Is Linguistic Diversity the next greater business challenge?

A recent study by The Economist "Competing across borders: how cultural and communication barriers affect business" reveals the importance of languages for businesses. Two-thirds of respondents say that differences in language and culture make it difficult to gain a foothold in unfamiliar markets.

Some 47% say their companies do not offer enough training to hone their employees’ language and communication skills, and 40% believe there is not enough emphasis placed on recruiting or selecting people who are suited to cross-cultural environments. Misunderstandings rooted in cultural differences present the greatest obstacle to productive cross-border collaboration

Interestingly, linguistic diversity – or the lack of it – is considered by some margin to be a greater business challenge in Latin America and southern Europe than elsewhere. For example, 38% of those surveyed in Brazil and 40% in Spain believe the difficulty in communicating in non-native languages to be a significant hindrance to effective cross-border relations.

More information about the full report (.pdf).

CELAN Partner meeting in progress - 8th June, 2012

Language = Intelligence: LTi Summit in Brussels, 19 June 2012

Europe's language technology stakeholders will meet in Brussels on 19 June 2012 at the first LT Innovate Summit (www.lt-innovate.eu) to showcase best solutions for areas such as eSkills, eHealth, eGovernment and to discuss future challenges of language technologies with industry, users and decision makers. 

More information: Programme

Participation in the event is free of charge, but registration is obligatory

Twitter: #LTi2012

Almost Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Translation

Ms. Lola Bendana, Director of Multi-Languages Corporation, and Mr. Alan Melby, Professor of Linguistics at Brigham Young University, just published a book together: "Almost Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Translation".

There are two parts : the first one is for everyone and "especially for those involved in requesting translation services" and the other one is especially for Translators and Project Managers.

This publication is freely available : click here

Share, Cooperate, Grow - the LIND Web Forum

More than 180 participants met in Brussels for the first LIND Web Forum on 24 May 2012, organised by DG Translation of the European Commission. Rytis Martikonis, Director-General of DGT, opened the Forum, followed by high-level key note speakers and panelists, covering the broad spectrum of the Language Industry. The industry faces several challenges that were the topics of the afternoon parallel sessions: Statistics, classification for the sector, qualifications & employability and the societal role of the Language Industry. CELAN put forward its classification suggestions developed in the course of the project. The coffee and lunch breaks provided a convivial atmosphere of networking amongst representatives from industry, academia, associations, EC and individual translators which made the event an attractive meeting point. The LIND website promotes visibility and recognition of the Language Industry by collecting data and information concerning the sector.

The European Commission is rethinking skills in the context of Europe 2020

The EC published a roadmap for “Rethinking skills in the context of Europe 2020”. Amongst others, the roadmap mentions the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET2020) that stresses the importance of transversal competences such as entrepreneurship, digital competence and multilingualism. As such, it endorses the findings of many eJobs profiles.  Another roadmap deals with the Internationalisation of Higher Education. As with the roadmap before, the emphasis on language learning and multilingualism is considered an important asset for internationalisation.

More information about all the published roadmaps

Les compétences transversales sont déterminantes

Le secteur des techniques d'information et de communication (TIC) estime qu'il va générer plus de 700.000 emplois en Europe dans les prochaines années. Paradoxalement, ce ne sont pas les compétences techniques qui semblent poser problème mais bien les compétences transversales telles qu'être en accord avec la strategie d'entreprise, être orienté client, être attentif aux détails, ...

François Adoue, responsable français de l'Observatoire Européens des métiers de l'internet, interviewé par RMC, explique que ce sont pourtant ces compétences qui seront déterminantes à l'embauche.

Plus d'information à propos de l'interview de François Adoue sur e-Jobs Observatory.

Certified Terminology Manager Webinar

TermNet, the Network for Terminology, organises a Webinar on "ECQA Certified Terminology Manager", on 24 May, from 4.00 to 5.00 pm. This is the English version for international attendance, after a successful Webinar in German held recently.
Reserve your Webinar sear now at: 
https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/439810278

Poliglotti4.eu - a new Language Observatory

Get to know the initiative Poliglotti4.eu, with its special importance for a world in which multilingualism is becoming reality day by day!
Poliglotti4.eu is a project promoting multilingualism in Europe - the result of the deliberations of the EU Civil Society Platform on Multilingualism. The website, also known as the online Language Observatory, reports on best practice in language policy and language learning, and provides policymakers, teachers, learners and civil society organisations with a powerful set of tools for benchmarking and enhancing their activities in three focused sectors: Early Language Education; Lifelong Learning; Social and Community Services.
The website exists in 3 languages but the News section is truly polyglot.

Translation Studies Days 2012

DG Translation is organising Translation Studies Days on 20 and 21 September 2012, the event where academia, public translation services and the language industry meet to discuss studies covering a wide range of topics regarding translation and multilingualism.
The studies discussed during this conference, carried out by or on behalf of the Directorate-General for Translation of the European Commission (DGT) show how translation and multilingualism contribute to achieving the goals set by the European Union between now and 2020. Check out the draft programme and register here.