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Fear of failure…or fear of financial guilt?

Having attended the London launch of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009 (GEW) on Monday morning, interesting points were raised by a number of speakers around the cultural differences between the UK and the US when it comes to wealth creation and entrepreneurial success.

Dr Carl Schramm, a respected developer of entrepreneurial talent and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, joked about how the UK tends to come up with ideas for new technologies and innovation, which are then acquired and marketed by the US, who have the confidence to see an idea through.  Is the issue therefore that fear of failure in the UK means we are also afraid to market potentially brilliant ideas?

As a marketing professional it is incredibly satisfying to work with driven entrepreneurs, many of whom have failed at some stage in their careers but have not been put off trying again.  In order to create inspirational role models for our future entrepreneurs, both the business model and the visionary leader behind it should be promoted and we shouldn’t be embarassed to do this.

Perhaps if the UK borrowed the attitude of its peers across the Atlantic and had much more self belief and, in the words of Dragon’s Den member Peter Jones, started encouraging people to say “I can” rather than “can I?” then emergence from the current recession would be quicker.

Jim O’Neill, Global Head of Economic Research at Goldman Sachs, voiced concern that that the UK seems to have an emerging view that wealth creation isn’t a good thing, having been scarred by our recent economic decline.  With such detailed reporting in the media, on both banking bonuses and the earnings of many of FTSE CEOs, it’s no wonder that there may be some reluctance for entrepreneurial businesses to stick their necks out and race towards financial reward.

The belief that there will be criticism of pay packets and negative responses from members of the public may in fact be preventing some of our rising stars from taking that first step.  The GEW speakers highlighted the fact that fast growth and rewarding staff needn’t be considered evidence that the wheels have come off a business, as long as there is a scalable model in place and those individuals have genuinely helped build a business that is creating jobs and boosting the local economy. While many have had to postpone growth during the recession and freeze salaries, the story isn’t (and shouldn’t be) the same for all businesses.

Lord Davies, Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Small Business, appealed to the many journalists attending GEW to stop focusing so much on business failures and instead profile the success stories that still exist.  We are reliant on our entrepreneurs to help rebuild the economy, but we need some help from the media to challenge the opinion that is dangerous to talk about financial success.  GEW 2009 makes the world focus on enterprise for one week each year but wouldn’t it be better to celebrate the successes of our entrepreneurial veterans and encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs every single day, regardless of their geographic location, the country in which they trade and the language that they speak.

         

See what I’m saying? Glasses that ‘translate’ for you

Ever known someone who could understand you better once they put their glasses on?

Well, thanks to a new invention, doing just that might allow one person to understand another person speaking in a different language – in the not too distant future.

NEC last week unveiled their ‘Tele Scouter‘, a pair of glasses that ‘hears’ what is said and uses voice recognition to print a real-time translation directly onto the eye of the wearer. Widespread implementation of the technology, in an ideal world, would also mean that everyone can converse by speaking separate languages – seemingly eliminating the need for human interpretation.

Having considered this at length, I suspect that despite its intention to break down language barriers, this technology will in fact hit complications for the very thing it tries do to – removing the human element of interpreting.

As with machine translations, there is so much contextual content that simply doesn’t ‘compute’ and, as anyone in our industry will be able to tell you, interpreting is so much more than words.

ALS provides many interpreters to the public sector, and if you consider its use in hospitals or clinics where you can be dealing with sensitivities and feelings, there is so much room for error, not to mention the potential to unwittingly offend someone. So I would ask ‘would you want to take that risk?’

When I first read this (very interesting) story, I thought it was quite exciting. Technology is improving processes and efficiencies across so many industries and all new developments should be investigated and considered.

That said, there is still a huge way to go for machine translation. The fact is that anything based on current machine translation technology alone will unfortunately give you more problems than it can solve – unless you involve a human element to clean up the errors that are likely to occur.

I would very much like to know if this technology can recognise regional accents or dialects, for example.

If it can, take something you might say in every-day conversation, such as  “I’ve accounted for all of our group and everyone is present”. Using, as the Tele Scouter does, machine translation from a dialect of over 40,000 words, the resulting “translation” will try to make a statement about accounting and financial issues, before saying something about a gift.

Personally, as fun as it might be to try this out and, coupled with the use of a similar app developed for the iPhone recently, I think I’d stop short of going abroad and using this to ask for things like ‘drainpipe’ jeans…for now at least.

         

Free Translations for Trade Shows

Trade show phrasebook

Download our free trade show phrasebooks

If you’ve ever been at an international trade show or exhibition and found your language skills weren’t as good as you’d like, we thought we’d help you out.

We’ve gathered a series of questions, introductions and greetings you’ll find useful at your next event and translated them in to eight different languages. We’ve even included a pronunciation guide to help you out.

The phrasebooks come in two flavors for you to download and print out:

Chinese, French, Korean and Portuguese
German, Japanese, Spanish and Italian

So the next time you want to give a German speaker your business card – Hier ist meine Visitenkarte, or ask an Italian speaker which company they are from – Per quale azienda lavora? Remember we can help!

If you think you’re going to need more than a few basic phrases we can also supply you with a professional Interpreter. Our trade show Interpreters are available around the globe in any language you require.

Drop our Interpreting Team an email to interpreting@appliedlanguage.com if you’d like more information.

         

Happy Halloween from Applied Language Solutions

Across the USA, people are carving pumpkins, decorating their homes like haunted houses and stocking up on candy for trick-or-treaters in preparation for Halloween.

But Halloween is not just for children. Adults will enthusiastically don ridiculous costumes to attend Halloween parties.

They’ll compete with their neighbors to see who can turn their home into the scariest haunted house on the block; manicured lawns will be transformed into cemeteries, complete with spider webs, gravestones, spooky music, fog, and any other Halloween-themed novelty Wal-Mart can sell. Yes- in the United States, it seems Halloween has exploded into a major holiday, rivaling Christmas in its commercialism.

But how does the rest of the world celebrate?

In Ireland, where Halloween originated, adults and children dress up in costumes. Bonfires are lit to ward off evil spirits. The Irish make a traditional cake called “barmbrack”, inside which various objects are baked, telling the fortune of the person who gets the item in their piece. For example, a ring indicates a wedding in one’s future.

In Austria, some people will leave bread, water and a lighted lamp on the table before retiring on Halloween night. It is believed that these items welcome the dead souls back to earth on a night that Austrians consider magical.

In Mexico on Halloween night, children dress up for trick-or-treating while teens and adults throw costume parties. The Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) occurs the following two days, honoring the lives of the deceased and celebrating the continuation of life.

The traditions of the celebration differ across regions, but common elements include providing offerings for the departed, preparing special foods, lighting candles in honor of the departed, and spending time at desceased relatives’ grave sites.

China does not celebrate Halloween, but they have a similar celebration called the Ghost Festival, when Chinese families prepare feasts and leave empty seats at the table for their deceased family members. They burn things made of paper (for example, “Hell Money”) to remember the dead and bring comfort to the ghosts.

In Korea, the festival similar to Halloween is known as “Chusok.” It is at this time that families thank their ancestors for the fruits of their labor. The family pays respect to these ancestors by visiting their tombs and making offerings of rice and fruits. The “Chusok” festival takes place in the month of August.

         

ALS at HYSTA: 1300 Chinese Natives, 1 Anglo-Saxon and 1 Microsoft CEO

“Where are you going?” my wife asks as I head for the car at 6:30 AM on a Saturday morning. “To HYSTA’s 10^th Anniversary Conference,” I reply, referring to the Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association’s conference called “Survive & Thrive Amidst a Global Economic Crisis: New Opportunities Across China and the US.”

At her quizzical expression, I start to explain that I’m helping out a colleague and that Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft is going to deliver the keynote speech. But suddenly, doubt creeps in to my mind. Why am I doing this? And for that matter, what on earth is Steve Ballmer doing there? I ponder these questions as I drive to Silicon Valley.

My colleague finds me in the crowd, not too difficult considering I am one of the few Anglo faces in a room filled with business folks of Chinese heritage. I take a seat in the crowd, between Stanford and Berkeley grad students. The event begins with a video montage of the HYSTA board.

They speak of their history, accomplishments, programs, the companies & individuals associated with HYSTA and the key message that HYSTA is bigger than the individual parts when it comes to its importance in the rise of Chinese professionals in Silicon Valley. It’s inspired and I contemplate being able to apply the same common value at our company.

Steve Ballmer hits the stage, receiving a big whoop from the Yahoo contingent (how ironic). Ballmer jumps right into it — he is fully there, in the moment. He goes on to weave a story that starts with why China matters to him, and why Silicon Valley matters, how the two are connected and how the technology we know today will be changed by the people in that room.

The Q&A session starts — I’m in the queue behind six people with my question ready, but Ballmer is so engaged in the initial questions that time runs out before I get the chance to ask my question. But wait — he just gave us his email address. Unfathomable — it can’t be right, can it?

In the following six hours, I interact with approximately 100 bright individuals.  Everyone has an interesting story, idea or business to share, including me, because I can help most of these folks accomplish something key to the success of their company: communication. I can help them, whether they need an interpreter in Shanghai, the translation of a patent, voice over work for a commercial or support in launching an international website.  It is motivating, inspiring and fun.

Twelve hours later, I arrive home, exhausted yet invigorated. “How was it?” my wife asks. Amazing. We chat a little before she heads to bed.  I head to my office to do one last thing for the night, an email to Steve Ballmer.

Thirty minutes and 100 proof-reads later, I send my question: What role does locale-specific language play in Microsoft’s success regarding selling in China, and worldwide in general? Do you think it impacts companies of various sizes (startup to F500) in different ways?”

The reply comes two days later. “There is not much more important than being local.” I realize at that moment that the questions I had been trying to answer on my drive to HYSTA have just been answered. That is why he was there, that is why I will be back next year and that is why it is so important to have native language resources to help our clients succeed in the locales of their choice.  I love this industry and I am so happy to have been “local” when it came to HYSTA’s conference.

         

China Emerges as a Global Outsourcing Leader

You can read this article in Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese.

The Chinese IT Services industry is currently estimated at US$ 23 billion. According to analysts, the market is projected to grow at an annual rate of 30% over the next five years, giving China the remarkable opportunity to overtake India as the outsourcing superpower of the world. It is estimated that by 2015, Chinese outsourcing providers could generate $56 billion in annual revenue.

Worldwide, the strongest global demand for outsourcing services comes primarily from the domestic (Chinese) market, followed by Japan and other Asian countries.  There has been a steady increase in American and European demand for Chinese outsourced services, mostly within the IT & Business Process outsourcing sectors, thus driving Chinese-based outsourcing providers to these regions in droves.

Traditionally, companies have outsourced to China because of the cost & value benefits of its vast and inexpensive talent pool. Today, more and more companies are going to China for many other reasons, including:

• Language: English proficiency levels are now comparable to India; English proficiency is required for BA and MA degrees.
• Legal: The Government is passing new laws protecting intellectual property and private ownership and domestic/foreign partnerships.
• Infrastructure: Utilities and roads are more robust than in India, and bandwidth and office space are plentiful and available at low cost.

For these reasons, among others, outsourcing to China has become part of the global strategy of many companies.

Though it’s obvious China has emerged as a global outsourcing leader, within China there is not yet a clear market leader. Perhaps one of the innovative companies that demonstrated their capabilities at last week’s HYSTA 2009 Annual Conference will leap to the forefront as this market explodes in the coming years.

Some companies to keep an eye on include Achievo, Beyondsoft, Freeborders, Neusoft, Symbio, and VanceInfo Technologies to name a few, which have their roots in Software Developers, Systems Integrators, Software Testing and Localization.

HYSTA (Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association) aims to promote entrepreneurialism and career development among Chinese professionals in Silicon Valley, and to facilitate networking and exchange of business ideas among successful Chinese entrepreneurs and executives in the Silicon Valley and mainland China.

         

Top 4 Tips for Doing Business in China

You’ve analyzed all the market possibilities, weighed the pros and cons of each, crunched the numbers and finally reached a decision: your company will expand into China.  Now the hard work begins!

Your success in China will depend on the mode & timing of your entry, your ability to overcome geographical & cultural distances, how well you manage economic & political risk, your finesse in maneuvering through regulatory issues and perfecting the ability to communicate successfully with your local audience.

This is a lot to accomplish. Applied Language Solutions has the people, experience and expertise to help you navigate the process and achieve success in China – and here are a few of the top tips we can offer.

1) Mode of Entry – Choose a Strong Partner

Leslie Yuen, Applied Language’s resident expert on doing business in China, recommends developing an alliance with a reputable company that is already established in China, based in China, or has experience dealing with the Chinese and their cultural nuances. According to Leslie:

“A Chinese partner can provide guidance on legal regulations, locations, workforce assistance and cultural issues. They may also have an infrastructure to help you procure or distribute your product. Those services are invaluable, and while it may cut into your profit margin, it will provide the valuable business acumen needed to hit the ground running.”

2) Understand the Languages and Linguistic Considerations

Many people preparing to do business in China are confused about which version of Chinese they need to use when communicating with Chinese partners & customers or translating documents.

• Standard Mandarin is the official spoken language of China and Taiwan. With 885 million native speakers, Mandarin has more native speakers than any other language. Since Mandarin is a spoken language, you would request it in situations where you require an interpreter to facilitate communication with a Mandarin speaker.
• Cantonese is the language spoken in Hong Kong, Macau, and parts of southern China, specifically the province of Guangdong. Like Mandarin, since it is a spoken language, an interpreter would be required to facilitate communication with a Cantonese speaker.
• Traditional Chinese is one of two standard sets of characters used in the Chinese written language. It is the written form of Chinese used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Traditional characters have changed little since the 5^th century.
• Simplified Chinese is the official written form of Chinese used in mainland China and the United Nations. In 1949, the government of the People’s Republic of China introduced simplified Chinese characters to increase literacy. The characters were simplified from Traditional Chinese characters by reducing strokes and merging characters.

There are some additional things to be aware of when translating documents into Chinese. Remember that the fonts you use in your publications may not support Chinese characters.

Keep in mind that text tends to contract when translated from English to Chinese, and expands when translated from Chinese to English. For applications, it is important to ensure your application is internationalized (double-byte enabled to support Chinese characters).

3) Invest in Cultural Training

You WILL confront cultural differences when doing business in China, and these will likely be more acute and critical than any culture differences you’ve ever experienced when conducting business elsewhere in the world.

Intercultural training can help your employees navigate the many cultural and social landmines that could derail your attempts in China. The training will also provide your employees with vital skills necessary to succeed in doing business with the Chinese, such as cross-cultural communication, diversity awareness, cultural sensitivity, adaptability, empathy, uncertainty management, and tolerance for ambiguity.

Applied Language is connected to over a dozen North American based intercultural trainers who specialize in Chinese business culture. Cultural training sessions are always tailored to your unique needs and can include topics such as:

• Historical Overview
• Cultural Overview (beliefs, customs, religion)
• Negotiating
• Etiquette
• The Ritual of Business Card Exchange
• Relationships & Guanxi
• Language & Communication

4) Have Your Brand Names Analyzed

Consumer goods giants such as Pepsi and KFC are famous for the blunders they made in China with their brands, and though these examples have long been a source of amusement, it’s not very funny when you’re the one losing business and repairing damage to your brand.

Your brand is perhaps your most valuable asset. It’s your identity. You’ve already invested a great deal into it, so it makes sense to invest a bit more to have your brand evaluated before entering new foreign markets.

That’s why Applied Language offers Brand Name Checking services. A brand name analysis addresses the following issues:

• Prior use of the brand name in the target market
• Similarity of the brand name to other companies, products or services.
• Direct translation or similarity of brand name to existing words in target language.
• Negative cultural connotations or possible offensiveness.
• Unclear use of colloquial language, slang, or idioms in the brand name or slogan.
• Ease of pronunciation and recollection.

A Chinese market-specific analysis of your brands ensures accurate representation of your brand image and company message in your foreign markets.

         

Should you ban the ‘R’ word from your business?

I read an interesting article in the ATC newsletter today from Larry Gould at TheBigWord who has banned using the word recession in the business, along with no newspapers or outside media. Now I am a very big believer in positivity in a business, negativity is contagious and has no benefit to anyone and I’m sure we’ve all had it where one person being negative can bring a whole team down. When you get that, it’s not a pleasant place to work and I therefore do not look kindly on anyone at Applied Language Solutions that is negative, gets involved with or creates politics.

Having said that I think positivity has to be balanced with realism and unfortunately we have/are going through one of the worst ever recessions. I think it is important to recognise that, adapt strategies to suit the market conditions and also have some empathy for what your customers are going through. This isn’t possible if you try to ignore, or ask your staff to ignore the fact it is happening. And let’s face it, they’re going to talk about it whether you like it or not. I think healthy debate and honesty with your staff dispels their worries and allows them to get on with their jobs in a “positive” manner.

We have taken on an additional 15 staff in the past couple of months and one of them commented that if the job was voluntary they would still come to work, as it was such a positive place to work, it is something I am very proud of that we have such a great place to work. We also had our IIP assesment recently and the assesor commented that he had arrived in a bad mood due to personal circumstances and by the time he left that day he felt uplifted and couldn’t believe what a great atmosphere we had.

So in short I don’t think you should ban the ‘R’ word, do you?

         

Webinar: Website Translation Disasters – And the Top 5 Ways to Avoid Them

Join us for a FREE Webinar on October 29th!

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/484261651

Greg Rosner, US CEO of Applied Language Solutions, will be presenting a Webinar full of tips on how your organization can develop successful foreign language websites.

*Learn from the mistakes made by other companies – 3 case studies

*Discover how to bulletproof your website localization strategy

*Understand the technologies that will help you develop and sustain a global website

Panelists will include Martha Escobar and Shane Grevin of Applied Language Solutions. Having 20 years of localization industry experience between the two of them, they will bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the Webinar discussion.

The Webinar will be held on Thursday, October 29th at 11:00 AM US Central / 12:00 PM EST and will last approximately 60 minutes.

Title:		Website Translation Disasters – And the Top 5 Ways to Avoid Them
Date:		Thursday, October 29th
Time:		11:00 AM – 12:00 PM CDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

For more information about this webinar or Applied Language Solutions, please contact Lauren Nemec at 773-774-1370 or lnemec@appliedlanguage.com.

         

Interpreters needed for “Glaswegian”

An unbelievable story doing the rounds today is the one about the newspaper advert from an English translation company who want to hire, wait for it… “interpreters for Glaswegian“.

In what must be the cultural faux pas of the year, the position will cater for (presumably) foreign “visitors whose business English isn’t up to managing the local dialect”. The company’s website says “History shows us several other examples where people have struggled” in response to the ensuing media storm, which is even backed-up by the (Lithuanian) owner’s personal experiences…dontcha know!

I’m beginning to wondering if I’ve missed a whole new market for interpreting. I mean, we’re in a recession. How could I have been so naive?

Anyway, to find out if the talk of Glaswegians indeed does need interpreting, I asked Anna Simpkins, ALS Marketing Director – and native Glaswegian – her thoughts:
“It is fair to say that there are a number of coloquialisms that have become part of everyday language in Glasgow.

However, to say that interpreters are in demand for those individuals for whom English is not their first language, seems a little far-fetched.”

Without needing to state the obvious, Anna points to other dialects where indigenous words do exist, adding:  “There are some words that are indigenous to Glasgow which may need to be explained along the way, but the same could be said for words such as “mither” in Lancashire or “laike” in Yorkshire – and they generally don’t cause too much confusion in context.

“In my experience, as with everywhere else in the UK, people adjust their vocabulary and tone for who they are addressing. In fact, rather than slang being the major barrier to communication with Glaswegians, it tends to be our rapid speed of delivery that causes most problems – even with other Scots!”

Ironically (well, if you believe the Glaswegian accent needs dedicated interpretation), it is the Scottish town of Inverness (which is 174 miles north of Glasgow) where the “clearest” Queen’s English is spoken in the UK.

Meanwhile, and more worryingly, it seems the industry completely missed the “Cockney Rhyming Slang” interpretation boat a long time ago…

         

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