首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Overcoming the Language Barrier The discovery that language can be a barrier to communication is quickly made by all who tra
Overcoming the Language Barrier The discovery that language can be a barrier to communication is quickly made by all who tra
admin
2011-01-15
68
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".
The word exempt in paragraph 4 is closets in meaning to
选项
A、expected.
B、excluded.
C、expired.
D、accepted.
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/ghyO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
CommunicatingStylesandConflictKnowingyourcommunicationstyieandhavingamixofstylesonyourteamcanprovideapositiv
CommunicatingStylesandConflictKnowingyourcommunicationstyieandhavingamixofstylesonyourteamcanprovideapositiv
CommunicatingStylesandConflictKnowingyourcommunicationstyieandhavingamixofstylesonyourteamcanprovideapositiv
CommunicatingStylesandConflictKnowingyourcommunicationstyieandhavingamixofstylesonyourteamcanprovideapositiv
AccidentalScientistsAAparadoxliesclosetotheheartofscientificdiscovery.Ifyouknowjustwhatyouarelookingfor,fi
ElephantCommunicationO’Connell-Rodwell,apostdoctoralfellowatStanfordUniversity,hastravelledtoNamibia’sfirst-ev
ElephantCommunicationO’Connell-Rodwell,apostdoctoralfellowatStanfordUniversity,hastravelledtoNamibia’sfirst-ev
ElephantCommunicationO’Connell-Rodwell,apostdoctoralfellowatStanfordUniversity,hastravelledtoNamibia’sfirst-ev
随机试题
下列关于Windows“回收站”的叙述,正确的是________________。
急诊护士安排严重颅脑外伤昏迷病人优先就诊检查,所遵循的原则是
血瘀气结型积聚治疗时所用主方为痰瘀互结型积聚治疗时所用主方为
A.β-受体阻滞剂B.钙离子拮抗剂C.利尿剂D.血管紧张素转换酶抑制剂E.α-受体阻滞剂有充血、潮红、头痛、下肢浮肿等不良反应的是()
甲向乙借款2万元,并由丙从中作保,三人均在借款合同上签字。后甲请求乙推迟还款期限一年,乙应允,但提出推迟一年期间的利息为30%,甲同意,并签订了变更合同协议。甲、乙将变更合同的内容告知了丙。丙当时碍于情面,口头表示同意。后因甲到期不能还款,进发生纠纷,则(
城市生态系统的功能是多方面的,概括起来讲,主要包括()。
关于地毯面层地毯拉伸的说法,正确的是()。
某上市公司董事吴某,持有该公司6%的股份。吴某将其持有的该公司股票在买入后的第5个月卖出,获利600万元。根据《证券法》的规定,关于此收益,下列表述中,错误的是()。
下列序列中不满足堆条件的是()。
IhadvisitedthecapitalbeforealthoughmyfriendArthurhadnot,IfirstvisitedLondonasastudent,reluctantlyreleasedfr
最新回复
(
0
)