When English people move abroad, almost half (46 percent) miss traditional dishes such as bangers and mash and black pudding.
More than a third (37 percent) miss their favourite TV programmes, such as Only Fools and Horses, according to a major new survey of expats by BUPA International.
But surprisingly, in spite of craving familiar foods and TV programmes, the majority of English expats say they are actually happier abroad.
Findings from research by the world’s largest expat health insurer show that three in four English expats now call their new country “home”, while a third say they feel healthier since moving abroad, thanks to better weather and an improved quality of life.
Ninety-three percent of the English surveyed also said they would recommend the expatriate life to others, with over half declaring that “they get the best of both worlds”.
Australians believe the American hamburger and U.S. slang are infringing on their culture and they are “not at all pleased” about it, according to a survey released Monday.
The telephone poll of 1,213 people by the government-funded U.S. Studies Center at the University of Sydney measured Australians’ attitudes about their closest ally, the United States.
Asked to judge the influence of American culture on Australia, 67 percent of respondents said they were “not at all pleased” about the prevalence of U.S.-style fast food in Australia. Australians ranked fast food second only behind U.S. foreign policy as an issue they were “very worried” about.
The survey did not ask respondents for specific examples, though fast food chains selling burgers and french fries are more common now in Australia than the once-ubiquitous corner store selling fish and chips.
Australians believe the American hamburger and U.S. slang are infringing on their culture and they are “not at all pleased” about it, according to a survey released Monday.
The telephone poll of 1,213 people by the government-funded U.S. Studies Center at the University of Sydney measured Australians’ attitudes about their closest ally, the United States.
Asked to judge the influence of American culture on Australia, 67 percent of respondents said they were “not at all pleased” about the prevalence of U.S.-style fast food in Australia. Australians ranked fast food second only behind U.S. foreign policy as an issue they were “very worried” about.
The survey did not ask respondents for specific examples, though fast food chains selling burgers and french fries are more common now in Australia than the once-ubiquitous corner store selling fish and chips.
The worst forms of jargon and gobbledygook have been highlighted in this year’s Plain English Awards’ hall of shame. But how easy is it to boil down corporate-speak to a few pithy words? See the examples below, then have a go.
Football has long been a fertile ground for pedants hunting English language misuse, although Ron Atkinson no longer sprinkles commentary with his own dialect, Ronglish.
Now Steve McClaren has joined an illustrious band of previous winners of the Plain English Campaign’s (PEC) Foot in Mouth award, such as Donald Rumsfeld, Boris Johnson and Naomi Campbell.
The former England boss won it for saying, of Wayne Rooney: “He is inexperienced, but he’s experienced in terms of what he’s been through.”
He’s an easy target, says the PEC, and press conferences can be pressured situations where the tongue can easily go astray. Less forgivable, though, is the bureaucratic language and legalese beloved of big companies.
But how easy is it to reduce complicated corporate-speak to a pithy sentence? Here’s your chance to have a go.
To get a taste for it - see how plain English campaigner Ben Beer has distilled three of this year’s worst offenders to a single-line translation. Then, have a go at translating the final paragraph yourself.
BAA SIGN AT GATWICK AIRPORT
“Passenger shoe repatriation area only”
Plain English Campaign translation: Get your shoes back here.
BAA removed the sign on Monday and gave this statement: “We are in the business of repatriation at Gatwick Airport, admittedly more often through arriving passengers than repatriating shoes.”
TERMS & CONDITIONS ON FASTWAY COURIER WEBSITE
“The Carrier shall not be liable for injury or damage to or destruction or loss of the Goods or any other property arising out of or incidental to or in connection with or occurring during the provision of the Services or for the mis-delivery or non-delivery of the Goods and whether or not caused or contributed to by the default (including negligence) of the Carrier or any agent, servant or officer of the Carrier or any other person entitled to the benefit of these conditions.”
Plain English Campaign translation: If anything happens, it’s not our fault.
TRANSLINK (NI RAILWAYS) SIGN AT COLERAINE STATION
“Every Autumn a combination of leaves on the line, atmospheric conditions and prevailing damp conditions lead to a low adhesion between the rail head and the wheel which causes services to be delayed or even cancelled. NI Railways are committed to minimising service delays, where we can, by implementing a comprehensive low adhesion action programme.”
Plain English Campaign translation: We’ll really try not to cancel any more trains.
The worst forms of jargon and gobbledygook have been highlighted in this year’s Plain English Awards’ hall of shame. But how easy is it to boil down corporate-speak to a few pithy words? See the examples below, then have a go.
Football has long been a fertile ground for pedants hunting English language misuse, although Ron Atkinson no longer sprinkles commentary with his own dialect, Ronglish.
Now Steve McClaren has joined an illustrious band of previous winners of the Plain English Campaign’s (PEC) Foot in Mouth award, such as Donald Rumsfeld, Boris Johnson and Naomi Campbell.
The former England boss won it for saying, of Wayne Rooney: “He is inexperienced, but he’s experienced in terms of what he’s been through.”
He’s an easy target, says the PEC, and press conferences can be pressured situations where the tongue can easily go astray. Less forgivable, though, is the bureaucratic language and legalese beloved of big companies.
But how easy is it to reduce complicated corporate-speak to a pithy sentence? Here’s your chance to have a go.
To get a taste for it - see how plain English campaigner Ben Beer has distilled three of this year’s worst offenders to a single-line translation. Then, have a go at translating the final paragraph yourself.
BAA SIGN AT GATWICK AIRPORT
“Passenger shoe repatriation area only”
Plain English Campaign translation: Get your shoes back here.
BAA removed the sign on Monday and gave this statement: “We are in the business of repatriation at Gatwick Airport, admittedly more often through arriving passengers than repatriating shoes.”
TERMS & CONDITIONS ON FASTWAY COURIER WEBSITE
“The Carrier shall not be liable for injury or damage to or destruction or loss of the Goods or any other property arising out of or incidental to or in connection with or occurring during the provision of the Services or for the mis-delivery or non-delivery of the Goods and whether or not caused or contributed to by the default (including negligence) of the Carrier or any agent, servant or officer of the Carrier or any other person entitled to the benefit of these conditions.”
Plain English Campaign translation: If anything happens, it’s not our fault.
TRANSLINK (NI RAILWAYS) SIGN AT COLERAINE STATION
“Every Autumn a combination of leaves on the line, atmospheric conditions and prevailing damp conditions lead to a low adhesion between the rail head and the wheel which causes services to be delayed or even cancelled. NI Railways are committed to minimising service delays, where we can, by implementing a comprehensive low adhesion action programme.”
Plain English Campaign translation: We’ll really try not to cancel any more trains.
In the market for an English dictionary - or a translation dictionary for Spanish, French, or German? Ultralingua’s Winter Sale is usually limited to current users, but this year it’s open to everyone. Savings of over 20% (through December 31, 2007) apply across the board.
To take advantage of the Winter Sale discounts, just go to www.ultralingua.com, choose the products you want and enter the discount code ULTW7 in your shopping cart. The discount will be automatically applied.
Sale pricing applies to Ultralingua’s flagship Windows and Macintosh Dictionary/Thesaurus products as well as other multiplatform, multilingual dictionaries: the regular price of $29.95 is now only $23.95. This covers platforms like Windows, Macintosh, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Windows Smartphone and Symbian. The Collins line of dictionaries, and the Grammatica spelling and grammar checkers are also on sale.
Online dictionary subscriptions are also sale-priced: just $23.95 for a year of high-quality dictionary and translation access for more than a dozen common language pairs (even Latin and Esperanto), including advanced features for most languages, like stemmed searches and verb conjugations for all tenses. The Winter Sale applies to the new iPhone and iPod touch versions as well.
In the market for an English dictionary - or a translation dictionary for Spanish, French, or German? Ultralingua’s Winter Sale is usually limited to current users, but this year it’s open to everyone. Savings of over 20% (through December 31, 2007) apply across the board.
To take advantage of the Winter Sale discounts, just go to www.ultralingua.com, choose the products you want and enter the discount code ULTW7 in your shopping cart. The discount will be automatically applied.
Sale pricing applies to Ultralingua’s flagship Windows and Macintosh Dictionary/Thesaurus products as well as other multiplatform, multilingual dictionaries: the regular price of $29.95 is now only $23.95. This covers platforms like Windows, Macintosh, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Windows Smartphone and Symbian. The Collins line of dictionaries, and the Grammatica spelling and grammar checkers are also on sale.
Online dictionary subscriptions are also sale-priced: just $23.95 for a year of high-quality dictionary and translation access for more than a dozen common language pairs (even Latin and Esperanto), including advanced features for most languages, like stemmed searches and verb conjugations for all tenses. The Winter Sale applies to the new iPhone and iPod touch versions as well.
Ukrainians are of Slavic origin. About 75% of the population is ethnic Ukrainian. The largest minority group is the Russians at about 20%. Belarussians, Bulgarians, Poles, Hungarians and Romanians make up the other major minority groups.
Religion
Approximately 40% of the population in the Ukraine describe themselves as atheist. Of those that do adhere to some form of religion, 37% belong to one of the three major orthodox denominations present in the country. There are also a significant and growing number of Jews, Protestants and Muslims.
Despite the large numbers describing themselves are atheist, Ukrainians are extremely superstitious. If you do something that they believe can cause harm such as sitting on stone steps, someone will undoubtedly tell you that you risk doing great harm to yourself as a result of your actions. Superstitions are derived from folk wisdom in rural communities.
Fatalistic
Ukrainians live in a country where everyday life is often unpredictable and unstable and they have learned to adapt to constantly changing rules and laws. The influences of the Russian Orthodox Church plus a long history of turbulent economic times, unstable governments, and adverse climatic conditions produce a rather fatalistic approach towards life.
Generosity
Ukrainians are extremely generous and hospitable. All social occasions include food. Visitors are always offered something to eat as well as a beverage. It is considered the height of rudeness to eat in front of another person and not offer them something.
Ukrainians are of Slavic origin. About 75% of the population is ethnic Ukrainian. The largest minority group is the Russians at about 20%. Belarussians, Bulgarians, Poles, Hungarians and Romanians make up the other major minority groups.
Religion
Approximately 40% of the population in the Ukraine describe themselves as atheist. Of those that do adhere to some form of religion, 37% belong to one of the three major orthodox denominations present in the country. There are also a significant and growing number of Jews, Protestants and Muslims.
Despite the large numbers describing themselves are atheist, Ukrainians are extremely superstitious. If you do something that they believe can cause harm such as sitting on stone steps, someone will undoubtedly tell you that you risk doing great harm to yourself as a result of your actions. Superstitions are derived from folk wisdom in rural communities.
Fatalistic
Ukrainians live in a country where everyday life is often unpredictable and unstable and they have learned to adapt to constantly changing rules and laws. The influences of the Russian Orthodox Church plus a long history of turbulent economic times, unstable governments, and adverse climatic conditions produce a rather fatalistic approach towards life.
Generosity
Ukrainians are extremely generous and hospitable. All social occasions include food. Visitors are always offered something to eat as well as a beverage. It is considered the height of rudeness to eat in front of another person and not offer them something.
It has become a common misconception, amongst a large population of the UK at least, that everybody understands the English language, and thus we need not bother learning any foreign tongues.
However, according to the CIA World Fact Book, only a tiny 5.6% of the world’s population speaks English as a primary language.
That number more than doubles if people who speak English as a secondary or tertiary language are also included, but that still leaves a huge majority of people in the world who do not speak English.
Therefore it would seem that learning a foreign language would be a sensible idea, helping to improve our ability to understand other cultures and communicate with the world around us.
It has become a common misconception, amongst a large population of the UK at least, that everybody understands the English language, and thus we need not bother learning any foreign tongues.
However, according to the CIA World Fact Book, only a tiny 5.6% of the world’s population speaks English as a primary language.
That number more than doubles if people who speak English as a secondary or tertiary language are also included, but that still leaves a huge majority of people in the world who do not speak English.
Therefore it would seem that learning a foreign language would be a sensible idea, helping to improve our ability to understand other cultures and communicate with the world around us.
As the evolution of the Internet continues, b-to-b marketers are reaching a crossroads in determining what tactics have worked in the past to attract traffic to their sites versus what approaches will work in the future. According to Internet World Stats, two-thirds of global Internet users are non-English speakers. This growing volume of search activity means that marketing opportunities will continue to evolve on both regional and global levels.
So how can b-to-b marketers capitalize on this trend? Is the answer as simple as translating all Web pages to the targeted country’s language?
Translation is one component of optimizing for international markets, but it’s in no way the end-all answer. A word-for-word translation of a Web site is ambiguous. Instead, Web sites should be translated according to concepts. A simple translation does not take into account cultures, customs and preferences specific to various countries. Additionally, a simple translation loses targeted keywords.
For instance, you wouldn’t think there would be any disparity between a U.S. and U.K. Web page because both countries speak English. However, consider the differences between dialects. In the U.S., speakers use the word taxi, while in the U.K., it’s car hire—both meaning the same thing and both completely different keywords.
Any translation, whether it’s keyword ads or site content, must be relevant to the specified culture. Additionally, human translators will greatly influence the success of your Web page. While automatic translations are easy to use, they have the tendency to kill the keywords that you implement as part of your optimizing campaign.
A survey released today suggests that intercultural skills would have helped troops in Iraq. In stark contrast to the ‘Rumsfeldian’ “shock and awe” approach promoted in the run up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the results demonstrate an appreciation by the layman that the “hearts and minds” approach will ultimately see success in the country. The shift also reflects the increasing priority for the modern day military to understand and communicate effectively with locals when in foreign countries rather than simply exercising force.
Kwintessential have today released their latest translation tool - a keyword translator. The tool is designed to help website professionals such as webmasters and SEO consultants research keywords in foreign languages.
Kwintessential are currently running a survey asking people if they believe intercultural skills (or training) would have benefited troops in Iraq.
In the short time they have run the survey they have received a decent response but now want to drive the numbers up in order to get an accurate reflection of people’s beliefs.
The idea behind the question the survey poses is to examine whether people appreciate or believe that the “hearts and minds” approach is now also crucial to winning conflicts in the modern age, rather than “shock and awe”. The situation in Iraq all will agree has not been ideal, but moves from the U.S. military seem to suggest that they are now appreciating that providing troops with skills to communicate with people are more and more crucial.
