Intercultural Communication and Translation News

The web is navigated in English by 537 million users who choose to use the English language as the primary way in which they conduct their business on the internet. 445 million users do the majority of their transactions over the internet in Chinese. However on top of these two main languages that are used, 985 million people use the internet and visit websites that are written in languages other than English and Chinese.
A common misconception is that the internet can be used by everyone all around the globe, but what many people fail to understand is that  you can only use a website of you understand it and can read what is written. Very few of the world’s websites are constructed with a global audience in mind and so therefore they are restricted in whom they appeal to.
It is only natural for users to gravitate towards languages that they can understand so internet shoppers and business users are far more likely to look at websites that are constructed in their native language, In fact only 18% of all purchases that are carried out over the internet are done by those who are not a native speaker of the website’s language.
However the millennial generation recognise the importance of the global reach of the internet and many of these young people are conducting their lives and positioning themselves firmly with the internet at the centre of their day to day living and as such heavily rely on the internet to help them to reach global shops, businesses and contacts.
As the global barriers are being broken down it is important that the companies who are making the websites that are being visited by the millennial generation understand the vital importance of making sure that proper translation services  are used so that as many potential customers are reached as possible. This will of course mean that proper translation will not only make a website and business globally available to all users but as a result this will also boost revenue.

It seems that legal clerks are going to be required to undergo diversity training if they want to continue working successfully within the legal field.
Legal chambers are now seeking to protect themselves against the lack of cultural knowledge that their staff may have by making sure that diversity training is undertaken. The move comes after the 4 Square case where discrimination charges were laid at 4 Square’s door.
The regulator, the Bar Standards Board (BSB), is currently drawing up set of guidelines that will help to steer the legal profession through the minefield that is culture and diversity training. It is hoped that these guidelines will be approved and will be included in the code of conduct by the end of next year.
Legal companies are starting to realise the importance of cultural training and courses are filling up within hours of being made available to firms.
Legal companies have responded to the move saying that they welcome the new regulations that will require staff to be fully made up to date on cultural and diversity issues that are facing the UK at the moment.
More and more clients also expect their lawyers to know all about the dangers of discrimination so in order to give the clients what they need the firms need to make sure that all of the staff are brought up to speed.
4 Square barrister Aisha Bijlani has highlighted this issue after winning a claim against 4Square in which she accused the firm of racial and disability prejudice.

As the Immigration Advisory Service is no longer in existence (after it went into administration last week) it leaves a question mark over many people’s heads as to what is going to happen to the thousands of people who relied heavily on the services that the charity provided.
The Immigration Advisory Service was a charity that was specifically set up to help people who required legal advice and guidance about issues that surrounded immigration and working in the UK.  However these valuable services are no longer available as the charity has had to go into administration as a result of a lack of funding.
The closure of the ISA comes as a direct result of the strict budget cuts that have been brought in by the UK government in order to try and save the British economy after the global financial crisis. In particular the cuts in legal aid have meant that charity was not able to be funded.
10,000 people are thought to have been affected by the charity closing down and these people will now have very few places to turn for advice. This will be made worse by the fact that many of the people who needed advice form the ISA are not able to speak English.
It seems that at the moment a worrying trend is starting to develop and this is that many charities and free services across the whole of the UK are not able to survive the latest round of budget cuts.
Last year the charity called Refugee and Migrant Justice had to close through lack of funding and the fallout was big. A lot of people were badly affected including one man who found himself in such a bad situation that he ended his own life.

Manchester City has made an embarrassing error of judgement in choosing the name for their new stadium.

The club have recently built a new stadium in Manchester and have called it the Etihad Stadium. However, once the news was announced about the new name it did not take long for messages to swamp social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook as it seems that the Arabic translation for the word means “United”. This is of course highly unsuitable as Manchester City’s main footballing rivals are Manchester United.
Football fans were soon to pick up on the irony of the new name and it left many City fans red faced. However the club were quick to defend the new name saying that in actual fact the word means “union” in Arabic. Translators and language experts are divided on this though and it seems that the word can actually have multiple meanings including united, union, alliance and friendship.
Despite assurances that the word does not mean united some of the fans are not happy with the choice of the name for the new stadium which was meant to signify a new era for the club. Many fans think that the name is far too close for comfort to Manchester United.
No matter which way you look at it, it just goes to prove how an oversight in translation can cause embarrassing errors that may sometimes be very hard to live down.

Across the business world culture clearly affects the way in which business is conducted and as such if you are thinking of moving your business into the international arena and the global marketplace then you need to start making sure that you and your staff have a sufficient amount of intercultural understanding.
Intercultural understanding can truly only be gained through experiencing foreign cultures first hand and through this people will then start to get a real feel for what makes people from other parts of the world tick and give them a deeper understanding about the different types of business practises around the world.
When you are learning about new cultures you have to be careful not to just scratch the surface and take things at face value. True intercultural understanding comes about from knowing an area of the world very well and understanding the key differences between that area of the globe compared to other places.
Whilst going on training courses and reading books about other cultures can hold a certain amount of value nothing will ever replace the true knowledge that comes from having been to a place and having lived and breathed the culture first hand.
Whilst cross cultural training is a great idea for employees that are about to embark on business within a new country it should only really be looked upon as the first stage in learning about the new culture.
Businesses who give a high value to intercultural understanding usually fair a lot better on the international stage than those who do not feel that it holds very much importance in the business world.

Many multi-national businesses understand the importance of diversity and the crucial role that the inclusion of diversity training can play within a multicultural company.
It is a very well documented fact that diversity can bring along with it barriers within a multicultural work force this means that the business might not be as productive as it could be. This is something that many HR teams work hard on within the companies in order to make sure that the work force work as well with each other as the possibly can.
Multicultural business experts are warning international companies that the temptation to only pay lip service to diversity training should be avoided at all costs and that companies who ignore the challenges of a multicultural workforce do so at their own peril.
It is not just people from different cultures that are benefiting from the increased positive attitude towards diversity at work. The gay and lesbian communities are also starting to see a lot more inclusion in forward thinking companies. Companies who are embracing diversity have found that it makes for a dynamic and creative atmosphere that is conducive to high quality output and the growth of a company.
Many business experts think that the current modern work force is made up of four pillars of people, the members of each group belong to very different generations. The mains groups are “traditionalists”, “boomers”, “generation-Xers” and “millennials”. Each group has their own idiosyncrasies and world views; as a result HR teams have to work hard on making sure that that every single group is included within the work force.

When people decide that they want to move country with their work it can sometimes be a challenging time (especially if they are taking their family with them).
However if you are looking to move to somewhere like China then it can be even more demanding and it is very likely that if you do not prepare before you go, then you will find that you might experience some kind of culture shock when you are there.
If you are soon to become an expat in China then here are a few tips to help you deal with the culture shock.
o    If you have the time and the budget (and if your company will let you go) then it is always worth spending a little time booking a research trip to the area where you will be living. This is a really good way to get to grips with the area of China where you will be staying and the different way that the Chinese, that will be local to you, do things.
o    Cross cultural training is a great way to give yourself an added advantage (so make sure you grab it with both hands if your company gives you access to this).
o    Think about the area of China where you will be staying. If you are going to be living in one of the major cities then you might find that you will have access to some western products. If however you think you are going to be living in a more remote area of China then you will either have to take some essentials with you or learn to do without.
Living is China can be an incredible cultural experience but to truly make the most of it you have to make sure that you are prepared for the differences to the culture in the UK.

For more tips visit Expatriate Relocation Guides

The author Kamila Shamsie brings up an interesting point in her recent article for The Guardian. If an author writes a novel and if this novel is then translated into another language can the author still reasonably see the work as their own?

Shamsie’s investigation arises from her own experience of a ‘misinterpretation’ of one of her works. An Italian reader interpreted the ending of her novel as showing the death of a lead protagonist, when although Shamsie intended to show a death she was actually showing the demise of a completely different character.

If we dispute ownership of a translation then we must ask: what is it that makes the ‘original work’ the authors to own? There may be an idea, plot, characters but the first thing the reader encounters is the words. Words in sentences. Now words can be tricky in translations, some languages have multiple words for something (canis/canem for ‘dog’), some have one word with multiple meanings (leaf/page), some even have no words that are equivalent to another language’s (Polish has no word for ‘years’ in English). Translation can therefore rob an author of their words.

Furthermore, different languages have different syntactical structures. Words are placed in seemingly strange orders, with different words in the sentence prioritised (whether noun, adjective, verb etc.) This means translation can rob an author of their sentences. With both words and sentences ‘corrupted’ the entire style of the author may therefore be compromised. The distinctive voice of the author is gone.

With these ‘issues’ in consideration, translation could be seen to work most effectively with authors whose style is seen as unconventional within their own language. Late German author Von Rezzori believed that “my mentality is not German”, so when his works were published in Italian his widow felt the translator had perfectly embodied her husband’s voice despite the language change. But readers sometimes deliberately choose works from other cultures to gain an understanding of that culture’s life; if for example an Icelandic work has been hispanisized then the reader looses some of the flavour of the Icelandic culture that is so interwined with its language.

What are translators then if not builders following architect’s blueprints?

They have built the walls, painted them, screwed on the doors; but wait occupant one wants a formal dining table and occupant two a trendy breakfast bar. The ultimate design is left to the readers.

The dualistic structure of architect and builder creates works that can be produced worldwide, works that are then interpreted through the eyes of each individual reader.

But if a reader’s experience of a text differs from the author’s intentions then does the new interpretation belong to the author, or the reader; or is it the property of the text from which it sprung?

The WordPress Multilingual Plugin has now included an XLIFF interface into its programming which is set to help the way in which the WordPress website translates into other languages and it is hoped to reduce the translation time for the WordPress websites by around 50%
XLIFF stands for XML Localisation on Interchangeable File Format. It allows the translation into other languages to take place by letting users use their favourite CAT tools within the WordPress sites. The inclusion of XLIFF means that translation services and translators can now increase their presence and output within WordPress.
Websites usually take a long time for translators to perform a complete translation on and it often involves a lot of painstaking cutting and pasting that wastes a lot of valuable time.
However, the new XLIFF plugin in WordPress means that this problem is solved at it allows translators to easily export jobs as XLIFF files and this means that they can get on with the translation without having to worry about formatting.
WordPress is responsible for 14% of the websites that are currently around at the moment and the rise in the number of websites that require full translation into other languages means that it is imperative that there is an easy to use platform like the XLIFF interface within WordPress to make the translations of websites a lot more user friendly and successful.
XLIFF is part of the WPML which is a WordPress plugin and is available to download at wpml.org.

Many multi-national companies are learning the hard way that when it comes down to competing for international business in foreign territory, then it is very important to make sure that the website translation is spot on.
Over the years there have been numerous embarrassing blunders made by both UK and foreign companies and when it came to making sure that the translation of their goods and services was perfect for their new foreign customer base they were seriously off the mark.
The way in which a company handles the website translation is key to foreign business success, as not only does an effective translation help to win over business but it also makes the company look at lot more professional and switched on. Some foreign countries will see it as a huge mark of disrespect if the translation is wrong and this can cost money, which is very bad for figures.
Many UK companies are realising that in order to have success outside of the UK the translation into foreign languages is vital. However the standard of the translation is also just as important as the act.
You may or may not have heard about the toe-curling mistake that was made by Pepsi during an ad campaign that they were running in China. The ad claimed that the drink would help to bring the dead back to life, when it actual fact what Pepsi wanted to say was “Come alive with the Pepsi generation”
Once the translation is 100% perfect then companies will be able to go out into the foreign business market knowing that they have properly equipped themselves for the job.