Identity and Cross-Cultural Communication  

In this project special attention is given to legal, commercial, political and institutional discourse used in specific workplaces, analysed from an intercultural perspective. In particular, through an exploration of the international ‘image’ suggested by major social and economic actors, our project aims to improve the understanding of identity-forming features linked to ‘local’ or professional cultures, as communicated by contemporary English in various specialised domains among native and non-native speakers.

Gotti, Maurizio. Association for Business Communication (2007). Articles>Language>International>Cultural Theory

Think Globally, Write Locally

Companies operating in a global marketplace know they need to translate documents for their audiences. But some documents actually need more than translation – they need localization. Although a document’s words can be translated perfectly, the document can still be ineffective in another market, due to differences in the way local businesses operate and in the way people think.

Giovanis, Kristen. Writing Assistance (2006). Articles>Language>Localization>International

World English: How to Communicate with an International Audience

World English is the result of applying a set of writing and editing principles to create a simplified, highly-intelligible international dialect. The principle is similar to that of Basic English, which was developed by linguists during World War II. While Basic English had only 800 words, you could really say a lot of things with it. The number of situations where misinterpretation can take place is practically infinite. But a fairly small number of writing and editing principles will cover a very large number of cases and considerably reduce the burden on the non-native reader and listener.

Perlman, Alan M. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Writing>International>Language

Перспективи за Постигане на Универсална Езикова Комуникация

В съвременната епоха съществува неутолима потребност от взаимоопознаване и сътрудничество. А едно от най-сериозните препятствия за пълноценната глобална комуникация на основата на информационните технологии е езиковата бариера. В статията се набелязват от една страна пътищата, по които се осъществява сближаване между езиците – чрез подезиците на науката и технологиите и чрез социолектите на различните субкултури, носители на универсализираната масова култура. От друга страна - посочват се мерките, взети за разрешаване на проблема – и технически, и социални. Правят се изводи по повод уловената от нас тенденция към оформяне на универсален език и езици-регионални медиатори. Използването от всеки човек на повече езици, съобразени със социалните, професионалните и националните територии, в които той се движи, многократно повишават неговата комуникабилност и я правят независима от други външни фактори – технология, решаваща речеви и ортографически трудности, наличие на преводач и т.н. Тогава, изборът да превключи на определен език зависи единствено от комуникативната ситуация. Би- и полилингвизмът се сочат като най-естественото и тотално разрешение на проблема за уникалната езикова комуникация днес, при неимоверното увеличаване на преките и непреките езикови контакти.

Kirova, Ludmilla. Liternet (2001). (Bulgarian) Articles>Language>International

Writing Global English

Unfortunately, there seems to be no such thing as simplicity-checking software - even remotely like the description above. Audience Dialogue tried to persuade a few software developers to make their fortunes by writing this software, but with no success so far. In the meantime, there are a few widely available tools to use.

Audience Dialogue (2007). Articles>Language>Minimalism>International

Internationalizing Your Content: Authoring with Localization in Mind 

Localization is the process of adapting a product or service to a particular language and culture. Internationalization is the precursor to localization and involves the process of planning, designing and implementing a culturally and technically neutral product, which can easily be localized. Internationalization helps decrease translation cost and speeds up time-to-market by addressing crucial technical, aesthetic, cultural, and linguistic issues at project start-up. It also has the unique advantage of streamlining not only the localization of your content but authoring in general.

Pietrangeli, Lisa. TC World (2009). Articles>Language>Localization>International