CHAPTER 2
Language and Translation Blunders SAY WHAT YOU MEAN
AND
MEAN WHAT YOU SAY
“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on. “I do,” Alice hastily replied; “At least…at least I mean what I say…that’s the same thing you know.” “Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “Why, you might just as well say, ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see!’” —Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
that compete globally concluded that their number one problem area is communications, both internal and external. This is brought into startling focus when you realize that, by the most recent count, at least three thousand languages exist in the world, each with its own regional and ethnic dialects and subdialects. While many countries such as the United States, France, Germany, and Japan have a primary language for both written and oral communication, a large number of countries are bilingual, while still others are multilingual. For example, many African nations use the language of their former colonial overseers (French and Spanish, even German, Portuguese, and Italian) and also speak English, as well as their native languages and dialects. Communication in South Africa remains a mélange of Afrikkans, English, and a score of native African languages. Several centuries ago, Dutch was the language of trade in many parts of Asia— including Japan—because of the strong presence of merchant traders from Holland who did business there. Portuguese, as well, was widely understood because Portugal vied with Spain, Holland, and numerous city states for the lucrative Far East markets. In large parts of Southeast Asia, French and Chinese are as common as the native languages, again because of former colonization. Multiple languages are also used in more developed countries where history has played a strong role in both linguistic and economic development—for example, the Flemings and Walloons in Belgium, the small pockets of Germanspeakers in eastern France, and the German/Italian/French linguistic montage in Switzerland. But despite the Tower of Babel that this global hodgepodge might appear to be, most countries have evolved an acceptable lingua franca—that is, a generally accepted language used to communicate and conduct business between people who have that language in common, even though they also have their own preferred language. In other words, most countries have found a common language for conducting economic affairs that transcends cultural differences. The broad palette of languages that interplay in world trade can make for some serious—and sometimes humorous—mistakes.
A RECENT SURVEY OF AMERICAN BUSINESSES
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