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24 The Linguist FEBRUARY/MARCH www.iol.org.uk FEATURES The Business, Professions and Government Committee reflects on the challenges of working on multilingual projects and across cultures A tricky business Managing multilingual marketing campaigns, I have become aware of a number of cultural factors that affect working practices. The most significant difference in international approach relates to deadlines. A project manager has to anticipate this and build some contingencies for overrunning into the schedule. In my experience, the Nordic countries are generally very respectful of deadlines and will even deliver ahead of schedule. The Swiss and Germans are prepared to plan deadlines in some detail. They are usually appreciative of efforts to resolve potential conflicts with other projects. People from other nationalities, however, often view such negotiations as interference. Some countries, as some individuals, will hear your deadline but need to be chased before they will send a reply. The Irish can be very friendly colleagues, but their laid-back approach can be stressful to cultures that like greater precision as the deadline looms – even when they deliver on time. A number of our fellow Europeans maintain a strict working day. Even on urgent projects, they will not work the overtime expected by the British and Americans. You simply have to follow up the next day. They will not advise you that they are leaving either, much to your frustration. The French have a reputation for being somewhat 'work-shy', perhaps because they keep strictly to their working hours. Yet I recently saw them described as the most productive people in Europe. As an inveterate Francophile, I have come to recognise that the French know the secret of getting a good work/life balance. There is much that the British could learn from them in this respect. The Spanish are known for their mañana attitude – ie, always promising delivery for a tomorrow that never seems to arrive. In my experience, the Spanish are much better at keeping deadlines than their reputation suggests. However, this may be because I have adapted to chasing them at the start of the day, rather than in the afternoon. Latin America can present more difficulties, some undoubtedly relating to issues with communicating across time zones. The slower pace of life outside Europe and the US can be Easy to offend In the 1980s and 1990s, I worked in the UK Civil Service on trade promotion to Japan, heading up a small team promoting exports of UK consumer goods. One day, a man came to see me. He ran a small giftware business, based in the Midlands, and for several years had been doing good business in Japan, working on an exclusive agency basis with a Japanese company. While planning his latest visit, he had – laudably – decided that this was the moment to cement their relationship by presenting the agent with a substantial gift: a quality piece of historic English silver. But when the President of the company was presented with the gift his face froze in horror. I asked what it was, exactly, and was told that it was a paper knife. Traditionally, in Japan, if you present a knife to someone it means you expect him to use it on himself, ie, to commit suicide! Fortunately, a young employee who was involved in meetings with the UK company because of his good command of English, was able to smooth matters over, and I was able to explain how the ghastly mistake had been made. It is very easy to give offence unintentionally through imperfect knowledge of a different culture. James Farmer MCIL a contributory factor in project delays. My advice is to keep a sense of proportion over project deadlines. Are they really a matter of life and death? This was first brought home to me during the start of the troubles in the former Yugoslavia. I was told one day that the translator I was working with had joined the army and they had no idea when he would return to finish the job. The translation was never completed. Similarly, after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, there were problems obtaining Chinese translations. More recently, our Japanese colleagues admirably continued to work in the aftermath of the devastating tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster. Cultural differences in such circumstances fade away to common humanity. The other key area that has affected my projects is the variety of cultural approaches to directness. If the Italians, French, Spanish and Brazilians are not happy about an aspect of a project, they will tell you about it in no uncertain terms. To a British mindset, their brutally direct approach can appear explosive. © I S TOCKPHOTO