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Article: Ahh ... the pitfalls of international communication. (includes related article on linguistic challenges in South Africa)
- Article from:
- Communication World
- Article date:
- June 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 International Association of Business Communicators. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Nobody said communicating was easy. Or if anyone did, he or she probably never attempted to communicate.across geopolitical, cultural and linguistic boundaries.
All too frequently, communicating information internationally produces messages that range from confusing or incomprehensible to ridiculous or insulting. And for reasons best left in Freudian textbooks, those inept efforts communicators seem to remember most tend to deal with the scatological or anatomical.
In a recent mini-survey of two dozen international communicators, some startling stories surfaced, including some perhaps that are apocryphal. Jim Pritchitt of Australia, for example, recalls an ...