The bottom line? Bilingualism is good business. If your business is marketing to regions outside of the U.S., it is time for you to consider a multilingual market.

According to spokeswoman Cyndy Garza-Roberts, Mi Tienda's employees have been trained to expect Spanish as the store's "dominant" language. But because all the store's staff are bilingual, they are just as comfortable in English. They even watch closely for clues about which idiom a customer feels most at home in.

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H-E-B, McClelland said, doesn't claim to have any overall philosophy about assimilation issues. Nor should it — it's a business. So it's telling that the company is planning to hold free classes for any employee who wants to improve his or her English. H-E-B knows that's good for business. So is corporate citizenship.

I saw in interesting segment, "Tactical Language Training" on a program I had recorded about Wired Nextfest 2006 (sponsored by GE). Made me curious enough to look it up online. If I understood what I was reading, this language learning tool is being developed through the Center for Advanced Research in Technology for Education (CARTE) with some funding from the military. While this version has been developed with and for the military, you can immediately see where it could have business applications.

From the Tactical Iraqi website you can look at a video. Or there is a basic outline of the program on a different website, and screenshots from a demo. Scroll down a few pages to see the demo. It’s particularly intriguing because you learn important aspects of nonverbal language, e.g., what different gestures mean, and what they actually look like through the avatars. These elements of culture and communication are as important as spoken language, but and this could be a powerfully effective way to learn them.

By having the training in the form of an interactive game, where you speak into a microphone and control the gestures of your avatar. The response from who you are talking to varies depending upon what you do. You sure don’t get that from a language CD or book. Also, it appears the behavior of those you encounter can be set to offer a variety of challenges at different levels of difficulty. Can’t you just imagine how useful this would be to prepare someone for a business trip, or even how it could be adapted for school language courses.

If you haven’t gotten enough, there is a news item on the Information Sciences Institute East’s website about Tactical Language Training that explains this learning tool/game really well. 

Marina Zaliznyak at Multilingual Search calls to our attention the low ratio of Spanish language websites, especially for Latin American and U.S. Hispanic populations. She speculates that the reason may be that because most acculturated Hispanics prefer to read content in English, they prefer to write it as well. A study on the Spanish-speaking blogosphere was actually done three years ago, and it pointed out:

In particular, it is still quite uncommon that news items seen or generated in the Spanish blogosphere become popular throughout it; when this happens, most of the time it’s due to the reproduction of the English blogosphere. There is also an “increasing returns” phenomenon: most bloggers (and readers of blogs) concentrate in some blogging sites (such as Blogalia or BarraPunto), and so they dominate the link space of the whole blogosphere. Finally, there is a third characteristic the Spanish-speaking blogosphere is slower than the English-speaking one: ideas, topics and links spread in a slower way.

It is encouraging to see that International Translation Day has developed into a genuine event for our profession. All over the world, translators take the opportunity to think with pride of their work and their achievements. The day originated as a tribute to St. Jerome, a biblical translator. Though celebrated since 1953, the FIT (International Federation of Translators) officially launched the International Translation Day in 1991. McElroy has recognized the day with planned festivities since 1999. As Kim recalls “it seemed like a really good idea to set a bit of time aside to celebrate as a company what we do as a profession, by having some fun and learning too.”  It has been a good opportunity for staff to chat with Ralph and meet some of our local translators. Recognition of this day has now become part of our McElroy culture. 

The Theme for International Translation Day 2006 is “Many Languages – One Profession.” At McElroy I might also add “Many Roles – One Goal.” Our workflow process begins before and ends after that critical element, the actual art of translation. Every one of our staff members and contractors has the opportunity to breathe life into our vision of “Setting the Industry Standard in Customer Satisfaction.” As evidenced by the Diamond Employee nominations that keep rolling in, the goal of providing an exemplary product and memorable service to translation clients is approached with spirit and dedication by McElroy folks throughout the building and beyond.

In the United States appreciation for translation has historically lagged, perhaps linked to our endemic lack of cultural awareness. Many of us at McElroy are engaged in ongoing client education which creates greater respect for, and understanding of, the benefits of translation. We are encouraged by the increasing sophistication and the global awareness of the marketplace. The translation profession may be overlooked by some and misunderstood by others, but the value of what we do is becoming more prominently visible and lauded in our world economy. Closer to home and closer to our hearts, we hear clients say “thank you!” with ever increasing feeling and frequency.

This article is a must-read for any company seeking global partnerships.

Talking Points

• Globalization is no longer a 'like to have' but a 'have to have' feature for any company, according to Robert D. St. Louis. Trust, privacy, security and validation are integral components to maintaining an effective information supply chain.
• Technology has made the world very small, says Stephen Slade. New technologies such as Service Oriented Architecture, Business Activity Monitors and nanotechnology will contract operations significantly in the near future.
• According to Doug Flitcroft, the cornerstone of any secure global information supply chain platform is its ability to deliver the right information to the right person: nothing more than and nothing less than that person has a right to possess.
• A working definition of the information supply chain, according to Ajay Vinze: a collection of information and communication technologies to provide a secure integrated decisional environment that enables business partners to collectively sense and respond to opportunities and challenges in a networked eco-system.

Mastering global business from a French-speaking point of view:

ACCTI 2006 - The Business of Language and Technology© has attracted the leading authorities in globalization, localization, translation, language standards & technology. The conference, featuring acclaimed keynote speaker Lawrence Poole, will be held in Montréal, Canada on Nov 13-15.

(PRWEB) September 27, 2006 -- The upcoming ACCTI Conference 2006, to be held in Montréal, Quebec on November 13-15, has assembled the leading authorities in globalization, localization, translation, language standards, organizational leadership/communication and the technologies that are transforming all of these spheres. These experts are arriving from across Quebec, across Canada, and, literally, from across the globe (France, the United States, China, etc ...). The conference agenda has a special emphasis on issues of import to French-speakers and those with an interest in doing business with the Canadian government and private sector. However, much of the content is of practical value to all those with an interest in improving their understanding and mastery of global business. Moreover, the entire program will be delivered in both French and English to accommodate speakers of both languages.

There seems to be a lot of buzz in the news media about the latest Pew research study. This article focuses on where some minds think language is headed in the study, and provides us with a lot of food for thought. Will automated translation systems put human translators and translation vendors out of a job? Or, will new subcultures on the web spring up and create codes that are understood only among fellow members (much the same way young people have a vast number of abbreviations for purposes of IM'ing and texting their friends), thereby requiring a whole new army of translators to translate/decrypt what is being communicated?

“English currently dominates the Internet; that will continue to decrease irrespective of the fact that English will continue to grow as language of science and education. The Internet will become much more language diverse!”

What do you think? Will English continue to be the lingua franca online and in global business and tourism? Can Mandarin gain a foothold online or will its pictorial characters hinder wider growth? What advantages and disadvantages do you see in having a global common language?

Those who desire a better life in Latin America are trying to learn a new language, and it isn't necessarily English.

China is voraciously scouring Latin America for everything from oil to lumber, and there is money to be made. That prospect has not only Zamora but business people in much of Latin America flocking to learn the Chinese language, increasingly heard in boardrooms and on executive junkets.

"It's fundamental to communicate in their language when you go there or they come here," said Zamora, 40, a sales executive for the German drugmaker Bayer, which is growing dramatically in China. "If you don't know their language, you're lost."

After pulling out of South Korea, Germany and Argentina, does Wal-mart have what it takes to succeed in China?

Analysts say the most successful international retailers readily adapt to new markets, and European players seem to have an advantage there because they are accustomed to operating across a continent with multiple languages and cultures.

"American companies can be excellent at logistics and supply chain issues, as Wal-Mart is, but that doesn't necessarily make you a successful retailer to a consumer in another country," says Merrill Weingrod, head of consultants China Strategies.

Another risk is over-estimating the market in China, where a population of more than one billion people has a considerably smaller number of people with significant spending power.

"You can go to Shenzhen and Shanghai, and it looks like the day before Christmas almost any day of the week," Mr Weingrod says. "There's a lot of people out shopping. That doesn't mean they're spending a whole lot of money."

Austin, Texas, September 19, 2006 – McElroy Translation, a provider of localization and translation services, is used as a case study to illustrate the importance of organizational culture in Dr. Harold Kerzner’s latest book, Project Management Best Practices: Achieving Global Excellence, published in July. Project management is shown to be an integral component of strategic best practices for continuous improvement.

Dr. Kerzner begins his introduction to the chapter on culture with “Perhaps the most significant characteristic of companies that are excellent in project management is their culture.” We agree with his assessment that a successful company culture is designed to adapt quickly to a dynamic environment.

According to Shelly Priebe, General Manager at McElroy, “McElroy's company culture is unique in several ways. (1) We keep good people. (2) Project management as a company culture is emphasized to eliminate information silos. (3) ‘Setting the Industry Standard in Customer Satisfaction’ is not marketing hype. It is a vision that our employees own and vest themselves in every day. All of these elements inextricably entwine to design a cultural fingerprint that is uniquely ‘McElroy.’ Entrepreneurial energy and process improvement ideas surge from the ground up to continually improve our customer's experience.”