首页
登录
职称英语
Overcoming the Language Barrier The discovery that lang
Overcoming the Language Barrier The discovery that lang
游客
2025-02-09
38
管理
问题
Overcoming the Language Barrier
The discovery that language can be a barrier to communication is quickly made by all who travel, study, govern or sell. Whether the activity is tourism, research, government, policing, business, or data dissemination, the lack of a common language can severely impede progress or can halt it altogether. "Common language" here usually means a foreign language, but the same point applies in principle to any encounter with unfamiliar dialects or styles within a single language. "They don’t talk the same language" has a major metaphorrical meaning alongside its literal one.
Although communication problems of this kind must happen thousands of times each day, very few become public knowledge. Publicity comes only when a failure to communicate has major consequences, such as strike, lost orders, legal problems, or fatal accidents- even, at times, war. One reported instance of communication failure took place in 1970, when several Americans ate a species of poisonous mushroom. No remedy was known, and two of the people died within days. A radio report of the case was heard by a chemist who knew of a treatment that had been successfully used in 1959 and published in 1963. Why had the American doctors not heard of it seven years later? Presumably because the report of the treatment had been published only in journals written in European languages other than English.
A But isolated examples do not give an impression of the size of the problem ——something that can come only from studies of the use or avoidance of foreign-language materials and contacts in different communicative situations. B In the English-scientific world, for example, surveys of books and documents consulted in libraries and other information agencies have shown that very little foreign-language material is ever consulted. C Library requests in the field of science and technology showed that only 13 per cent were for foreign language periodicals. D Studies of the sources cited in publications lead to a similar conclusion: the use of foreign-language sources is often found to be as low as 10 per cent.
The language barrier presents itself in stark form to form who wish to market their products in other countries. British industry, in particular, has in recent decades often been criticized for its linguistic insularity-- for its assumption that foreign buyers will be happy to communicate in English, and that awareness of other languages is not therefore a priority. In the 1960s, over two-thirds of British firms dealing with non-English-speaking customers were using English for outgoing corresponddence; many had their sales literature only in English; and as many as 70 per cent of employees cannot communicate in the customers’ languages. A similar problem was identified in other English-speaking countries, notably the USA, Australia and New Zealand. And non-English- speaking countries were by no means exempt-- although the widespread use of English as an alternative language made them less open to the charge of insularity.
The criticism and publicity given to this problem since the 1960s seems to have greatly improved the situation. Industrial training schemes have promoted an increase in linguistic and cultural awareness. Many firms now have their own translation services; to take just one example in Britain, Rowntree Mackintosh now publish their documents in six languages (English, French, German, Dutch, Italian and Xhosa). Some firms run part-time language courses in the languages of the countries with which they are most involved; some produce their own technical glossaries, to ensure consistency when material is being translated. It is now much more readily appreciated that marketing efforts can be delayed, damaged, or disrupted by a failure to take account of the linguistic needs of the customer.
The changes in awareness have been most marked in English-speaking countries, where the realization has gradually dawned that by no means everyone in the world knows English well enough to negotiate in it. This is especially a problem when English is not an official language of public administration, as in most parts of the Far East, Russia, Eastern Europe, the Arab world, Latin America and French-speaking Africa. Even in cases where foreign customers can speak English quite well, it is often forgotten that they may not be able to understand it to the required level - bearing in mind the regional and social variation which permeates speech and which can cause major problems of listening comprehension. In securing understanding, how "we" speak to "them" is just as important, it appears, as how "they" speak to "us". [br] The passage discusses all of the following as examples of linguistic insularity in the 1960s EXCEPT the fact that
选项
A、most British firms used English to correspond with non-English- speaking customers.
B、many companies only had English sales literature.
C、the majority of employees could speak the customers’ languages.
D、foreign customers were happy to communicate in English.
答案
D
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3948832.html
相关试题推荐
OvercomingtheLanguageBarrierThediscoverythatlang
OvercomingtheLanguageBarrierThediscoverythatlang
OvercomingtheLanguageBarrierThediscoverythatlang
OvercomingtheLanguageBarrierThediscoverythatlang
OvercomingtheLanguageBarrierThediscoverythatlang
Manypeoplehavelearnedaforeignlanguageintheirowncountry;othershav
Accordingtothepassage,theinventorsofwrittenlanguageinMesopotamiawere
Accordingtothepassage,theinventorsofwrittenlanguageinMesopotamiawere
Accordingtothepassage,theinventorsofwrittenlanguageinMesopotamiawere
Accordingtothepassage,theinventorsofwrittenlanguageinMesopotamiawere
随机试题
[originaltext]M:IhadprepareddinnerforeightpeoplebeforeMarycalledand
[originaltext]W:Ohdear,Igainedthese10poundsinthelast3months,noneo
钻孔灌注桩根据施工机械的不同,分为()。A.冲击钻成孔 B.正循环钻成孔
A.截石位3、7、11点 B.截石位3、9点 C.截石位6、12点 D.截
连续监测法测定ALT活性浓度,标本量(v)10μl,试剂量350μl,比色杯光径
违反《地图管理条例》,互联网地图服务单位使用未经依法审核批准的地图提供服务,或者
风电场的机型选择非常重要,可根据当地的风况选择适当容量的风力发电机型。从经济效益
县人民政府组织编制的总体规划,在报上一级人民政府审批时,应当首先报本级人民代表大
(2017年真题)下列关于质押和抵押区别的说法中,不正确的是()。A.抵押
(2017年真题)某银行从业人员由于不理解某理财产品的收益率计算,导致宣传该理财
最新回复
(
0
)