Language and Immigration Businesses

There are so many businesses owned by immigrants today around the world. We find people who are not nationals of a particular country but running their enterprises and residing within that particular country.

For example, it is estimated that over 80, 000 business enterprises owned by Turks are found in Germany alone and provide job opportunities in German market. This might be because people from Turkey are believed to be the largest ethnic group living in Germany.

Another example, can be of the many Indians living and running businesses in East Africa. The earlier Indians that came to East Africa came as labourers to the railway construction while others came in for trade activities that took place at the East African coastal area.

The Language Issue

But one can wonder what kind of languages are usedwhen transacting such business since effective communication is vital when carrying out business issues. For example in Germany while the Turks mainly speak Kurdish and Turkish, apart from the younger generation that goes to German schools, the Germans on the other hand speak German which is their official language since English is optional.

Then as for the Indians in East Africa, they might use English since they too speak it as well as a certain percentage of the East Africans but it is not satisfactory. This is because the Indians’ English is heavily influenced by the accents of their native languages, making communication with the average East African a problem.

How to go about the Language Issue

For smoother running of such businesses owned by immigrants, and the satisfaction of their customers, translation services should be employed for easier and effective communication, and for fastertransactions as well.

Interpreters or multi linguists can be employed at the business for the entire working time so as to bridge the gap between the business and its customers. These interpreters may either explain the products and their prices directly or they can interpret what the business owner has to say to the customer and vice versa.

Then, they can hire translators to translate the reading materials that describe the uses and advantages of their products. These materials should be translated to languages understood best by the audiences and customers.

For example, with the Turk businesses in Germany, the brochures and other reading materials are to be translated to German and maybe English so as to accommodate tourists, foreign students and other people from the European Union may be.

Advantages of such translation services to Immigration businesses

·       Faster business transaction

·       Wider market especially from foreign speaking people

·       Effective communication

How Animals Speak

“Murphy, enter. Come on Murphy, get in already…” Deborah, an old, plump looking and very nice lady is heard commanding, persuading and finally pleading for someone every single day in the wee hours of the morning in her highly fenced home. She always seems to struggle with this never answering person on a daily routine until what she wants is finally done, then she’s heard saying, “…good boy”.

If you do not know the two personally, you are tempted to think she must have a grandson named Murphy who really is stubborn and has to be persuaded before getting anything done. That’s not the case however, Murphy is a dog. Yes, a very fine young and energetic breed between a German shepherd and Labrador.

And yes Deborah and this young fellow communicate on a daily basis as she goes about her daily chores.

World View

Murphy is just one of billions of animals kept as pets in homesteads, for public viewing in Zoos or for entertainment in parks. What these animals have in common is that apart from communicating with each other, they communicate with their caretakers or trainers on a daily basis just as humans do with each other.

How Animals and Humans communicate

Most of these animals are trained right from when they are young to communicate with their care givers or the people who come to view them. For example, the dolphins, orcas or sea lions at aquatic zoos carry out tasks like diving in symphony, playing ball with each other or accept to be fed by viewers without harming them, all at the command of their trainers.

Same case with pets at home, command words are taught to the pets by their owners or paid trainers while very young and therefore know when they are told to eat, run, fetch or roll.

Why interpretation is needed for animals

Therefore, one can say that an interpreter can be required in certain instances when dealing with animals. For example a dog barking frantically at a visitor can be calmed down by the home owner merely speaking a command word that the visitor didn’t know of but can also learn.

For example, an excited tourist at a zoo for aquatic animalswas almost dragged under water by a killer whale when he decided to pat it on the head after it perfectly through him a ball in the audience at the command of its trainer.

Therefore communication between animals and humans is very possible but can also be fatal, if done without the owner or trained personnel to interpret effectively.

How to do away with language misconceptions

The recently crowned beauty queen of Japan is a ‘hafu’, Japanese coined word referring to one mixed with Japanese and foreign blood. Such people until recently have been very few in Japan.

Most of them testify that people in Japan find it strange that they (hafu) cannot speak English. They take it for granted that everyone who doesn’t look Japanese but lives in Japan must be a foreigner with a good command of the English language.

This is the case with blacks staying in non-Englishspeaking European countries. The national of such countries have the misconception that every black person can speak English fluently and understand it very well.

Many people and communities are guilty of such misconceptions, just like some people in Africa take it for granted that all whites are rich and speak English, so when they encounter those who don’t, confused stares follow.

That is why translation services are important and very much needed in the world today for easier and effective communication.

For example, if you are an academic institution expecting foreign exchange students, take good care as to the characteristics of the country they are coming from, national and official language, and finally the language used in their lectures and classes.

It would really be frustrating to the exchanged students and the academic institution administration as well if it is discovered that the language used in the particular institution is actually foreign to the students.

Deal with the misconceptions

Translation services are employed today but at a minimal level. Institutions and companies are ignorant concerning the troubles that can be done away with if translation services are employed.

It is advisable that one carries out thorough research about the audience that a particular message, service or product is meant for before actually putting it out.

This is to determine what languages they are more comfortable with and which ones they understand best, or are their native languages. This brings about proper communication and does away with language barrier.

Why You Need To Learn A New Language?

Language schools have increasingly become common all over the globe. This is a sign that a lot of border crossing is taking place now days, so literally the world really is 'a global village'

Language schools are increasing in numbers for a purpose of communicative competence to be attained and eliminate barriers in communication.

While in most western English speaking countries, Spanish is taught in schools, the  increasing problems in communication between people of different languages has resulted to the influx  of language institutions to beef up the learning of foreign languages

Languages in demand

·         English

·         Spanish

·         French

·         Italian

·         German

·         Mandarin, etc

Why the new languages?

Out of fun and adventure especially during holiday breaks individuals like travelling out of their countries for some reasons. It is therefore important that they are able to express themselves well with the local communities. Usually the major reason for learning new languages is due to the need to travel to foreign countries where the languages used are different from those in one's home country.

Why people travel or cross borders?

For business purposes; one may have business partners in a foreign country speaking a foreign language thus the need to learn basics of that language. If one is to stay for long in a foreign country, then a deeper learning is even necessary.

Others travel for study purposes and if a foreign language is as a means of instruction, then the necessity to learn the language arises. Some have the foreign language lessons in their home countries before embarking to their destinations, while others travel first, and then enrol in language lessons in the very country where they go. This also applies to students who go for exchange programmes.

Some people find love in foreign countries, especially women. This may begin with dating say on internet sites. When such relationships mature, the love birds plan visits to each other's countries if they happened not to be in the same country and marriage comes up in some cases. The need to learn the others language arises and thus the visit to language schools. 

Some people have to travel when their medical conditions have to be handled in foreign countries.

Then others travel for simply leisure purposes through visits and tourism purposes.

Other alternatives

The immediate alternative to learning a language through a language institution or school is through translation services. Learning is a difficult and tiresome tasking therefore one can just utilize language services provided by translation agencies to have his/her goal fulfilled effectively and in every short period of time. One can even learn through a translator by simply having basic expressions translated into the target language.

Certain situations may not wait for you to learn the language first. For example, for a medical condition where one needs urgent surgery in a foreign country, medicaltranslation services will be required to translate the medical reports and or a medical interpreter for effective communication between the medical staff and patient.

Writing Skills for Bloggers, Part Four

I believe we have learned something right from part one, two and three.  Now in part four we are going to sum up our series.

How to organize your content

Pre-writing stage

This is the first stage in any writing. It involves the following;

-       Organizing the information of course it all begins with proper identification of the topic

-       Determining the content to include in the text; choosing relevant information and discarding that which is not relevant enough

-       Consulting reliable sources for factual information; this may also include people knowledgeable enough in the field.

Writing the first draft

When data or information has been compiled, you then need to sit down and write the first draft of its content. This step will enable you to examine the flow of your content, its length and quality. Look carefully if your content is too long or too short, cross check the choice and use of words and make appropriate changes, check grammar and the punctuation. Re-examine the entire essay and make necessary changes if any. This process can be summarised as proof-reading and editing.

Writing the final draft

In the opinion of the writer, the final draft should be the most correct or an accurate one. It must contain excellent grammar, well punctuated and paragraphs well structured.

 The three steps discussed above to my opinion are the major ones but in practice and indeed, some writers may have more stages. The ultimate goal is always to come out with the most correct copy of your text. It is not good also to have many stages for you may bore your readers. What is important is for you as a writer to be satisfied that you have produced the best work and on the other hand, your reader to appreciate that indeed the work was helpful.

Paragraphing your work

An essay or any written discourse must be organised in paragraphs. Each paragraph needs to contain an idea expresses as a topic sentence. This therefore means that paragraphs are also units of thought. The topic sentence must be supported with summarised details. It is not wise to have too long paragraphs however; a paragraph shouldn't also be just one-sentence. Some writers supply unnecessarily too many details in a paragraph; it may be good to elaborate but your readers may not have all that time to read long paragraphs. Simply make yourself clear and eliminate some of the irrelevant information.

2 ways a paragraph may be built

1. Topic sentences

-        Development of the topic with supporting details

-        Conclusion which may be a personal opinion

2. Introductory sentence (s)

-        Topic sentence

-        Supporting sentences

-        Conclusion

In my own opinion, this is the general principal. It will enable you produce good articles. However, there may be deviations from the principal depending on the situations. But as a standard you will find this manner of building your paragraphs very useful.

It is indeed difficult for me say exactly how long your paragraph should be. It may range from one sentence to as many as ten or even more. The length of a paragraph may be determines by the kind of genre in which you're writing.

My opinion is that you would make yourself understandable if you wrote short and less complex paragraphs. For example if I had written just a single paragraph in the whole page of this article, I would think I have given too many details, alternatively writing as many as 10 paragraphs in a single page would make my work childish.

Series Summary

Part one highlighted the following aspects

v  Grammar and spelling

v  How to avoid mistakes in your work

Part two discusses;

v  5 mistakes to avoid while writing

Part three talks about

v  3 skills that a blogger/writer must posses

Part four

v  How to organize your content

v  Paragraphing your work