The New York Times covers a fascinating story on how Japanese companies are outsourcing calls centres abroad in order to save costs. However, the companies used have no other choice other than to hire Japanese staff in order to deal with the clients at the end of the phone. Why? Because they cannot do without […]

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The police in Portsmouth have taken an interesting approach to communicating with non-English speaking shoppers. As part of an initiative by Plymouth Against Retail Crime (Parc),  translation packs are being given to large stores, with some going to police patrol cars used around the city centre too.
The packs contain 13 cards, each carrying phrases […]

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“Cemcho bhai, harisani, ano chokra kabar?”
That is Gujarati for: “Hello brother, how are you? Any news about your son?”
Not too unusual as the start of a conversation in the heart of the Asian community in Blackburn, apart from the fact that the words are being spoken by a 69-year-old white, English-born milkman.
John Mather, aka Jimmy, […]

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