Any body reading my blogs will know that I enjoy food, all sorts of different food, so it was in search of a good schweinshaxe while attending the Frankfurt fair as a young exporter when I endured one of my most embarrassing moments. A great place to find traditional food in Frankfurt is the Sachsenhausen area, a lovely part of town with old buildings and cider houses serving the delicious apfelwein. I had a couple of colleagues with me and we drove in, parked and, not being familiar with the roads, made a mental note of the street so that we could find the car later. Having enjoyed my schweinshaxe with sauerkraut and bratkartoffeln, I was hugely embarrassed when I asked a local where the street was we had parked the car in to be told that we had memorised the German word for "One Way Street". Language can catch you out. It’s part of the fun but also a potential problem for the unaware.
I was very pleased to get a comment on my blog A Bit of Homework for the Holidays on 29 December from Rocio Izquierdo who wrote to me in Spanish. Although I could make a good stab at it, speaking French and having studied Latin at school, I was determined not to make a similar mistake to my German experience so I put it through Google Translate, a useful and free tool. I admit that I did reply in English but I was able to establish that Rocio had also asked how my turkey cooking had gone at Christmas (a word I had no idea of in Spanish).
Nobody expects a UK exporter to know every language, nor would they expect that all nuances of cultural differences are understood in detail but you do need to be able to deal with the issues. On cultural matters, I recommend a book published in 1994 by Geert Hofstede, "Cultures and Organizations, Software of the Mind." It was a study of cultural differences across IBM subsidiaries in 64 countries and identified four (later five) cultural dimensions and scored them for the various countries. It’s very readable and will give a good insight for those of you wanting to get more in depth on the subject. The important thing though is to prepare for the differences and make efforts to take them into account. You would never give a Chinese person a clock as a gift (it signifies impending death), in Japan, you would do well to avoid filling in silences in conversation, something that makes a Brit feel quite uncomfortable, in large parts of Asia understanding the concept of losing face (avoiding it) will reap dividends. Prepare properly and you will have a better chance of success; it will also be a much more enjoyable experience.
Reviewing you communications strategy is vital and you will need to address some of the following:
- Localisation of your product or service through use of appropriate language and cultural aspects.
- What are the most appropriate routes to market, given the differences?
- How much material needs to be translated?
- Are there any regulations on data sheets, for example, requiring them to be translated by local law?
- Can you make better use of your website/ Is machine translation an option?
- Using an interpreter is a skill to be honed. They could do so much more for you than just translate.
- Culture affects negotiating style, relationship building, different tastes or fashion and often, deep rooted, sometimes religious beliefs. Offend people at your peril.
If you take on board only one thing, it is to be prepared for cultural and language differences. Do not be caught out. The advice in the Victorian travel guide that you need to know only two things in any foreign language - "Do you speak English?" and just in case the answer is no "Then fetch me someone who does" simply won’t do.
14 comments
Comment by John Heywood (@johninmacc) posted on
Clive
Some excellent and informative advice here. All too often we fall into the trap that of thinking that language has to be a barrier to successful International Trade, but we never really look at language as an opportunity to spread our message far and wide in other countries and cultures.
Some simple translation steps and cultural re-design of existing literature and website etc will bring dividends many times the cost, yet all too often we think it will create more problems than opportunities.
A structured, planned and well thought out strategy for international communications is a morning’s work yet the payback is limitless!!!
We just need to ensure that UK plc embraces language as a sales tool and not as a barrier!
Comment by Clive Drinkwater posted on
Hi John,
Absolutely right. I speak as somebody who does speak some languages but it is not totally necessary to do so as long as you have a well thought out international communications strategy that deals with the issues. All to often, businesses I meet rely on the fact that their customers will speak English. It may well be the case, but think how much more business they could do if they did communicate in the customer's language. I like your point about it being a sales tool. Indeed.
Cheers,
Clive
Comment by Paul Kearns posted on
Great article. We keep hearing about the shortage of language skills and the consequent impact on the economy but the truth is that there are hundreds of very qualified linguists in the UK and sadly they are undervalued by many businesses. Companies need to remember that over-reliance on Google Translate can lead to very expensive translation errors - far better to use professional linguists from the outset. Language and culture cannot be separated and any company that ignores that will not succeed in overseas markets.
Comment by Clive Drinkwater posted on
Hi Paul,
I often visit schools trying to raise the profile of studying languages. I think we need more people like us to keep on spreading the message. My children are now out of education but if I were advising youngsters I see a future growing need for different languages such as Arabic, Chinese obviously and maybe things like Indonesian (which I do happen to speak by the way, so no bias intended).
Regards,
Clive
Comment by Isabela posted on
Dear Clive,
I think your posts are very interesting as they always comprehend many substantial market issues which are not always being take into account properly these days.
It is not an easy task to invest abroad and your tips are really helpful and useful.
I will keep reading your blog.
Regards,
Comment by Clive Drinkwater posted on
Dear Isabela,
Thanks for your comments. I do try to bring my personal experiences to subjects that I think are important, especially for new and inexperienced exporters. I'm glad you find my blogs useful.
Cheers,
Clive
Comment by Andrew Todd posted on
Language skills will only ever get you so far. Having the ability to decipher the "intent" and "emotion" behind the words is just as essential.
We sit between our colleagues in Asia and Europe acting as a "buffer" and regularly have to defuse problems that the parties involved don't even know exist - let alone that they caused!
Comment by Andrew Todd posted on
Language skills will only ever get you so far. Having the ability to decipher the "intent" and "emotion" behind the words is just as essential.
We sit between our colleagues in Asia and Europe acting as a "buffer" and regularly have to defuse problems that the parties involved don't even know exist - let alone that they caused!
Comment by Clive Drinkwater posted on
Quite. The nuances and cultural understanding are equally, if not more, important than language skills. If you are buying from somebody I think you would want your supplier to communicate to you in a way that you understand and language is a major part of that but clearly not the only one. Most importanlty you expect your supplier to be providing you with a product or service that fully meets your needs and that they fully understand what they are.
Regards,
Clive
Comment by Charlie Wallin posted on
Hi Clive - all very constructive stuff.
One thing that folk can do is make use of their local university. There are often opportunities to sign on as an external student on some of the language courses.
I've had personal experience - in my case Keele - and have found the academic staff, students and adminstrators all very welcoming. Not only do you get additional background information on culture, business and of course food (important, as you point out!) but I think that for the amount of knowledge you gain, the fees are modest.
The class I've been in this last year has 4 Brits - plus one each from Greece, Holland, Lithuania, Poland, South Africa, Georgia and Chechnya. So, much more to pick up on than just the actual course.
These young students can evidently see the value in choosing a language as their elective subject for short modules - they can't all be wrong, can they?
Comment by Charlie Wallin posted on
Hi Clive - all very constructive stuff.
One thing that folk can do is make use of their local university. There are often opportunities to sign on as an external student on some of the language courses.
I've had personal experience - in my case Keele - and have found the academic staff, students and adminstrators all very welcoming. Not only do you get additional background information on culture, business and of course food (important, as you point out!) but I think that for the amount of knowledge you gain, the fees are modest.
The class I've been in this last year has 4 Brits - plus one each from Greece, Holland, Lithuania, Poland, South Africa, Georgia and Chechnya. So, much more to pick up on than just the actual course.
These young students can evidently see the value in choosing a language as their elective subject for short modules - they can't all be wrong, can they?
Comment by Clive Drinkwater posted on
Hi Charlie,
Really nice to hear from you. I totally agree with you about overseas students. One additional advantage is that when they return to their home they often become strong ambassadors for where they've studied and firms can take advantage of that. Furthermore, if firms are looking for a good person to represent them in market, how much better to have got to know a student while they're here and to have taken the opportunity to guive them a good grounding in how your company works?
Hope to catch up with you again soon.
Cheers,
Clive