Styles of Communication
This page contains information on non-verbal and other forms of communication across cultures, and also on other customs in the world's cultures, including holidays, and rites and rituals.
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Audio/Video Culture Bytes
Styles
of Communication across cultures
Dr. Dwight Call, Vice President for International Education at GC&SU, discusses gestures and other forms of non-verbal communication across cultures.
Introduction
Nonverbal Communication: Gestures
Nonverbal Forms of Greeting and Marriage Customs
Africa:
The
Igbo of Nigeria
Dr. Greg Okoro, Georgia Perimeter College, reflects on aspects of the Igbo culture.
Kenya
Walter Agumbi-Okwany, an international student at GC&SU, reflects on aspects of Kenyan culture.
Sierra
Leone
Dr. Eustace Palmer, Professor of English at GC&SU, reflects on aspects of African culture in Sierra Leone.
Argentina
Eleonora Buzzo, an international student at GC&SU, reflects on aspects of culture in Argentina.
Bulgaria
Nikolay Dimitrov, an international student at GC&SU, reflects on aspects of Bulgarian culture.
China
an international student at GC&SU, reflects on aspects of Chinese culture as compared to American culture.
Germany
Dr. Hedwig Fraunhofer, assistant professor of modern foreign languages at GC&SU, discusses aspects of German culture.
India
Nanda Negandhi, an international student at GC&SU, relates aspects of Indian culture.
Japan
Chikage Toyama, an international student at GC&S, reflects on Japanese gestures and other aspects of her culture.
Humorous Translations of Slogans and Other Items
Communication also depends upon a common, shared body of language. The following examples show the ways in which translation from one language to another affects the meaning transmitted.
WILL 'MR. CAT POOP' CLEAN UP AT THE BOX OFFICE IN HONG KONG?
by Hal Lipper, Staff Reporter of the Wall Street Journal
from The Wall Street Journal, Monday, April 13, 1998
HONG KONG-When it comes to translating movie titles, not every name will do. So Hong Kong's movie distributors have created a cottage industry to rename Hollywood titles for Chinese audiences. "Major studios think up titles that are flat, boring and don't tell audiences what movies are about," says Daniel Wu, who has spent more than a decade renaming wb estern movies. "We create titles that are more straightforward." Hence, the Cantonese title for the film biography "Nixon" is "The Big Liar." The title for "Boogie Nights" can be interpreted as "His Powerful Device Makes Him Famous." Since many of Hong Kong residents don't know Fargo is a city in snow-blown North Dakota, the movie "Fargo"became "Mysterious Murder in Snowy Cream." The words "snowy cream" are pronounced "fah go" in Cantonese. The stakes are huge since English-language blockbusters dominate Hong Kong's movie market and Chinese translations help sell the films to a wider audience. Mr. Wu's title are touted as among the best in the business. For the arty thriller "The Professional," about a killer befriending an orphaned girl, he concocted "This Hit Man Is Not as Cold as He Thought." "The English Patient" was problematic. Few Hong Kong residents knew of the novel and marketers say a faithful translation, like "The Sick Englishman," wouldn't have drawn audiences. Mr. Wu's title, "Don't Ask Me Who I Am," captured the story's mystery and passion. "Good Will Hunting" was equally challenging. Mr. Wu's Chinese title, "Bright Sun, Just Like Me," uses characters to imply more than can be said with words. The first half alludes to the Chinese title for "Dead Poet's Society," ("Bright Sun in Heavy Rain") which also starred Robin Williams and was set at a school. The second half denotes a movie for young people who boldly do what they like. "Titanic" and "Air Force One" needed no translation, distributors decided. But some of the local idioms don't travel well. "The Full Monty," a comedy about six unemployed steelworkers who become strippers, uses a Cantonese colloquialism meaning "Six Stripped Warriors." The Mandarin interpretation is "Six Naked Pigs." And some translations simply defy rationale. The Hong Kong title for "As Good As It Gets," a comedy about a mean-spirited novelist, is "Mr. Cat Poop." Its distributor declined comment.
Here are some signs and notices written in English that were discovered throughout the world.
In
a Tokyo Hotel:
Is forbidden to steal hotel towels please. If you are not a person to do such a thing is please not to read notis.
In
a Bucharest hotel lobby:
The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable.
In
a Leipzig elevator:
Do not enter lift backwards, and only when lit up.
In
a Belgrade hotel elevator:
To move the cabin, push button for wishing floor. If the cabin should enter more persons, each one should press a number of wishing floor. Driving is then going alphabetically by national order.
In
a Paris hotel elevator:
Please leave your values at the front desk.
In
a hotel in Athens:
Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9 and 11 A.M. daily.
In
a Yugoslavian hotel:
The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid.
In
a Japanese hotel:
You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.
In
the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from Russian Orthodox
monastery:
You are welcome to visit the cemetary where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except Thursday.
In
an Austrian hotel catering to skiers:
Not to perambulate the corriders during the hours of repose in the boots of ascension.
On
the menu of a Swiss restaurant:
Our wines leave you nothing to hope for.
On
the menu of a Polish hotel:
Salad a firm's own make; limpid red beet soup with cheesy dumplings in the form of a finger; roasted duck let loose; beef rashers beaten up in the country people's fashion.
Outside
a Hong Kong tailer shop:
Ladies may have a fit upstairs.
In
a Bangkok dry cleaners:
Drop your trousers here for best results.
Outside
a Paris dress shop:
Dresses for street walking.
In
a Rhodes tailor shop:
Order your summers suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation.
From
the Soviet Weekly:
There will be a Moscow Exhibition of Arts by 150,000 Soviet Republic painters and sculptors. These were executed over the past two years.
A
sign posted in Germany's Black Forest:
It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose.
In
a Zurich hotel:
Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the lobby be used for this purpose.
In
an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist:
Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists.
In
a Rome laundry:
Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good time.
In
a Czechoslovakin tourist agency:
Take one of our horse-driven city tours - we guarantee nomiscarriages.
Advertisement
for donkey rides in Thailand:
Would you like to ride on your own ass?
In
a Swiss mountain inn:
Special today -- no ice cream.
In
a Bangkok temple:
It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as a man.
In
a Tokyo bar:
Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts.
In
a Copenhagen airline ticket office:
We take your bags and send them in all directions.
On
the door of a Moscow hotel room:
If this is your first visit to the USSR, you are welcome to it.
In
a Norwegian cocktail lounge:
Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar.
In
a Budapest zoo:
Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food, give it to the guard on duty.
In
the office of a Roman doctor:
Specialist in women and other diseases.
In
an Acapulco hotel:
The manager has personally passed all the water served here.
In
a Tokyo shop:
Our nylons cost more than common, but you'll find they are best in the long run.
From
a Japanese information booklet about using a hotel air
conditioner:
Cooles and Heates: If you want just condition of warm in your room, please control yourself.
From
a brochure of a car rental firm in Tokyo:
When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor.
Two
signs from a Mojorcan shop entrance:
- English well speaking
- Here speeching American.
Proof that you cannot always trust your dictionary to do all the translating work for you....
Coors
put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish, where it was
read as "Suffer from diarrhea."
Clairol
introduced the "Mist Stick," a curling iron, into German
only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too
many people had use for the "manure stick".
Scandinavian
vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an
American campaign: Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.
The
American slogan for Salem cigarettes, "Salem-Feeling Free",
was translated into the Japanese market as "When smoking
Salem, you will feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be
free and empty."
When
Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the
same packaging as in the US, with the beautiful baby on the
label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies
routinely put pictures on the label of what's inside, since
most people can't read English.
Colgate
introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a
notorious porno magazine.
An
American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the
Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of
"I saw the Pope" (el Papa), the shirts read "I saw the
potato" (la papa).
In
Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the
name into "Schweppes Toilet Water."
Pepsi's
"Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" translated into
"Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave," in
Chinese.
Frank
Perdue's chicken slogan, "it takes a strong man to make a
tender chicken" was translated into Spanish as "it takes an
aroused man to make a chicken affectionate."
When
Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were
supposed to have read, "it won't leak in your pocket and
embarrass you". Instead, the company thought that the word
"embarazar" (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad
read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you
pregnant".
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