German, Thai, English, French, – you name the language, there’s likely to be a volunteer on the Thai vacation island of Phuket speaking it.

[Interpreters] are key aid workers in tsunami-stricken southern Thailand, where people of some 40 nationalities were on vacation when the waves hit.

Many of the multilingual helpers advertise their linguistic skills by writing the languages they speak on their T-shirt for all to read.

“We have just about every imaginable language, from English to this Russian dialect from Kazakhstan,” said Tony Carney, of Louisville, Kentucky, who has been coordinating the Phuket Relief Center’s volunteers.

Carney, an actor and television producer who has been living in Thailand for 13 years, speaks English, Thai, French and Spanish.

Other [interpreters] are tourists, volunteers who flew here to help, and multilingual Thais keen to contribute to the relief effort any way they can.

“Even though I hear a hundred different languages a day, it’s all the same thing, “Let’s help each other,” said Carney.

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Trying to do international business without prior cross-cultural training is a recipe for disaster. But there is more to such training than learning how to order a five-course meal, says Sudipta Dev

When organisations become cross-border entities, cross-cultural factors start affecting every aspect of the business. Whether in multi-cultural teams or in business interactions, the variants of cultural nuances eventually end up affecting the business. Cross-cultural training is conducted by many Indian IT organisations to equip their employees with skills to do business in a global environment. But there is much more to cross-cultural training than a crash course in etiquette or learning how to order a five-course meal; it is about a deeper understanding of the values and ethos that define a culture. However, this starts by understanding one’s own culture and then graduating to understanding and appreciating the differences of another.

Misinterpretations and misconceptions are common when the same situation is viewed differently by people from different cultures. The basis of inter-cultural relations are not about changing other people, but adapting oneself to another culture. In India, while earlier the focus was on training professionals working with software companies on international assignments, today it is an integral part of BPO culture for those personnel who have to interact with overseas clients.

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Arabic, now designated a “strategic” language by the U.S. government, faces unprecedented demand for instruction in schools across America, from kindergarten upwards. Not long ago, Middle Eastern languages comprised only 2 percent of all foreign language classes in the United States, led by Hebrew. Then, a Modern Language Association survey revealed a 92 percent rise in Arabic enrollments between 1998 and 2002 — to 10,600.

While there’s buzz about the high demand for Arabic linguists, the real story lies beyond the headlines. Besides the dramatic rise in Arabic enrollments, government and education leaders are intensely collaborating to foster earlier and sustained study, to build Arabic language capacity and cross-cultural understanding in the United States.

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Miami-based Bela Broadcasting, a Spanish language television programmer and independent station operator, purchased former NBC affiliate KMOH-TV last month from Gannett Communications for $5.25 million to tap the growing Hispanic market in Las Vegas as well as Phoenix.

With Hispanics comprising 26 percent of the valley’s 1.7 million people and spending about $33 million weekly on goods and services, the latest entrant to local Hispanic media further demonstrates the demographic shift in the local market. It’s a shift that has forced advertisers and their agencies to accommodate the swelling niche by servicing it.

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Marketers and advertisers will gather in sunny Miami during April 2005 (6th and 7th) to examine successful strategies being used to reach Hispanic consumers in the USA, at the third annual Innovations in Hispanic Marketing conference. The conference organiser, MFM Trade Meetings, promises addresses from experts in acculturation and market segmentation, brand management and strategic partnerships, as well as entertainment and new media. In case studies and panel presentations, conference speakers will show how many companies are currently increasing market share and deepening brand loyalty among Hispanic audiences. Speakers will come from a range of industries including food & beverage, healthcare, telecom, automotive, consumer goods, retail, cosmetics, consumer electronics, home products, financial services, media and entertainment, internet, transportation, and pharmaceuticals.

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1. Decide you want to be time conscience and organized and commit to it.

2. Remember: Time management means taking care of yourself first. Otherwise, you will be of little value to others.

3. Organize by the week first, then by day. This allows for unexpected items.

4. Develop an action list (calls, e-mails, tasks, actions, errands).

5. Prioritize each category and decide how much time each will receive.

6. Schedule time on a calendar.

7. Track progress by checking off completed tasks.

8. Revise the weekly action list daily.

9. Avoid letting others and extraneous events impose on your plan, unless you believe they are important.

10. Read Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.”

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Hat tip: Kimberly D. Wells

Christmas is definitely in the air around the globe. And the Christmas buzz has been increasingly welcomed by Chinese people, as internationalization continues to transform the landscape.

Indulging in mouth-watering delights while being swept away by an array of cultural holiday entertainment has become a bit of a rage in big cities such as Beijing now. For many Chinese, the novel idea of “Christmas” has arrived, becoming another welcome and pleasant way to celebrate the country’s “opening up” and development.

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Making sure delegations from European Union member states understand each other when they meet in Brussels is no easy feat.

It is up to the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Interpretation to make sure communication at meetings and conferences is smooth.

That was particularly challenging after 10 new member countries joined the EU in May this year, adding nine new official languages to the EU’s existing 11.

For the Directorate-General of Interpretation that involved more than a decade of preparation.

The problem was that professionally-trained interpreters in many of the candidate countries were few and far between.

It was up to the directorate-general – which every day provides between 700 and 800 interpreters for 60 meetings – to develop a pool of skilled people from which to recruit.

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While relief workers rushing to Asia to help deal with the aftermath of the tsunamis will have little time to interact with locals, aid workers who spend more time abroad require special intercultural skills.

…future development workers are taught to change their perspective, to see their own behavior from the perspective of the culture they’ll be working in.

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UFJ Bank customers can now gain access to multilingual automated teller machines and remit money to Brazil with the assistance of a Portuguese-speaking operator via an in-house video phone.

The money remittance service, the first of its kind, was launched at 10 UFJ branches in Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu and Mie prefectures on Dec. 20 in partnership with Brazil’s largest commercial bank, Banco Bradesco SA.

The new service enables direct transfers between UFJ and Bradesco accounts.

About 200,000 Brazilians of Japanese decent live in the four prefectures.

In a related move, UFJ modified about 4,500 of its ATMs Wednesday to improve access for non-Japanese customers.

Customers can now access ATMs in English, Chinese, Korean or Portuguese.

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The [Korean] Supreme Court said yesterday that starting next year the Ministry of Court Administration will provide interpretation and translation services to foreigners accused in criminal cases.
The ministry will manage the pool of interpreters and translators for courts nationwide and arrange appropriate services for foreign defendants, the court said.
Courts will also tape-record all trials that require interpreters. A foreign defendant is also allowed to raise an objection over interpretation and to request another interpreter for clearer communication.

According to the Supreme Court, 1,291 foreigners were tried in lower courts around the country last year, up from 588 in 2002.

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Etisalat has announced that the recently-launched SMS-based translation service has received an enthusiastic response from mobile users in the UAE. Data shows that 2500 messages were translated by mobile phone users on the first day the service was in operation.

Mohammed Al Fahim, Executive Vice President- Marketing, Etisalat, said: “We are very pleased to see that the ‘Tarjim’ (translation) service has been received so well. Our market research told us that this service would be of immense benefit to students, the business community and visitors. It is encouraging to find it being utilized by so many people so quickly.”

The service allows prepaid or postpaid subscribers to send SMS text to the number 1001. The service can translate from English to Arabic and vice-versa. Each message in English of 160 characters is charged at 60 Fils, and each Arabic message of 70 characters is charged at 60 Fils.

A common list of abbreviations that the system recognizes is available on www.etisalat.ae. Full details are also available by calling 101.

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South Korea was ranked 19th in 2004 for potential national competitiveness among 50 major countries, up four notches from 23rd in 2000, a Japanese economic institute reported Monday.

The Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER), an independent nonprofit research institute in Tokyo, yesterday elevated South Korea to 19th place after its information technology (IT) industry became the fourth most competitive in the world after the United States, Sweden and Denmark.

The United States was forecast to remain the most competitive nation for the next 10 years… while Singapore came in second, up one notch from the third place in 2000.

Hong Kong dropped to third from its second place four years ago, while Switzerland took fourth place and Norway fifth.

Japan remained unchanged at 15th from 2000, while China’s ranking rose one notch to 36th from 37th…

Taiwan was ranked 21st, up from 22nd four years ago

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The Chinese-language Web site of fast food giant McDonald’s Corp. was broken into twice on Christmas by a hacker protesting against its listing of Taiwan as a separate country, the Beijing Youth Daily said Monday.

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Hat tip: Going Global

In a land of magic and mystics, beyond the waves of the Arabian Sea, lives a hero whose soul will forever remain American. But in body and form he now belongs to India, where his story unravels in the tale of a wall-crawling do-gooder.

Spider-Man, they call him. But the next time he unmasks, an Indian boy named Pavitr Prabhakar will be revealed.

Peter Parker may be America’s Spider-Man, swinging among the skyscrapers and contemplating his urban angst. But in India, he’s Pavitr, with his own comic book for young Indians eager to embrace their own superhero.

Readers will find Spider-Man living in Bombay, a seaside city flush with gangsters, movie stars and some of the world’s largest slums. It’s a city with a generous supply of good and evil, fragrant with riches and smelling of poverty, where small-town Indians go to make it big and ill-meaning men lurk in every corner.

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