Anthony Pym, Risk management in cross-cultural communication, part 1 of 2

TL;DR

Effective risk management is essential in the translation process to ensure successful communication and cost-efficiency.

Transcript

so this is a talk about risk management and risk as an element in the translation process and my basic thinking is this that when people speaking different languages come into contact there's a number of things that can happen ok they could have a lingua franca they can speak English as we're doing in this group and and under and other groups they ... Read More

Key Insights

• ✳️ Effective risk management is essential for successful translation and communication in multilingual contexts.
• 🍉 Translation is expensive compared to language learning, making it more suitable for short-term projects.
• 🍉 A combined approach of translation and language learning is cost-efficient for long-term projects.
• ✳️ Risk analysis should be incorporated into linguistic analysis for a comprehensive understanding of communication risks.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why is translation considered an expensive process?

Translation is considered expensive because the cost of hiring translators remains constant over time, unlike language learning, where costs decrease as proficiency improves.

Q: What is the advantage of a combined approach of translation and language learning?

This combined approach allows for cost-efficient and effective communication, especially for long-term projects, as it reduces reliance on continuous translation services.

Q: How can risk analysis be incorporated into linguistic analysis?

By incorporating risk analysis into linguistic analysis, it becomes possible to identify high-risk areas in communication and allocate resources accordingly to ensure successful outcomes.

Q: How does risk management relate to cultural differences in communication?

Risk management takes into account cultural differences as "rich points" or areas where conceptual divisions differ across cultures. Strategies such as evasion or omission are used to navigate these differences.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• When people speaking different languages come into contact, they can rely on language learning, lingua franca, pidgin, creoles, code-switching, or translation for communication.

• Translation is expensive compared to language learning, as language learning costs decrease over time, while translation costs remain constant.

• Short-term communication situations can benefit from translation services, but for long-term projects, a combination of translation and language learning is more cost-effective.