Intercultural Communication and Translation News

Businesses and the commercial powers that be are starting to recognise the importance of reaching a global audience through the internet and their websites. As a result many are starting to branch out by translating their web content so that it can be understood by as many people as possible and therefore maximise revenue.

Take North Africa for example. More than 65% of the region’s population is under 30 and therefore making great use of the internet (and this is a massive number of potential customers). If you are looking for proof about the potential the internet has to influence in North Africa then you only have to look at the revolution in Libya that was powered mostly by the internet.

Arabic is one of the fastest growing languages that is appearing in web based content, so smart businesses should be looking at ways to create content in Arabic that will reach out to this large demographic.

You only have to look at the way in which the revolution in Libya was orchestrated largely through the web to really appreciate what the internet can do for language barriers. The organisers were able to communicate with many across the web and orchestrated a massive political movement as a result.

It would make sense then that businesses should in theory be able to harness the same power in order to grow their brand or product.

The key of course to reaching as many people as possible is getting in trained linguists and translators who can interpret your web content and therefore maximise effective communication.

A new report has highlighted the fact that the police force across the UK has spent over £82 million over the last three years on translation services. It is thought that the police have had to fork out such a large chunk of their budget so that they can effectively communicate with migrant criminals, victims and witnesses.

In 2004 the EU allowed Poland and other eastern European countries to join its ranks and since then translation costs have been soaring.

It is estimated that the police spend approximately £75,000 a day on translators which could equate to 3,542 extra officers on the beat.

The latest figures have been highly criticised as they come at a time when the police force have had to take officers off the beat as a result of spending cuts. Some forces have had to impose pay freezes but it seems as though the costs of paying for translators is rising at a great rate. .

However, the police are aware that they need to serve all of the community and in areas where a diverse range of languages are spoken it is a must to be able to communicate effectively with the public.

The government are responding to the high spend though by imposing an £18 million cut this year on translation budgets.

According to Professor C. A. Bartlett who co-authored “Transnational Management” nearly 20 years ago, the business world is a very different place to what is was back when he wrote the book.
The book is now in its sixth edition and Bartlett describes it as a continuous work and a passion of his. He has filled the book over the years with case studies that demonstrate how the world of business works and also highlights how the world of business has changed over the years.
One of the biggest changes in the way that the international world of business now works is with the way that many modern businesses now operate. Communication has come on leaps and bounds since 1992 (when the book was first published) and it is easy to forget how quickly connected we can be with people on the other side of the globe. The internet and email has broadened business horizons and made many more places reachable and the improvement of the spread of information and data has been a real boon to businesses everywhere. Skype, satellite phone and video conferencing have all broken down the barriers of international business.
The very fact that technology has broken down international barriers means that there really is no such thing anymore as the global manager, as almost every office worker now spends their time in a global environment.
International divisions now also no longer really exist like they used to in the 1960s and 1970s when the managers were sent abroad for long periods of time. The fluidity of today’s world means that many companies look to recruit managers from all over the world as travel is no such of longer an issue as it used to be.

A US diplomat is shame-faced as she has come under criticism following her comments about “dirty and dark” Tamils. The diplomat in question is Vice-Consul Maureen Chao who is posted at the Chennai Consulate.

After the embarrassment that her comments have caused she has now made a statement saying that she had enrolled herself on a cultural awareness course.
The US government have made a statement to say that her comments are not in line with American core values and as a result they find them totally unacceptable. Maureen Chao apologised almost straight away for her comments but also felt the need to go on a course to give her a better understanding of other cultures.
The comments came in a speech that she made last week in which she was recalling a train ride that she took around 20 years ago in India. She is quoted to have said:
“I was on a 24-hour train trip from Delhi to Orissa,” the eastern Indian state, Chao continued, according to Agence-France Press. “But, after 72 hours, the train still did not reach the destination … and my skin became dirty and dark like the Tamilians.”
The US Consulate commented on the speech saying that it was something inappropriate for a person in her position to say and Chennai officials wrote and asked for an official apology.

The German Knigge Society (or as it translates the German Etiquette Society) has announced that it feels it appropriate for kissing in the work environment to be banned.

According to the society the Germans find kissing in public highly offensive and therefore kissing in the office is extremely inappropriate. The chairman of the group said that kissing in the office (he is talking about pecks on the cheek rather than full blown kisses) is only a recent development but that it was affecting the way people were going about their work in the office environment.

Germans are traditionally very polite and their work environment is very formal, so pecks on the cheek (even when used as greetings) do not really fit with the usual way of doing things and handshakes are considered to be much more appropriate.

Here are some office etiquette pointers to make sure that you are staying on the right side of the boss with your manners!

1. If you have to eat at your desk make sure that you food is office friendly – so avoid anything that is very smelly.
2. If you use social network sites make sure that you limit who can see your posts, you can come across as very unprofessional if you are telling all of your co-workers about how you were drunk at the weekend.
3. If you are in a relationship with someone at work then make sure that you keep it quiet as it can often be frowned upon by managers as it is thought to be distracting.
5. Always make sure that you look smart and well presented as this will mean that you are taken seriously in the work environment.

At the last estimate it was thought that there are around five hundred and thirty seven million users who make use of the internet in the English language, on top of this around 445 million people use the web in the Chinese language. These are the two main languages that the public use in order to navigate the internet, but there are a huge number of people who use countless other languages to surf the net and these add up to around 995 million.
Many businesses miss out on a huge untapped global market by alienating customers who cannot speak the language in which the website has been written.
In a Eurobarometer survey, it was found that around 90% of all European web users will make the choice to use a website that has been written in their first language, as they feel it gives them a better feeling of security and confidence that the transaction will go well.
It is clear then that if a global business does not want to alienate a large consumer market then they must take the issue of language translation very seriously.
The new generation that is coming through which has been named the Millennial generation is bound to make a large impact on the global business world as many of these people use the internet every single day. The Millennial generation are also proving to be entrepreneurial and with many of them coming from emerging markets, it seems that they are making the most of the internet to start-up companies.
In order for them to reach as many people as possible with their websites (and as a result maximise revenue) they are using machine translation services. But using a machine translation service over a human does have its drawbacks, as whilst it might be cheap it is also sometimes in accurate. It is therefore up to companies to balance the importance of language translation with the cost of the service.

If you have ever been abroad and come across a problem that has meant that you are in need of some help then you might have found that the language barriers can cause issues. However, now a new telephone service has been launched that aims to help out British travellers who find themselves in a tricky situation when they are on holiday.
The idea is that travellers can pick up the phone and will be connected to translators who will be able to translate into 200 different languages.  The phone line is aptly named Interpreter Live and travellers can use it for anything from emergency situations to asking help to interpret a menu.
The phone line is the brain child of a former British army officer named Lee Mears who saw that there was a gap in the market when he was on tours of duty and experienced language difficulties himself.
The service works with the traveller calling the phone number which is then routed through to the necessary translator who will be able to help the people who need rescuing whist they are on holiday. Users can either set up an online account or use a pre-paid phone card that will help them to keep track of how much they are spending on the service.
The translator will act as a go between if needed between the holiday maker and any locals that they want to talk to.
The creators are calling it an essential travel tool for holiday makers, who need a little extra help understanding the local lingo.

Movie studios are no strangers to putting out their films in many different languages in order to maximise box office revenue from as many different countries as possible. In fact one recent example, Pixar Animation’s “Cars 2″, was sent out to 44 countries when it was released this summer.
However as many translators have found it proves challenging to completely capture colloquialisms that do not transfer into other languages. If the main character in the film has a very distinct dialect, this is hard to translate for people outside of the America and the UK.
The subtle nuances in languages can be hard to get across in other languages – and this is especially challenging when it comes to comedy.
For countries that choose to use subtitles over spoken voice overs, they face their own challenges with language translation as they have to make sure that they condense what is being said so that there is not too much to read, whilst still conveying the message of what is being said.
The more slang and regional language that exists in the film, the more of a dubbing challenge that it offers to the translators. They also have to be careful with regards to offensive words, as some words can be rude in some languages but perfectly acceptable in others.
And for films that are set in a by-gone era the dubbers must find old fashioned language equivalents which can sometimes be a challenging and painstaking process.
In a film world where a large chunk of revenue is coming from over sees the process of dubbing has never been more crucial.

If you are going to do a job then you need to make sure that you do it properly and this is what many translators already know. If you are going to translate anything whether it be a document or a speech for your business then you will need to make sure that it is done well in order for it reflect properly on the way that you work and the way in which you conduct your business.
A bad translation can have a very negative impact in the way in which your business is perceived and can do much more damage than just embarrassment for your organisation.
Up until recently you could have travelled to foreign places and found amusement in mistranslated signs (you might have even taken a picture of them to take home and show your friends for a laugh). However, one place where the chance of this happening is now very low is in China.
China is putting great emphasis on correct translation and it seems that many Chinese businesses have seen the light about how much a bad translation can give your business a bad image.
It’s clear that in China being a translator is taken as a serious job, with Chinese translators being the third most popular group of translators behind the Norwegians and the Americans.
It seems that the rapidly expanding economy in China is making room for a quick growing trend of translators and languages services that are springing up to keep up with the demand of the foreign trade that is emerging in the economy.

The Apple App Store has a huge range of apps for its users to enjoy ranging from entertainment apps such as games, to the more business and money orientated apps to help today’s business world. There are currently 30,000 apps in the App Store for the iPhone user to choose from.
Apple offers its business users a selection of apps that it thinks will be the most useful for those who are on international business travel. These recommendations are a huge boon for the companies who made the apps as they receive the direct recommendation of Apple.
Kwintessential are one of the companies who have been featured in the top five apps that are recommended for business travels who use an iPhone.
Other recommended apps include guides on business etiquette for those who are conducting business deals abroad in unfamiliar countries. One of the tops tips for example emphasises the need for people who are doing business in China to be punctual as this is highly important to the Chinese people.

Kwintessential’s app offers invaluable information to the iPhone user about how they should conduct themselves when they are away on business. It focuses on etiquette and provides the user with direct links to the company’s website which offers translation and cross-cultural training services to companies who conduct a lot of their business overseas.