compared to 45 or 55 years in employment, so shouldn’t businesses take more responsibility for teaching us languages?

For large companies language learning is already part of the employment process. Systems such as work placements or inter-continental relocations offer an immersive experience of other languages and cultures. Small to medium size businesses are less immersive; although they usually have lower profit margins so surely cannot hold as much responsibility as larger companies? However, this research pinpoints the maximum export increases (44.5 percent) as occurring within small to medium size businesses that employ those with strong language skills. So how could these smaller businesses approach language learning?

Businesses could begin with recruitment, making multi-lingual positions a key part of their structure. Although with the low take-up of languages at GCSE without school support this might not be sustainable, certainly for new employees under 20. Therefore the focus could extend to the linguistically curious rather than the linguistically qualified. An initial investment in paid language courses (or paid days off for employees who want to self-fund said courses) could lead to a long-term gain through profit increase, some of this profit could then be reinvested in the recruitment system to pay for future employees to learn languages. Mandatory language learning could lead to long-term gain for only an initial short-term cost.

A survey has revealed that more US college students are studying languages than ever before. The increased interest in previously unpopular languages, such as Korean, has resulted in more crowded language classes at community colleges, but how much longer can this trend continue when faced with fierce budget cuts?

The survey, released by the Modern Language Association last month, reports that the number of students enrolling on language courses increased by 6.6 percent between 2006 and 2009. The Association also states that this new intake has resulted in the highest numbers of students taking languages since the survey began in 1960; this continues a growing trend in enrollment that had previously seen a 12.9 percent increase between 2002 and 2006.

Popular languages such as Spanish, French and German continue to carry high enrollment figures alongside huge increases in the take up of previously less popular languages. Arabic has itself the biggest climber with a significant 46 percent increase in enrollment and a jump from 10 to 8 on the ‘most popular’ languages list. Other languages that saw double-digit enrollment increases included Korean (up 19 percent), Chinese (18.2 percent) and Portuguese (10.8 percent).

Experts state that these figures are expressive of a growing trend within students to broaden their geographical horizons beyond the USA. The globalization of the Internet, an increased knowledge of world events and more frequent inter-continental travel are all factors that can be attributed to this movement towards language uptake.

On a wider cultural level this evidence could be taken to show the more pluralistic and tolerant views of many Americans in the 21st century. Since 1960, race relations have improved dramatically, alongside a better understanding and appreciation of the US’s Native American heritage and a growing dependency on the tourist trade within large cities. Although there is still a way to go in many of these areas, there is no doubt that the movements made have been in a more egalitarian, global direction.

US students do not want to be insulated against the world anymore (if they ever truly did). They know that large companies want multi-lingual employees and also that many humanities-based subjects strongly encourage students to have some knowledge of another language.

However there is a problem. The global economic downturn has hit language departments hard. Whilst 35 new languages were being taught last year that were not taught in 2006 (including Native American), in the last 30 months alone 70 language programmes at 30 institutions have been either threatened with closure or terminated completely. Even large institutions such as the University of Stanford have been forced to terminate courses that allowed students to major in French, Italian and Russian.

But if languages are so increasingly popular then why is funding being withdrawn? Perhaps they are not so popular as they seem. In an odd twist although the uptake of languages by students is increasing, the overall number of graduate enrollments is falling. Graduates are the foundation of language departments in that they will not only go on to teach the students of tomorrow but in many cases are also teaching the undergraduates of today.

As Professor Berman of Stanford states it is “perplexing” that language courses are being threatened in such a way given the “increased student demand…and the need for Americans to become more aware of the world around them”. If the study of languages at colleges is to continue leading students towards a better linguistic (and cultural) understanding of the world then more needs to be done to protect the financial security of departments and to encourage students to continue developing their language skills through graduate study.

Promoter of American musician Lady Gaga has revealed that the performer is thinking of recording future records in languages other than English.

Ralph Simon revealed in a recent interview to a Russian news agency that he has approached Lady Gaga about recording one of her “big songs for next year in Russian”. The move would be an attempt to broaden the appeal of the artist, particularly within the younger demographic. Simon believes that the “young community” would feel a stronger connection to the artist if she were to use their native tongue; furthermore she would also win over current non-fans by making them believe that she “thinks about Russia” and not just her charting in the US and UK.

Lady Gaga is in many ways the ideal performer to take the next step into multilingual recording. She is already a global star within the English language and can therefore afford to risk branching out. Also as the possessor of both Italian and French roots, she has a ready made non-English language ancestry that she could play up for the European market; her latest song ‘Alejandro’, released in May 2010, showed a musical progression towards the European continent as it channelled the synthpop beats of giants such as ABBA and Ace of Base. In the past Gaga has already sampled other languages within her songs, such as Swedish for the video of ‘Paparazzi’ (2008) and French for the lyrics of ‘Bad Romance’ (2009), showing that she does already consider the linguistic reaches of her music.

The idea is currently in its infancy under the suggestion of Simon, but there is the possibility that Gaga may use “Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese and Hindi” as the primary languages for selected songs featured on her forthcoming album ‘Born This Way’, which will be released in May 2011.

If this does come into fruition then Gaga looks likely to strength her existing fanbase outside of the US/UK by being able to directly address her audiences on tour. Moreover she could also draw on a new audience who condemn the pressure faced by artists, especially in the pop genre, to sing in English and welcome the nativism of her new tracks. Evidence of this English-bias includes the predominance of English-language songs within the Eurovision Song Contest, including the 2010 German winner Lena and her English-language song ‘Satellite’. Recent artists who have transplanted their own languages for English include t.A.T.u. (Russian), Basshunter (Swedish), Robyn (Swedish), Hi-Standard (Japan) and Shakira (Columbia- Spanish).

Not just satisfied with global domination could Lady Gaga also be the woman that opens the flood-gates for equality in the language of pop music?

The Irish Times has published an interesting perspective last month with an article written by two European students who discuss the confusion of moving to Ireland. Its narrative explores the past three months in the lives of Julia Gollub and Susanne Graatrud Schiager, from Norway and Germany respectively, and how they have coped with life in the Emerald Isle.

They begin with the initial practicalities of their arrival. Where the travellers are “used to” regular announcements detailing “which stop is next [and] which side of the train to get off” they are unsettled by the lack of direct information on Irish buses. Yet this chaos teaches them their first lesson about the ‘Irish’, although the system seems laid back and confusing people are friendly and eager to help.

Moving through their initial hours they see more of the politeness of their new culture both through engaging with strangers Fiachra and Siobham and within the ready “How are you doing?” of supermarket tellers. This shows how after adapting to your practical surroundings you come to realize that people are after all people, even if you initially fail to realize that “How are you doing?” is rhetorical.

They offer advice on the everyday difficulties faced and how to deal with them. “Pedestrian lights are a recommendation, not a rule” and the media can seem “shocking” compared to at home. Yet each step the article takes with a lesson, an understanding of how much things cost in different areas or how to respond to the ashamed politeness of the people. The sense of accepting that you may not understand at first, second or even third attempt, that you are “aliens” looking in and mostly that you can get past the confusion.

Their journey is riddled throughout with the travellers accustomed barrier, communication. They fear to accept new friends’ numbers at the risk of admitting they neither know how to “pronounce or spell their names”. This incident rolls into the trouble of ordering a taxi to Dun Laoghaire – a place they neither know by sight nor name. The language problems are baffling to them and extend from connotative meaning to colloquialisms and slang. “Irish words and accents can be difficult to get” they state, a welcoming reassurance that even after a few months in a place it is ok to feel lost in translation. They point to the slang term “gas” and filler “grand” as examples of the colloquial nature of Irish speech, whilst handily advising that “craic” is not referring to the drug and that the newsreaders’ references to “tea-shock” are addressing the Irish Prime Minister.

The key theme of their communication difficulties is that even when a common language is shared, here English, linguistic nuances exist. What you say is not the end of a communication, the pragmatism of speech and the politeness principles of everyday life have also got to be grasped. After their own pronunciation difficulties perhaps Julia and Susanne should consider how many Irish people would be able to correctly identify their names, Gollub and Graatrud Schiager, at first attempt.

Overall the tone of this article is of confusion but also of hope, to accept the problems you face and embrace your shortfalls. To laugh about a linguistic error is to learn from it and to “always carry an umbrella” is to accept that you face a fluctuating climate. If you turn the situation around to your new friends and see how differently they cope with snow or health then you can appreciate both the familiarity of your own cultural heritage and the intriguing freshness of theirs.

The message is to hang in there and in no time you will also be tucking in to “traditional Irish evenings with tea, milk, biscuits and Father Ted.”

Whereas traditional views considered the expatriate the sole actor in his/her adjustment process; recent literature suggests an important role for host country nationals in the expatriate adjustment process. It seems that socialization tactics of the organization and the information-seeking process of the individual have been overlooked as factors in the success of expatriates. As well, expatriates will also experience socialization in the host country national culture. This distinction between socialization in organization and host country national culture is essential. Because incoming expatriates are new organizational members, it is likely that boundaries between organizational and national culture will not always be recognized as such.
Socialization in this context can be defined as the process by which an individual fits in or becomes adjusted to a new role in the organization and learns the content of information necessary for adjustment to this new role. Socialization is, therefore, essentially a learning process and has been described as an expatriate coping strategy (Stahl and Caligiuri, 2005). Six socialization dimensions can be distinguished: politics, performance proficiency, language, people, history and organizational goals/values. Lueke and Svyantek (2000) suggested that combining knowledge gained through research on both socialization and information seeking processes is essential in gaining an understanding of expatriate turnover. Their suggestion is supported by research confirming that the use of these socialization tactics would affect job satisfaction and commitment to the organization. Overall, financial costs of expatriate turnover/failure have been estimated between $2 and $2.5 billion in recent research. Post-entry socialization experiences then may affect expatriates’ experience of fit and value in the new organization.
Consistent with the general nature of socialization described above, Florkowski and Fogel (1999) link perceived acceptance of expatriates in the new organization to host socialization efforts. Socialization is dependent on two players, the host country nationals and the expatriates themselves. Discordant behaviour by either party can disrupt the socialization process. It appears that expatriates at times display behaviours that are unhelpful to their own adjustment process. American expatriates who attempted to avoid resocialization (socializing to a new environment) have been found to experience conflicting internal and external demands. They were unable to communicate effectively with host country nationals and less satisfied with their situation.
Best practice in socialization strategies can assist relocating staff members in achieving their new fit to both the organization and a new community. However, expatriate motivation is key in achieving this fit and, at the same time, reducing expatriate turnover.
Information and feedback seeking, relationship building, negotiation of job changes and positive framing are suitable tactics for proactive socialization. Positive framing, which in contrast with the other techniques does not involve interactions with others, is a personal technique whereby individuals change their understanding of a situation by explicitly controlling the cognitive frame they put on the situation. Relationship building and positive framing were found to have positive effects on expatriate adjustment.
Findings in literature suggest that one size fits all approaches to socialization may not be effective. In order to benefit from the possible positive outcomes related to diversity at the workplace organizations should individualize their socialization tactics within, in particular, collectivistic organizational cultures. Collectivistic cultures tend to favour ingroups and behave according to values and norms within these ingroups. Organizational culture can be defined as the underlying values, beliefs, and principles that serve as a foundation for the organization’s management system, as well as the set of management practices and behaviours that both exemplify and reinforce those principles. This definition emphasizes the role of unique organizational context in socialization processes. Individualized socialization tactics therefore may provide tailored solutions for the individual, which may also increase the efficiency of the learning process as it would build on established skills and knowledge.
In summary, deliberate socialization is clearly related to expatriate adjustment and turnover and requires participation of host country nationals. It takes two to tango!

Dr. B.J.L. van den Anker received his PhD in Business and Management from the International Graduate School of Business of the University of South Australia. Dr. van den Anker hails from the Netherlands and has extensive experience living and working in SE Asia. His (I)HRM and cross-cultural consultancy assignments focus primarily on western-Asian contexts. He can be contacted at vandenanker@yahoo.com.

Florkowski, G.W. and Fogel, D.S. (1999). Expatriate adjustment and commitment: the role of host-unit treatment. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 10 (5), 783– 807.

Lueke, S.B. and Svyantek, D.J. (2000). Organizational socialization in the host country: The missing link in reducing expatriate turnover. The International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 8(4), 380-400.

Stahl, G.K. and Caligiuri, P. (2005). The effectiveness of expatriate coping strategies: the moderating role of cultural distance, position level, and time on the international assignment. Journal of Applied Psychology. 90(4), 603-615.