Intercultural Communication and Translation News

Dear blog-reading enthusiasts,

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself…

I am a football fan, fitness fanatic (although I don’t look like it), lover of travel, food, drink and riding roller-coasters. However most importantly, I am a Relationship Manager at Kwintessential having started at the very beginning of January. My job is primarily focused on client contact, making sure that all of our clients are happy with what we do, and the processes on which we operate. This of course changes from business to business so it is important that you are able to adapt to cater for their needs.
From here on in you will be hearing a lot more from me as I write about my thoughts and experiences on the cross-cultural industry, news on translation and interpreting, and anything I think you will find interesting…which is in fact most things. I have been given the task of making my posts thoroughly interesting, thought-provoking and in some places, incredibly funny. No pressure then.

So look out for my first proper post which will be coming very soon!

Cheerio (need a better sign-off),

Ben Lewis+

Monday 19th September 2011: Expanding firm Kwintessential have further tied the company’s future to Somerset with an investment in new offices. Now based in Crewkerne, the once one-man operation has grown to become a global player with offices in London, California, Buenos Aires, Cape Town and Dubai.  Passionate about Somerset, the Managing Director, Neil Payne, is proud the company’s HQ still remains in the county and contributes to its economic development.
Established in 2004, Kwintessential provide clients with solutions to language and cultural business challenges. Translation, interpreting, multilingual design and cultural awareness training are but a few of their services.  The company was relocated to Somerset in 2007. Since then it has grown from being a one-man operation to turning over nearly £2 million, employing over 20 fulltime staff in the UK and overseeing four offices globally.
“We have some very exciting times ahead of us,” states Neil Payne. “The latest investment shows passion and commitment to our goals, our team, our clients and our county. We, along with many other local companies, show that Somerset is a success story and will continue to be. It’s a fantastic place to be.”
The new offices in Crewkerne Business Park mark a new chapter for the firm as it evolves into a medium sized company. Focused on providing complete solutions to clients from translating websites to graphic design to cultural consultancy, the company is also dedicated to ensuring satisfaction. Their recent Customer Satisfaction Survey (August 2011) saw 95% of clients stating they will return to Kwintessential for future work. The survey pointed to value for money, quality, timeliness and understanding needs as the reasons behind such positive feedback.

- Ends –

We thought we would clear up a small issue that has come to light over the past week. Despite our credentials as being the fashionistas of the translation & intepreting sector   we can’t lay claim to the Kwintessential tumblr page.

Now, we would love to have the time to write on Courtside Chic and Monday Morning Fashion Fix, but we are far too busy concentrating on our day to day activities.

So for all our fans, apologies but we are not getting into the fashion industry just yet!

by Neil Payne

Interesting to read about Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke’s speech at Clifford Chance earlier this week. It is clear the government has to get the UK exporting in order to get us all out of the current slump. UKT&I continue to do great work and now the government has launched the ‘Legal Services Action plan’ which aims to promote London as the legal capital of the world.
Clarke hailed the UK’s legal services industry as ‘world-class’ and gave an overview of initiatives the Government is taking in order to further the interests of the UK’s legal businesses.
At Kwintessential we have worked with a number of legal firms setting up shop abroad and exporting their brands over the past few years. Cultural awareness training has been provided pretty much exclusively on China, the Middle East and India identifying those as the main markets. That’s why it is interesting to see the government has targeted what they call ‘new markets’ such as South East Asia, Brazil and Turkey.
It seems the Government have woken up to the potential the sector holds at present. With a high reputation abroad, British legal firms have long been looked to for guidance by other nations keen to establish rigorous legal systems and practices. I spent a lot of time in Dubai last year speaking to local lawyers all of whom acknowledged that it is the British legal system that the local laws look towards in terms of a standard.
“Law as an industry has sometimes felt itself to be overlooked in its treatment by government – certainly relative to financial services. So I want to make it clear that for this Government, the City of London is a legal centre – not just a financial one. Contrary to popular myth, I do not wear hush puppies but I am prepared to wear out much shoe leather promoting the UK as lawyer and adviser to the world, particularly in areas where protectionist regulations remain an impediment to exporting UK services,” added Clarke.
Let’s see how this initiative goes but from appearances the sector should get a real boost from this support and can now start looking towards expansion into foreign markets.

by Neil Payne

New Zealand Education Minster, Pita Sharples, has launched a new initiative ‘Tataiako’ that aims to help teachers to improve their understanding of Maori culture. The resource, which acts as a set of guidelines, enables teachers to reflect on their past cultural sensitivity, to assess their existing knowledge,  and also to take responsibility for improving their cultural awareness for the future.

The important aspect of this particular programme is that it looks to establish a long-term reflexive attitude within the teaching commuity. The stress is not to enforce rules or test teachers, but instead to encourage them to contemplate upon their own experiences and behaviour throughout their careers.

New Zealand is popular with tourists from all over the world and is famous for accommodating and welcoming their needs. However, as with every country, it is vital that it considers the cultural integration of its own citizens before true pluralism can be achieved. It is not about a short-term activity-based integration or homogenizing of migrant communities, it is about the existing people of New Zealand having respect for the cultures of their own islands.

“Engaging in respectful working relationships with Maori students and their families” (quoted from: New Zealand news platform ‘Stuff’) is a key point taken from the new guidelines. It extends from the classroom discussion and integrity of cultural awareness to broader social integration of different communities within New Zealand (school) life. A further three guidelines outline “sincerity and respect towards Maori beliefs, language and culture”, taking responsibility for the learning of Maori students and the deliberate recognition of Maori student’s heritage as the core competancies for teachers to work for.

The main need is to understand the importance of identity to Maori students and their communities. Without understanding the unique perspectives of these children and young adults, you cannot fully engage in understanding how school and learning can and will come across to them.

Statistical evidence over the past decade has shown that students from a Maori background are falling behind those children from other ethnic groups. Improving cultural awareness will not only improve the continuity of Maori childrens’ lives, but will also make it easier for communication to exist between schools and Maori communities on the issue of education.

Finally, from the development of more culturally aware and skillful teachers should come the formulation a of more respectful, united and happy student population.

For anyone who has never been in business in Spain before, then there are a few things that you will need to know and understand before you go about chairing your first Spanish business meeting.

Spanish companies are often still structured with the traditional management structure, however as new and cutting edge businesses are emerging this is starting to change towards a more modern way of thinking and management is becoming more fluid, this mainly due to younger managers working and studying abroad and then returning to work in Spain.

If you are going into your first Spanish business meeting then you will need to know that the ethos in Spain is to hold meetings that are there to inform and instruct, rather than discuss ideas or brainstorm. It is up to the Managing Director of the company to make all of the decisions and these are then communicated down the ranks to employees. At meetings it is normal for conversations to stray away from the topic in hand and move to personal and social discussions (remember that the Spanish are very social and this comes across even when they are in the work environment).

If you think that you are going to enter into negotiations then remember that the Catalans prefer a professional negotiation style whereas in Southern Spain it is all about the bargains!

Remember that in Spain it is usual for you to be interrupted when you are speaking, as this is not considered rude, it is actually usually a sign that the person to whom you are talking is involved in the conversation.

Try to dress smart as this will make a great impression in Spain. The way you dress reflects how you are viewed in Spanish business and you will be respected if you wear traditional business dress.

Read more on the topic @ Management in Spain

A new study has reported that it seems that it takes the average American longer to fall in love than their European equals.
The study looked at Americans and also at Eastern Europeans and found that Americans often considered friendships to be a crucial part of the relationship process for Americans rather than for Europeans.
The report says that out of those people studied it was found that people from Lithuania (around 90% in fact) said that they usually fall in love within one month of meeting their new partner. In comparison to this 58% of Americans said that they fell in love anywhere between 2 months to a year.
The study was conducted to see how different cultures perceived love and over 1000 people from the US, Russia and Lithuania all took part in the survey which consisted of a 14 page questionnaire.
Interestingly Eastern Europeans viewed romance as fleeting whereas Americans saw it as something that was longer lasting. Eastern Europeans seem to be cynical about romantic love using terms such as ‘a stage’ and ‘fairy tale’.
This is in direct comparison to the Americans who said that ‘honesty,’ ‘contentment’ and ‘comfort’ were all crucial for love.
The research was carried out by scientists at the State University of New York at New Paltz and Russia’s Moscow State University for the Humanities.

According to the world’s biggest provider of language and translation services (TransPerfect) there is a large disparity between the importance that consumers and companies place on the translation of retail websites.
It seems that customers who shop online attribute a lot of weight to the website that they are using having the correct translation, whereas the executives from the retail companies do not hold the importance of language translations in quite the same light.
This information has come to light following a survey that was carried out questioning customers who do most of their shopping online and also of the retailers themselves. This was an international survey that questioned people from both the US and Europe.
According to the survey around 19% of retail executives ranked translating online information in their websites as high priority. This is in direct comparison to around 63% of customers saying that they would be more likely to choose a website that had its translations spot on, as it would make them appear more trustworthy.
64% of retailers said that they were unaware of how a translation would affect their business or how it would alter visits to their websites being converted into sales.
68% of customers said that they had come across websites where the translations were incorrect and thought that this portrayed an unprofessional image.