Lost in Translation
Posted on: 21 Aug, 23
This month Oury and Clark ponder whether technology one day, will not just translate the words, but the body language and cultural nuance. Could all disagreements, and even world peace be achieved if we all understood each other fully, and didn’t get very irritable with the other person’s inability to know how to apologise a lot? (sorry)
Are you alright Clark? Have you had a bang to the head?
Non! Je suis practising my French, we’ve got a new client coming over for a meeting next week.
When you say practising...?
I mean learning obviously, I haven't spoken a word of it since school.
Ah, you might be better off not trying to mangle the language and putting a bit of time into understanding the business culture, or at least getting some pointers, people even have different business body language.
That sounds difficult!
Not as difficult as trying to learn a new language in a week.
Fair point, do you know anyone who can help?
Well, unless you happen to have some snazzy AI glasses, you could try talking to one of our Firm Friends network - you know the nice people we met up with in Ireland recently. They are people we work with all over the world, and you can usually find one of them who can answer your questions or help connect you with someone who can.
Of course Oury, must have been that second pint of Guinness, it slipped my mind.
Second pint? I think you had rather more than that.
Well I meant my second extra pint. We were celebrating finishing our quick guide to global business mobility, to help more of our clients navigate doing business around the world.
I’ll let you off then. Talking of different business cultures, John Stapleton gave us some fascinating insights into that (and so much more) on one of our latest podcasts.
Thanks for the tip Oury, I’ll give it a listen, now I don’t have to listen to my old school French lessons, though I suppose they might come in handy for my holiday in France this summer.
Bon chance et bon vacance Clark
Toodle pip Oury and thank you, I think!
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We are but two fictitious characters throwing out ideas and comment to stimulate debate and collect information. As professional service firms, we are open minded people and think independent thought and debate is essential to help understand, as well as navigate, complex problems. By joves – doing business across Europe (and the world) is set to become a whole lot more complex in light of recent seismic political events. As businesses - we provide information and hopefully some wisdom - and we see this blog and its caricatures merely as a much more fun, perhaps slightly controversial way, of stimulating debate and collecting ideas. We’re searching for some true pearls of wisdom, and as we find them, we’ll share them with you.
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Bonjour Oury, comment ça va?