Video streaming website Viki has recently launched a new programme to help keep endangered languages from disappearing. By having their users translate the shows they stream, the company hopes to aid language preservation.

The National Geographic Newswatch draws our attention to a recent press release by Viki and the Living Tongues Institute, in which it reveals that subtitles for endangered languages are currently being crowdsourced.

According to the press release, less than 5% of all languages spoken in the world can be found online. 

Moreover, for the other 95% the world wide web can both be a way to revitalise a language or kill it. Video streaming website Viki is going for the revitalisation option by asking its 33 million users to subtitle the videos they watch.

Dr. K. David Harrison, Ph.D., who is the and Director of Research for the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages and assistant Professor of Linguistics at Swarthmore College, states that languages cannot solely rely on technology to prevent extinction. People have to be proud of their languages, he says, and have to be willing to creatively expand its use, for example by the Viki initiative.

The Viki platform has been used by linguists, scholars and the like to create subtitles in endangered languages for quite some time. In fact, the press release on Newswatch reveals that the TV shows on the website have already been subtitled in 20 emerging and 29 endangered languages. This adds up to almost a quarter of all languages featured on the service! Viki CEO and co-founder Razmig Hovaghimian explains that in the last two years, many language preservation organisations have asked the company to add their language to their collection in order for young students to practice and learn the language. And Hovaghimian is happy to assist: “We want to help ensure that these languages are not forgotten or lost, but live on in a tradition that has carried them for generations–through storytelling.”

Want to know more about Viki’s Endangered and Emerling Languages Program? Visit their website.

Even though automatic translation tools can be lifesavers when you’ve lost your way in a foreign country, Ian Henderson believes they are not accurate enough to be used by businesses.

According to Henderson, chairman and CTO of global language service provider Rubric, a lot has happened in the auto-translation industry recently.

In his article on Wired, he mentions a few new developments, such as the new voice translation service Microsoft invented for Skype and Twitter’s new translation tool with which soccer fans from all over the world were able to tweet to one another during the World Cup in Brazil this summer.

He also elaborates on Google’s acquisition of an app called World Lens which enables users to translate signs or menus in foreign languages. Henderson argues that World Lens merely gives an estimation of what a sign or menu says, not what it actually says.

He has tried out the app himself and came to the conclusion that it was what he expected: a great app for tourists that are struggling to get around in a foreign country, but it is definitely not suitable for businesses.

After all, who would want their product to be accompanied by the Spanish-to-English translation “Take to end the following procedure?”

Are Computers Becoming Translators?

Henderson believes Google Translate has caused automatic translation to become a mainstream phenomenon. Moreover, as huge developments are made in the technology in general, many people believe it won’t be long until an automatic translation service is created that can tear down all language barriers.

Henderson disagrees: languages are more than just words, he says, which means translation machines not only have to do mathematical calculations, but should be able to carry out abstract thinking as well. Thus, he says, businesses must think twice before they decide to use automatic translation when entering the global market.

There is a difference between consumers’ expectations of free tools and products they have to pay for, Henderson states. He compares translation technology to Youtube:  this video service started out as a way for people to show their homemade videos to the world, but over the years, the website has seen a transition to more professional videos.

Henderson believes apps such as World Lens are also right in between homemade and professional. It might make choosing a restaurant in a foreign city a little easier, but it won’t be of any use when you are trying to assemble  manufacturing equipment.

Similarily, Google and Bing Translate take the same position in the translation field: according to Henderson, this became very clear during the live demonstration of Skype’s real time translation tool. When Skype’s vice president Gurdeep Pall called one of his managers in Germany to demonstrate the service, their conversation was hindered by delays in the translation, he says. Henderson believes the confusions that occur because of these delays don’t matter in casual conversations, but are harder to overcome in business meetings.

The Positives of Machine Translation

Even though it has its downsides, Henderson thinks machine translation can be of great help to human translators. Many global language service providers use machine translation to create translation memories that can be used by humans to speed up the translation process. This creates a situation which has the best of both worlds: the human translator brings his cultural knowledge to the translation, while the automation technology ensures the task is carried out quickly.

The human translator’s cultural knowledge is exactly what is missing from automatic translation services, Henderson states. A casual graphical theme, for example, can work great the US, but will probably fail to appeal to a German audience, which expects a something a little more formal.

Thus, Henderson concludes, automation technologies might be of great help for consumers that are looking for a quick translation, businesses should look for other options. Marketing strategies differ per audience, and the nuances accompany this cannot be translated by using translation technologies. As long as automatic translation tools cannot spot cultural elements in a text, Henderson says, translation machines won’t be able to translate language completely.

Linguists have long been interested in the origin of language. How did languages evolve? And what did the very first languages spoken on earth sound like? Linguist Gretchen McCulloch is hoping to give you some answers!

On Slate.com, Gretchen McCulloch dives a little deeper into the origins of spoken language.

McCulloch states that according to a TED Ed video [below], languages belong to language families that have the same ancestor, or proto-language, but as these languages have evolved in different directions, for example because of migration, people today can no longer understand each other.

It is also stated that language families are determined based on grammar, syntax and words such as pronouns and numbers.

The relationships between languages is what interests her most in the video, McCulloch says. The video tells the viewer that by comparing the abovementioned language features, linguists cannot only determine what languages are related, but also how they have evolved and what language preceded them. 

However, she states that similarities aren’t always that easy to spot. She gives the example of English and Ancient Greek: the Ancient Greek words for father, foot, far and five are pater, podos, per and pente. In English, all words start with an F, while all words in Ancient Greek start with a P; linguist are able to construct a proto-language based on if similar parallels in a number of languages.

The proto-language to many European and Indian languages, such as Latin, Gaelic and Hindi, is Proto-Indo-European. A more recent ancestor of English, McCulloch says, is Proto-Germanic, which encompasses Germanic languages such as Norwegian and Dutch.

The main difference between Proto-Germanic and the other Indo-European languages lies in sound. The sound changes that have taken place when language evolved from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic have been discovered by the Brothers Grimm (more commonly known for their fairy tales). An explanation of their discoveries can be found in the video below.

According to McCulloch, linguists have done a fairly good job in devising proto-languages – in fact, they have already recreated 50 different proto-languages! However, she says the further researchers go back in time, the more difficult their work becomes. As all human societies in the world today use language, McCulloch believes the first genetically modern humans probably already had some form of language to communicate in. However, as writing was only invented 50,000 to 300,000 years later, there is no evidence on which research can be based.

The fact that language investigation is based on what McCulloch calls “pretty darn flimsy evidence” has long been known. In 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris already banned papers on the topic. Of course, people can now write freely about languages, but views on the origin of language or features of the first languages still vary. McCulloch does state that recently, interesting evidence has been brought to the table: new research has shown that new languages, like Nicaraguan Sign Language, are created by children that are given inconsistent linguistic input which they then try to organise. It is impossible to find out how languages were formed centuries ago, but McCulloch suggests that the ways of creating a new language might not have changed since then.

When you are a top simultaneous interpreter, you basically deal with world leaders on a daily basis. Three interpreters give a little insight in what it is like to interpret for diplomats and presidents.

Interpreting might sound like a boring job: you have to spend hours confined in a small booth listening to boring speeches, right? Not according to Luke Harding! In his article on the website of The Guardian, he states that interpreters have “a front-row seat to history,” and often interpret for the leaders of today’s world.

It is true that interpreters often spend their work days in soundproof cubicles. However, interpreters work in same-language pairs, which is necessary because interpreters perform their jobs in short, 30-minute bursts.

Very often, an interpreter has to listen and speak at the same time, which, according to Harding, is even astonishing to the interpreters themselves. He also states that interpreting is like acting: a good interpreter mimics the personality of the speaker.

In addition, he believes interpreters don’t aim for a literal translation, but try to translate more idiomatically. Interpreters try to become invisible when working, Harding says, which doesn’t mean they don’t have to meet specific demands from time to time.

He claims that an interpreter working for Ralph Lauren once was asked to wear black clothes and was told to wear her hair a certain way. The real challenge, though, lies of course in the interpreting job itself; this is why Harding gives the stage to three different interpreters that give a little insight in their jobs.

Elena Kidd

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Elena Kidd interpreted for Mikhail Gorbachev. Later, she also worked as an interpreter for Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was sent to jail by Vladimir Putin in 2002. Now, she is the course director of the MA interpreting and translating at Bath University.

Kidd states that when Gorbachev’s foundation moved into the building where she was working, the interpreters there were told that they could apply for a job at the foundation. She and three other interpreters were eventually hired. Kidd interacted with Gorbachev on a daily basis and believes him to be very friendly. She flew to America with him and met many famous people via het job. Interpreting for Gorbachev was easy, Kidd says, as she found him easy to understand. His sentences, however, were very long, which meant paraphrasing was in order.

According to Kidd, Khodorkovsky, whom she worked for in 1995 and 1996, was very organised and in control. As a consecutive interpreter between Russian and English, Kidd says, you have to analyse every word that is spoken. Moreover, you can only start interpreting when the entire sentence has been uttered. This is why she asks her students to think before they speak – they have to listen first and then make the utterance their own by using their own words. This will also lead to a more interesting speech, she says. After all, you shouldn’t bore your audience!

Victor Gao

Victor Gao worked for the Chinese Foreign Service in Beijing and the United Nations Secretariat in New York from 1983 to 1989. He also interpreted for the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. Currently, he is working for a Beijing private equity company and is a commentator on international affairs.

Gao entered university in 1977, the year in which the Chinese universities reopened after a shutdown of ten years due to the Cultural Revolution. After graduation, he began his training at the UN to become a simultaneous interpreter. At 21, he was one of the youngest people working at the Chinese foreign ministry. Gao first interpreted for the important cabinet ministers of Deng’s government before he moved on to the great leader himself. He states that Deng didn’t speak much, but that when he did, his utterances had great force. Deng spoke in his native Sichuan dialect and used colloquial speech and  metaphors, which meant everybody could understand him.

Gao was involved in many important diplomatic meetings. In the 1980s, Deng was regarded very highly as people believed he would reform China. Among other important leaders, Gao travelled to the UK to meet Margaret Thatcher, with whom Deng had discussions about handing over power in Hong Kong. He also met Ronald Reagan, whom he thought to be very refined. In 1985, Gao also interpreted for another US president, Richard Nixon. Deng, Gao says, believes focussed on peace and “brought China out of the darkness.” This is why he believes his world view is still important today.

Banafsheh Keynoush

Having spent her childhood in London, Banafsheh Keynoush moved to Tehran after the revolution. She is a self-taught simultaneous interpreter that acquired her skills by listening to the BBC, and with great results! She has interpreted for four different Iranian presidents, of which Hassan Rouhani is the most recent one.

Many of Keynoush’s relatives have worked for the Iranian foreign ministry before the revolution. She has been interested in politics since she was a child, with a particular interest in foreign politics. She lived in Tehran when the Iraq war was taking place, and as a child, she used to dream about getting into the diplomacy field. When she found out diplomats used earphones to listen to simultaneous translation, she finally found a way to do so. As Iran did not have any interpreting schools, she translated BBC broadcasts simultaneously to practice.

After a BA and MA in English, Keynoush worked both as a university teacher and a simultaneous interpreter. She worked as a freelancer for presidents Rafsanjani and Khatami, and also interpreted for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for nine years. She quit her interpreting job in 2010, but when she received the request to interpret for the new president Rouhani last September, she agreed to take on the job. Keynoush reveals that all Iranian presidents had their own way of speaking: Rafsanjani, for example, spoke very informal. It was a little harder to interpret for Rouhani, she says, as he speaks a little English and thus carefully listened to her translation.
 
Keynoush believes translators should be invisible. The audience should get the impression that they are listening to the speaker himself instead of the interpreter. She states that translators might get to experience history, it is a difficult job as they realise how much is actually “lost in translation.”

Did you think all people in Sweden speak Swedish? Wrong! Next to their wonderful official national language, there are five minority languages officially recognised in the country.

In an article on The Local, Isabela Vrba tells us that according to the Langauge Council, Sweden is the home of about 200 different languages, making it one of the most multicultural countries on the European continent.

However, she states that only five of these languages hold the status of an official minority language: Finnish, Meänkieli, the Sami languages, Yiddish and Romani.

Here’s some background on each of these languages:

•    Finnish: Finnish, Vrba says, comes from a completely different language family than Swedish. However, as there are 70,000 Sweden Finns living in Sweden, who are mostly located around Stockholm and the Mälaren Valley, the language has been awarded an official status.

•    Maënkieli: this language, that is also called Torne Valley Finish, is closely related to Finnish. According to Vrba, 55,000 Torne Valley Finns living in Sweden and speak the language: 50,000 of them live in the north of the country and 5,000 are based in Stockholm.

•    Sami languages: this language is spoken by the Samis that are mainly located in the northern part of Sweden, Vrba states. The languages are at least 2,000 year old and are spoken by about 20,000-35,000 people.

•    Yiddish: in the 18th century, thousands of Jews relocated to Sweden. Now, Vrba says, this minority mainly lives in the country’s largest cities. Currently, there are about 20,000-25,000 Jews in the country.

•    Romani: in Sweden, there are about 50,000-100,000 Roma. The language consists of different variations, and according to Vrba, the language has been spoken in Sweden since the 16th century.

Vrba states that these five languages were awarded the status of official minority language in 1999, when  parliament entered the framework convention for the protection of national minorities in Europe.

She also explains that languages can only become an official minority language when they are spoken in Sweden for three generations or 100 years and when they are regarded as a language, not a dialect.

Karin Skoglund, who coordinates the national minority issues in Stockholm, states that when a new law came into effect in 2010, the national minorities were given the right to language and culture protection. Moreover, since that time, they were also  given the right to access political matters. She tells Vrba that in Stockholm, for example, there is a Finnish administrative board, giving the Finns more rights to preschool and elderly care. In addition, Vrba says, the law keeps the languages alive by protecting and representing them. Skoglund does admit that strengthening the position of the minority languages has been no easy task, though, which has to do with the fact that the law is too vague about the guidance that should be provided.

According to Christian Mattsson, who works at the Institute for Language and Folklore as a project leader, measures are taken to keep the minority languages from becoming extinct.

Projects concerning the revitalisation of the languages can receive a grant of 3.5 million kronor (509,000 US dollar), for example. In addition to the grant, the Institute is also involved in the creation of Romani and Meänkieli dictionaries.

Vrba states that even though Swedish sign language has also been a minority language candidate, it has not been made a minority language because of European criteria. As Mattsson points out, speakers of the Swedish sign language do not make up a political majority, which is a requirement for an official minority language.

He also states that a language can only become an official language when it is “traditionally” spoken in a country. This means a language such as Arabic, that has only been spoken in Sweden since the 20th century, cannot be awarded this status.

Marketers, SEOs and other stakeholders in online marketing are always looking for new means and ways of boosting their performance. Although new tricks of the trade are always evolving, there is one that I feel is not being exploited enough – using language translation to re-package and promote content.

Recent statistics clearly show that content marketing in all its forms is here to stay, for the short to mid-term anyway.

Research from the Content Marketing Institute shows that an amazing 93% of B2B organizations rely on content marketing for brand building and demand generation. Webdamsolutions.com found that 78% of CMOs think custom-built content such as articles, white papers, blogs, etc. are the future of marketing and 57% of marketers see such content as their top marketing priority for 2014 (Altimeter).

So, with producing and sharing content such a priority for many it is important to make sure this is maximised to its fullest.

As someone that works in localization and who is also responsible for our own marketing efforts, repackaging content through translation has always been an obvious way of achieving maximum ROI.

If I can produce an article, a video, an infographic or a quiz in English to drive traffic or get links, why would I not translate that content into another language and double up on that potential?

Let’s look at a very simple example.

Last year around this time I wrote an article about Ramadan and its impact on business. It was for link building reasons primarily. I had it published in English on one site which got me a link, some social shares, brand exposure and some paying business.

One of our in-house translators then went and translated that same article into French and voila! we had it published on a French language website.

I essentially doubled my marketing ROI – the only thing the French version didn’t deliver on was the paying client, but hey, that was a bonus anyway.

Now anyone can repeat this same process with any type of content – blogs, articles, memes, whitepapers – the whole content marketing shebang.

The Benefits of Repackaging with Translation

Now let’s be clear, you don’t need to have international expansion plans for this to be relevant to you. Naturally if you do have a product or service that could sell globally this is going to make even more sense, but really using translation can benefit anyone and everyone.

So what are some of the main benefits of using translations?

1.    Link building: link building is far from dead and we all know that good quality links from decent websites is going to help with SERPs, SEO and all that good stuff.  If you are posting rubbish then translating rubbish then don’t expect anything other than rubbish in return; but if you are all about quality then this is a simple and powerful way of building up your link portfolio.

2.    SEO: concentrating on your domestic market can be great for local search results, but it you want your website to do well in international search you have to build up your international exposure. By gaining links, traffic, authority, etc. from say France, Brazil, Russia or China you achieve exactly this.  

3.    Keywords: When Google or other search engines see your content in other languages, it helps them understand even more so what you are all about. For example, if you sell belts and Google starts to see your associate content with words like ceinture (French) or gürtel (German), it helps boost your association with that keyword.

4.    New audiences: Perhaps the most exciting benefit of all is that fact that you gain exposure to a brand new audience, whether buying customers or consumers of your content. It is more than well documented how languages such as Spanish, Chinese and Arabic are gaining in terms of their importance online. Through translation you put yourself in front of a whole new audience.

5.    New digital relationships: As well as finding new audiences, you also have the potential to form new relationships with people who can share and boost your content giving you much more exposure. Whether its social media curators, journalists, PRs or other marketers, these are people that have the potential to help you even further.

There are of course other benefits such as brand exposure, creating a global image and increased sales, but the message is clear – there are lots of easily attainable benefits.

Tips on Using Translation for Content Marketing

Once you know how, using translations to complement your marketing efforts is easy peasy. However, if you don’t know your way around language, it’s important you prepare well to avoid disappointment. Here are some factors to consider before you run off and start translating.

1.    Work with professional linguists: please oh please do not use Google translate. It’s fine if you want to understand the gist of something in another language but for good quality content it will only let you down. You need professionals; these can take the form of a translation agency, in-house translators, freelancers or even crowdsourcing. Make sure you work with someone who knows the language(s), how translation works and what they need to do to make it effective for you.

2.    Pay attention to keywords: when adapting content into another language, research what keywords people are using in that language or location, not what you assume they are searching for. For example, if you sell jeans and you decide to target the Spanish speaking world, you would stick with the keyword ‘jeans’ across much of Latin America but in Spain the keyword would be vaqueros. Use this in Latin America and people will think you are selling cowboys. Look at alternatives including slang terms too.

3.    Beware of language differences: following on from the above, it’s important to be aware of differences in a language. Just as the US, UK, Australia and South Africa might all have differences in the English they use, the same applies to languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, French and German. Decide who your audience is and adapt the language accordingly, or similarly, if you have translated an article into Portuguese for a Brazilian website, make sure it’s been translated by a Brazilian not someone from Portugal who may not appreciate the subtle differences.

4.    Look out for cultural differences: not all your content is going to work the whole world over. If your main product is alcohol, then the Middle East and Arabic really isn’t going to give you much ROI. Pay attention to local conditions, the culture and potential banana skins in the form of taboos. Make sure you are targeting and adapting your content to that target market, country, region or audience.

5.    Adapt to the gatekeepers’ needs: as with any form of content marketing that relies on another party to assess and then publish what you have, you need to firstly do some research and find good homes based on factors such as brand, PR, traffic, topicality, etc. Secondly, you need to approach and ‘sell’ your content in a culturally appropriate manner. A German editor for example will be more concerned with the accuracy of your content, the way it’s presented and your professionalism. A Turkish editor on the other hand might be more concerned with who you are – is there a relationship? If not, you need to build one. Understand what these gatekeepers expect and don’t assume everyone does business the same way you do.

Whether you target a specific region or country and therefore one specific language, or take a truly multilingual approach and produce content in a few or many languages, you will soon realise the incredible potential that lies in using translation.

Repackaging content is a very simple way of maximising your investment, repackaging with translation can take it even further.

Whether we know it or not, culture impacts almost everything we do. Within business, one should always be aware of cultural differences. Yes, even within interior design!

When thinking about cultural differences, interior design might not be the first field that comes to mind.

However, in a great article on Prime Resi, Joe Burns explains that luxury homes will only meet the client’s wishes if the designer knows the ins and outs of their culture.

According to Burns, managing director and co-founder of interior design company Oliver Burns, central London’s property market is increasingly dominated by international buyers. These buyers might be looking to buy a second home or an apartment where their children can stay when they travel to England’s capital for their studies, but they all have one thing in common: all nationalities have their own culture that shapes their lifestyle preferences.

Burns believes buyers and developers must try to understand the cultures of their clients to create a suitable home for them.

He says that even though many rich clients have the same “international” taste that focuses on unique items of high quality, there are also individual preferences that need to be taken into account.

People that come to Oliver Burns often have specific and complex wishes, Burns says. However, all wishes may be different, but almost all clients have limited time due to their busy international agenda. This is why Oliver Burns tries to find out the clients’ needs and lifestyles immediately to make the most of their customers’ limited time. The company employs a multinational team that, according to Burns, can meet every single expectation of the client.

Burns says clients are greatly influenced by their families, which is especially true for British and Indian families.

A client’s choice for a new home is often dictated by the property style that he or she knows best, he says. When investing in foreign property, international buyers are looking for a “home away from home,” after all! Burns states that the British, Indians and Russians, for example, are interested in period detailing. This is why people from these countries often opt for London homes in the Mayfair, St James’s and Knightsbridge areas.

Middle Eastern clients, Burns says, are interested in homes with an older style and a luxury feel. This is why they often request textures such as marble and velvet, for example. They also like to walk barefoot in their homes, which is why they ask for carpets and rugs. Furthermore, Burns points out that people from the Middle East might ask for a prayer room, a separate sink to wash their feet in before they go into prayer. In addition, according to the Islam, Muslims mustn’t face the direction of prayer when they go to the toilet, so these cannot face the south east (in UK anyway).

Burns states that Chinese and Malaysian buyers have completely different demands, however: they like their homes to be designed in a clean and minimalist style and prefer apartments in modern style, as this is what they are used to in their own country. As Chinese investors are increasingly turninig their attention to Britain, Burns thinks it will become more and more important for designers to master the Art of Feng Sui. Chinese clients often have their own experts on the style that review properties and give orders to British designers.

Next to cultural preferences, clients have personal wishes as well, for example to have a separate his and her bedroom suite. Burns states that security is also a key element in the design of a house. If they move into an apartment, his clients expect round-the-clock concierge services, much like a hotel. This is especially true for people from the Middle East, he says, and even more so when their property in the UK is not their first home.

According to Burns, when designing homes, it is very important to understand and act upon the culture of a client. If the culture is completely understood, he says, designers can meet and even exceeds the client’s expectations. I guess that’s the message all businesses need to take away with them – pay attention to culture!

Being surrounded by other cultures can bring a great deal of benefits: new research has shown that living in a culturally diverse community can even make you smarter!

According to Gregory Rodriguez, humour is very important to Americans. In his article on the Washington Post he explains US citizens use humour to make living in the sometimes puzzling American society a little easier. The classic American joke that starts with “An Irishman, a Jew, and a Mexican walk into a bar” can thus be seen as a way to handle the cultural diversity in the country, Rodriguez says.

In a remarkable study Robert Putnam published eight years ago, the political scientist revealed that social trust can be lowered by cultural diversity. Rodriguez states that the study showed people living in diverse communities don’t trust their neighbours, for example, and don’t have much faith in the leaders of the community. In addition, he says, Putnam also discovered people living in a culturally diverse environment spend more time watching TV!

Rodriguez, however, feels Putnam should have gone a little further: he wonders how people can conquer the social distrust that cultural diversity can cause. He gives the example of a very devout friend of his who claims it would have been much easier to practice Catholicism if she stayed in her home country Nicaragua. Her US congregation consists of Filipinos, Mexicans and African Americans, to name a few cultures, which can be difficult at times. When the priest asked the congregation to vote for a new devotional figure in the church, Rodriguez’ friend didn’t vote for the Nicaraguan favourite, Our Lady of Immaculate Conception, but for the Holy Child of Atocha, the devotional figure loved by many Filipinos. She made this decision because she felt the Filipinos should be rewarded for their dedication.

According to Rodriguez, this example shows that people in diverse communities think about their decisions quite thoroughly. People in homogenous communities, he says, don’t need this extra brainpower, as their shared background means they agree on what certain institutions and practices mean.

It gets interesting when these values are called into question in culturally diverse societies, he says. Conflicting world views can be confusing for anyone and can cause two reactions: either people abstain from participating in collective life, or they become quite vocal in ventilating their world view to anyone who has a different one.

As the US has always been a country with a lot of immigrants, Rodriguez believes the difficulties that arise in diverse communities have always been part of American society. In fact, historian Timothy L. Smith even called migration to the country a “theologizing experience” in which newcomers have to adjust their behaviour in a culture that features many different subcultures. 

Rodriguez thinks that one of the reasons Americans are known for their direct behaviour can be explained by the fact that they had to find their way in an unfamiliar and changing society. As achieving an unspoken cultural consensus in a diverse community where people are continually migrating can be difficult, people have to express their opinions in a straightforward way to make sure others understand them correctly.

Even though diversity is a key feature of American society, many scholars that have studied cultural diversity have taken homogeneity as the norm. As Rodriguez, believes this a wrong assumption, he is glad that this year, a research team from MIT, Columbia University and Northwestern University wrote a paper that questions this practice. In their paper, the researchers referred to another study showed that when solving a problem, homogenous groups are more confident about their skills that they should be. The confidence of individuals in non-homogenous groups, however, is on par with the actual performance of the group. Thus, the researchers stated, diverse groups have a better objective index of accuracy.

Next to this study, the researchers also cited an experiment conducted in 2006, which revealed homogenous jury’s make “more factually inaccurate statements and considered a narrower range of information” than culturally diverse ones. The researchers believe that this outcome and that of other studies suggest people in diverse groups can look at things for a different perspective more easily and are less likely to unconsciously assume others share their opinion.

Thus, Rodriguez says, living in a diverse community makes you smarter. However, he still believes cultural differences are not easily overcome. People in culturally diverse environments question their worldviews, belief and institutions.

According to Rodriguez, “American ingenuity isn’t simply born of the fusion of peoples into your favorite metaphor for mixture Whether we realize it or not, it’s the good-humored hard work of living with people different from us that has always been the source of America’s genius.”

Global Training Manager, Caroline, gives some insight into an upcoming train-the-trainer course for business professionals looking to become cultural awareness trainers and coaches.

If you want to expand your brand and your business abroad, PR is a great way of doing so. But is PR the same the world over? Polly looks at some of the main considerations when taking your PR campaign international.