Cindy King's International Business Blog » generalizations

Opposite Cultural Perceptions

Cindy King — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:00:04 +0000

I‘m collaborating with an American writer to write an ebook. The book will be marketed to an American audience and I have spent all of my life marketing to international audiences. So this represents a fair bit of cultural adaptation on my part. But with my cross-cultural marketing background I find this fascinating. So I thought I’d share one of the first changes I made to adapt my writing to an American audience.

2 Different Perceptions of “Let’s”

My American mentor pointed out that I use the words “Let’s…” often and to an American audience this comes with a certain perception. With these 2 little words, American readers perceive me as putting myself above them.

With my cross-cultural background I find this interesting. I’ve worked so long within different cultures and the words “Let’s…” are not perceived in the same way at all… in fact the effect is the opposite. I use them to be perceived as part of their team, on their level, with the exact same words.

Opposite cultural perceptions with the exact same words.

Cultural Behavior Scales

If you are not aware of the cultural scales of Individualism and Collectivism, I’ve written about them here.

Although these cultural scales have limitations they can often be helpful when looking for explanations in different cultural perceptions. Together with some basic cross-cultural skills you can also use them to look for ideas in improving your cross-cultural communication.

If this intrigues you, be sure to also take the time to look at this long list of countries with their scores on 5 different culture scales.

It’s not surprising how different cultures have different perceptions from the exact same words.

A word of caution: do not go overboard into stereotypes and broad generalizations. These scales can only provide a certain degree of insights into cultural differences. You need strong cross-cultural skills to interpret them wisely and learn how to apply them to your communication.

The Answer Is In The Culture Code

Another way to understand these cultural differences in perception is to look at the different culture codes. This example reminds me of The Culture Code which I re-read recently.

First in this book Clotaire Rapaille explains how when an American construction worker whistles at a American woman passing by on a big city street the woman will scowl and her response would be one of anger. And if you put the same woman on a big city street in Italy with an Italian construction worker, the woman would blush and be flattered.

The reason is because of different culture codes. The American code for sex is violence and the Italian code for sex is having fun. And this is communicated in the way men whistle in both of these countries and what women have to deal with. Clotaire Rapaille even goes so far to say in his book that he would never want to be an American woman today because of the challenges with the culture codes in being an American woman.

Changes In Culture Codes

This brings me back to the second reason why I thought of the Culture Code. In Clotaire Rapaille’s recent Archetype Discoveries Newsletter he alludes to the rise of the Latina, the South American woman in the United States. And I cannot help wondering how this will impact American culture codes. You see, in general all South American countries have higher scores on the Collectivism scales and the United States has a notorious high score at the opposite end of this scale – “Individualism”.

It is going to be fascinating to watch the rise of the Latina and how this impacts the American culture code as the older American generation dies off.

And this change in culture code will impact perceptions in how we write. With the Latina influencing American communication, I wonder if the perception of the words “Let’s” will change in the future.

Writing For Different Cultures

Writing in English for different cultures is not easy today.

We have gone through changes:

The global economy and the web have given rise to a certain understanding and tolerance for cultural differences.
There is also a certain International English used in “standard” international business today.

We are going to continue going through changes with as the populations in many of the world’s leading nations change and the once minority ethnic groups become the new majorities.

It’s easy to think everyone has the same understanding of the English. But this is not the case. Different cultural perceptions pop up in the smallest of places. It safe to expect these different cultural perceptions to change over time too.

I’m definitely looking forward to this exercise in learning how to adapt my own writing for a predominant American audience and hope to come back to you with more clear examples of cultural differences.

What about you?

What does “Let’s” say to you? Do you feel included or excluded in any way?
What expressions do you find have different meanings in different cultures?
How do you think the cultural evolution in our societies will influence communication in years to come?

Please share your thoughts and comments below.

Do You Use English Or American Spelling?

Cindy King — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:00:05 +0000

Culturally Customized Content

John Yunker on Global By Design wrote an article last month about different labels for different English spellings. Apparently the acronym “ENU” was used to mean “English – US”.

Another article raised the question of “International English” versus “American English”. I found this article slightly misleading simply because there are so many ways to use the term International English today: Global English, Universal English.

It does make me smile when an American says that “American English” is in the lead.

This reminds me of the all of trips to Canada, where Canadians would come up to me and say that Canada had been voted the best place to live in the whole world. After two different trips, I asked who carried out the study… well it was Canadian studies. The French go “coccoricco” often enough too.

There are quite a few interesting comments in this thread. I never thought the term “British English” could be considered false. And apparently Adobe uses:

“International English” (IE) = “American English”
“Universal English” (UE) = “British English”

Before you get into how you label your choice of English language, let’s look at how to choose the one you want to use.

There are in fact two business decisions to make.

Translations Or Not?

Are you writing for one broad international audience and would like to prepare the work for translating your content into different languages?

If you will need to translate your English language content into more than one language, you will save time and money by learning to write for an international audience.

If you strive for an International English you will also improve communication across a broader non-native English speaking audience.

Spelling

Are you targeting an American audience or a British, European or former British colony audience? This decision is fairly easy to make.

Although I was brought up with the Queen’s English, I have worked with American companies. I chose American spelling on my blogs because of software. I did not want to continually maintain the Queen’s English on American software. There is no major conflict for my business, so the decision was easy.

I still write in a style that is easy for non-native English readers. It is only a question of spelling and some grammar.

Clarity And Consistency

Whatever spelling you choose, remember to be consistent. This means that you should use the same spelling throughout all of your content, no matter who you are targeting. This makes your communication clear. Everyone knows how to identify you.

Do not create your own acronyms and keep your English labels simple and consistent with what your readers expect.

“EUS” does not mean anything to anyone
American English is not International English
British English is not Universal English

A Different English For Your International Audience

Cindy King — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 23:00:21 +0000

Culturally Customized Content

There was an interesting article published last Friday on the BBC News: New lingua franca upsets French

It is the end of this article that I find most interesting.

International business professionals are finding themselves confronted with a new breed of English language.

Non-native English speakers have a distinct way of speaking English.
And the native English speakers are having a hard time understanding this new form of their own language.

Some people call this new form of English “Globish”. I have used “International English” to describe it here. I have also heard the term “Global English”.

This Globish or International English is picked up by non-native English business professionals who need to communicate effectively in English. They need to have results and they also need to limit cross-cultural communication blunders and barriers.

Here are some particularities of this new form of the English language:

Less Vocabulary

Vocabulary is drastically reduced. In this article, it states that Globish only has 1,500 words.

Non-native English business professionals use their words wisely. They get straight to the point. They use the minimum amount of words to make their point clearly.

Less Fun

Certain things are avoided:

Humor
Metaphors
All abbreviations

These are major pitfalls in cross-cultural communication.

Lack Of Personality

Native English speakers often feel that Globish leads to a lack of warmth or personality in the English language.

And in many ways this is true.

National metaphors add life to communication. So does humor. And abbreviations mean that you can get onto the more interesting part of your discussion faster.

But Globish speakers avoid them like the plague because they can easily create confusion, misunderstandings and this simply slows down communication. You often only pick up the confusion or misunderstanding much further down the road.

Reasons To Use Globish

But this stark way of communicating also has a distinct advantage:

You communicate more effectively to a broader audience

There is also another advantage:

Globish or International English is very clear.

This is why such a wide audience can quickly understand what is being said.

Clarity and consistency are key elements for good web content.

Globish speakers are also very good at identifying possible areas that can lead to cross-cultural confusion. They know when it is best to give more details or ask for confirmation of understanding.

People with good Global English or International English skills are good communicators.

Yes, some of the non-native English speakers may still make grammar mistakes. But do not underestimate their power of communication.

If you need to communicate across a wide international audience, which includes non-native English speakers, contact me to find out more about the International English copywriting services I offer.

Customizing Content For Your Clients

Cindy King — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:00:18 +0000

Culturally Customized Content

New developments on Get International Clients are keeping me busy. In 2008 I blogged about the expertise I acquired over the last 25 years as an international sales and marketing executive. And as I blogged I created a structure for my business system.

That was last year. It was all about getting the content out and finding the structure to create a backbone for my business. This year I want to take all of this information and make it:

More “sexy”
More scannable
Easier to digest

The objective?

To customize this information for today’s busy readers who also need to take away the information they need.

This is why my blogging schedule has been slower these first weeks of the year. I am busy getting things ready behind the scenes.

I did enjoy a good read earlier, where Steve Rubel says that text will remain king.

Get International Clients will soon have audios and videos in addition to the text. Get International Clients is read by business professionals. Some prefer the flexibility and choice of format. Readers come from a variety of countries.

But most of the Get International Clients readers prefer text. Short text, easy to understand. Printable text.

So the main task for 2009 is simplifying the information. This is customization of the format of the information.

Next week we will look at customizing content for different cultures.

Translations, Foreign Language Content and Culturally Customized Content

Cindy King — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:00:47 +0000

Culturally Customized Content

A mid-sized company asked me recently whether they needed to have their new websites translated. This is a fairly well known company in their industry. And they now want to create a presence in several foreign countries and want to create several country-specific websites.

Hmmm… So if I got this right, they want to create a presence in several foreign countries, and hope to get by with keeping their websites in English. I wonder what their definition of “presence” is.

Apparently someone had taken a decision to create a website for a selection of foreign countries. But they had not thought the business and marketing plan through.

Obviously, their IT departments said yes, they could arrange to have a website set up for each different country.

I wonder how much their marketing department was involved in the decision process. IT and Marketing people need to communicate and understand each other more.

Their assumptions were also probably based on their own international sales experience. This company is big enough to have had foreign clients already. And these foreign clients communicated to them in English.

This is why several company executives thought it would be possible to develop their business effectively in foreign countries without the hassle of getting involved in foreign languages. Their foreign clients are well educated and usually speak English.

Reasons For Foreign Language Content

There is just two other elements to note.

The top competitors are already present in most of these countries and are obviously communicating with some degree of success in the foreign languages, or at least partially so.

Your communication will always bring in more sales when it is more focused and relevant to your specific target markets. Why would international marketing be any different?

Translation Are The Wrong Focus

The problem is that most people approach communication with foreign clients the wrong way. They focus on their own foreign language limitations and see “translations” as the solution to their needs.

This is the wrong approach for company executives to take. When creating your international business development plan you need to look at translations through a different lens.

Translations are a tool that helps you to communicate with others when you do not speak their language.

I only asked this company a few basic marketing questions. They immediately realized they were focusing on the wrong angle with regards to translations and trying to develop foreign business without them.

Remember to plan for future foreign language content on your websites no matter how you start. This will save you time and money when you are ready to make the change.

Foreign Language Content

All of your communication material represents one of your relationship-building tools.

You will need to have good foreign language content if you want to build good relationships with the people you want to sell your wares to.

But good foreign language content is more than simple translations of your existing communication to your current markets.

Culturally Customized Content

In order to develop your business in any country, you will need to adapt your communication to that particular country. Good cross-cultural communication just does not happen without you taking a step towards the other culture.

You will also need to adapt your offer to each country. This is the key to international business success. Your offer may need one slight change. The change in your offer might even be so slight it is only a nuance. Your offer may need a major overhaul.

The only way to find out how to adapt your offer to a specific culture, is to get to know them intimately. And you simply cannot get to know someone well if you always insist on using your own language to communicate with.

Planning Market Change

Instead of focusing on translations and changing your communication into different languages, focus on planning for changes in your market. This will help you to answer all of the translation and foreign content questions you have.

When two people meet for the first time, if they do not speak each others language, what do they do?

In my opinion it is perfectly alright to start off your communication in your own language. But you must also

Listen attentively to the other person when he tries to speak to you.
Be ready to start communicating in the foreign language
Be proactive in communicating in the foreign language
Move to communication in the foreign language as soon as you can
Create communication to fully understand what your foreign client wants

Can you see where a “translation mentality” will slow you down?

Can you see where a “relationship opportunity mentality” will lead you into new markets?

Translations are your first rudimentary tools in building your foreign relationships.

Foreign language content is the basic tool you need to create foreign relationships.

Culturally customized content is the precision tool you need to develop your business.

Simply begin your communication where you can. Begin your relationship where you can. This will start the conversation. This will also start your own learning curve.

Delaying communication does not help you.

Outsourcing communication needs can help you in small doses.

But eventually you will need to get into the communication if you want to be part of this relationship and benefit from it.

Plan and expect to communicate in foreign languages as soon as you can. Your international business development and international marketing strategies will take you further.

More in the Get International Clients Business Guides

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Translations, Foreign Language Content and Culturally Customized Content

Customize Your Content For Different Cultures

Cindy King — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:00:10 +0000

Internationalize Your English

International web marketing and online based international business development rely heavily on culture customized content to create effective lead generation funnels and get sales.

Very simply, if you want to communicate effectively with different cultures in different countries you need to adapt your communication and your content. This is how you can begin to build cross-cultural relationships through your online business.

Reaching Clients With Content

There are a few different names used to describe the same basic type of marketing:

Content Marketing
Educational Marketing
Information Marketing

How To Get The Content For Your Marketing

There is a trend in businesses outsourcing content creation. As Junta42 said recently, content outsourcing is getting the second largest marketing budget today.

This trend in outsourcing content creation is estimated to expand.

International Content Creation

The question is, how will businesses that outsource their content approach content for international audiences?

Will this international content be outsourced to:

Content creators, or
Translators, or
Culture-customizers?

Choice Of Communication

First lets, look at another question. The choice of customizing your content to foreign markets.

I am often surprised by marketing managers who take the easy road of using a translation service.

Most of the large American companies I have dealt with will have their communication go through their American corporate communication or public relations Vice President and then translated.

This translation might be forwarded to the marketing manager based in the foreign country for input as a courtesy measure. Unfortunately I have yet to hear of any recommended changes being implemented.

This results in very little communication being culturally customized to the local culture.

Large companies have a very difficult issue with their corporate branding. This leaves their foreign marketing departments more work to catch up.

Loss For Some, Opportunity For Others

It is also a wonderful opportunity for the smaller, or more flexible businesses, to create more effective communication in foreign markets.

Culture-customized content will always resonate more than content created for your own domestic market.

Different cultures respond to different things. The communication you need to get the most out of one specific market will be different to the communication you need in another one.

Yes, it takes more effort to get the culture-customized content. It also takes more expertise and experience in your foreign markets.

But it will bring in more sales and will give your company a stronger presence in that culture.

How To Customize Your Content For Different Cultures

Now let’s go back to my question about how businesses will outsource the content they need for international markets.

There are two problems:

Marketing managers in one country find working with a translation company easy to do.
Most translation companies say they have translators with specific industry knowledge.

I have been one of those marketing executives.

Always get a mother-tongue speaker of the language you need. If your translator speaks the language you need as a second language and it is for communication with your clients… well you have just given your competitors a nice present.

I’ve hunted down the good translation agencies, bought the translations and had to work with the results.

Now, I have worked with a few large multinational companies with in-house staff capable of writing the documents needed in the foreign language. But time is a big factor when it comes to translations.

There is something I noticed. Translated documents were rarely as good as when they were done in-house with the right person.

Inside experience and expertise count enormously when creating culturally customized content.

Get Rid Of The Risk

After about 10 years in international business I decided on another tactic. My language skills will good enough for me to see the difference in marketing and cross-cultural communication needs and the best work any translation service could offer me.

My new tactic required prior planning in the beginning and some creative thinking. Afterwards I learned to keep my eyes open. I also began to know exactly what I wanted from a business and marketing point of view.

Whenever I need a document in another language, I look for the perfect person to do the job. I pre-select the person I want to work with.

We have to have the same business outlook.
The person has to have excellent writing skills.
The writing style in the foreign language has to be right for the job.
The person has to understand the objectives.
The person must be able to communicate these objectives into the other language.

I often now turn to a professional friend or colleague. I also have my favorites.

Just because you

Speak the language does not mean you will write what the market needs.
Work in the same industry does not mean you will know how to communicate what the market needs.
Have the right qualification does not mean you will get the communication right.

You might think I’m fussy with translations. No it’s not fussy.

It’s a question of eliminating risk. I do not like risks.

A marketer wants his campaigns to be successful. In my past experience, I have often eliminated at least 30-40% of the international marketing risk by having content written by the right person.

Eliminate a very large percentage of your risk.

Find the right person to create your culturally-customized content.

Need International English content? Drop me an email.

What Is Your Culture On The Social Web?

Cindy King — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:00:23 +0000

Culturally Customized Content

Liz Strauss over at Successful Blog has an interesting article on culture.

She looks at the different cultures of Flexibility and Stability environmental needs with Internal and External strategic focus.

This is a thought provoking article if you are struggling how to use social media in your industry.

Use this simple culture analysis to guide you on how to use the different social movements on the web.

It might even help you to find the right marketing mix for better communication with your clients or online audience.

Just like Liz, I am definitely in the blue square.

Who Should You Get To Write Your Foreign Language Web Content

Cindy King — Mon, 26 May 2008 23:00:21 +0000

Culturally Customized Content

Good web content is written for a particular reader. Great web content is written with a precise outline of the reader’s frame of mind at a given point of time.

Your reader comes online looking for specific information. Great web content answers all of the reader’s questions at a give point of time.

Your reader’s profile depends on many things. The type of question he needs to have answered depends on various factors. The type of answer he wants also depends on various factors.

One of these factors is his culture.

Specific Demands On Web Content

There is also another key aspect to foreign language web content. Let’s compare it to printed content.

Printed materials are used differently than web content. Printed materials are distributed in a different context to web content. You can easily see and understand these contexts. Cross cultural communication needs are visible.

Web content is slightly different to your printed content.

Why? This is not about SEO yet. It is about the step prior to any SEO.

It is about marketing and communication. It’s about knowing how to speak to the particular person who is reading your web page, knowing what he really needs to hear.

Online readers come online with a purpose. They also come from all sorts of different places.

Good web content needs to communicate well with online readers. It also needs to help readers get the information they are looking for quickly no matter where they come from.

All of your online readers are hunting for information. They just might be hunting with a different set of questions, a different set of expectations to the answers they want.

Great web content adapted across different cultures needs to be adapted to answer the right questions. These questions can change slightly in different cultures.

People in different cultures may be more concerned about different things or slightly different aspects. Cultural differences come into play with regards to politeness and various influences in perception.

Culture Customized Content

How will you create web content for your foreign readers?
Does culture affect the differences in answers are your readers looking for?

Great foreign language web content is much more than translation. It is also about cross cultural marketing.

When your readers come from a different country, the chances are high that your web content needs to be adapted to that particular culture.

If you need online content written in a foreign language, you probably need more than a translator. You will need a web content writer.

You need to find someone who does this for a living in the country you are targeting, in the language you are targeting. Find the right person to work with you to create the right culture customized content to develop your business internationally.

If you are currently using an English language website to target international audiences worldwide, prior to moving towards localized websites, and need cultural customized International English content, contact me here.

More in the Get International Clients Business Guides

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Who Should You Get To Write Your Foreign Language Web Content

Cindy King's International Business Blog » generalizations

Opposite Cultural Perceptions

2 Different Perceptions of “Let’s”

Cultural Behavior Scales

The Answer Is In The Culture Code

Changes In Culture Codes

Writing For Different Cultures

More on Culturally Customized Content:

More in the Get International Clients Business Guides

Do You Use English Or American Spelling?

Translations Or Not?

Spelling

Clarity And Consistency

More on Culturally Customized Content:

More in the Get International Clients Business Guides

A Different English For Your International Audience

Less Vocabulary

Less Fun

Lack Of Personality

Reasons To Use Globish

More on Culturally Customized Content:

More in the Get International Clients Business Guides

Customizing Content For Your Clients

More on Culturally Customized Content:

More in the Get International Clients Business Guides

Translations, Foreign Language Content and Culturally Customized Content

Reasons For Foreign Language Content

Translation Are The Wrong Focus

Foreign Language Content

Culturally Customized Content

Planning Market Change

More on Culturally Customized Content:

More in the Get International Clients Business Guides

Customize Your Content For Different Cultures

Reaching Clients With Content

How To Get The Content For Your Marketing

International Content Creation

Choice Of Communication

Loss For Some, Opportunity For Others

How To Customize Your Content For Different Cultures

Get Rid Of The Risk

More on Culturally Customized Content:

More in the Get International Clients Business Guides

What Is Your Culture On The Social Web?

More on Culturally Customized Content:

More in the Get International Clients Business Guides

Who Should You Get To Write Your Foreign Language Web Content

Specific Demands On Web Content

Culture Customized Content

More on Culturally Customized Content:

More in the Get International Clients Business Guides