Recipe for social media: stir in language, culture, …When developing a social media strategy consider aspects such as language, culture, religion and humour, especially if your company has a global customer base. http://www.eturbonews.com/30998/recipe-social-media-stir-language-culture-religion-and-humor  

McDonald’s have been forced to apologise to the local Hmong community after having produced an advertisement in the local Asian dialect that resembles nothing but a jumble mess of characters. Relying on free online translation tools is not good enough and it can in many cases end in an embarrassment. http://consumerist.com/2012/09/mcdonalds-learns-it-shouldnt-trust-free-web-translators-when-it-comes-to-its-billboards.html  

http://www.eturbonews.com/30998/recipe-social-media-stir-language-culture-religion-and-humor When developing a social media strategy consider aspects such as language, culture, religion and humour, especially if your company has a global customer base.

This article highlights the possible language barriers organisations may face when outsourcing multiple business processes to different outsourcing companies around the world and how it can affect organisational effectiveness. It talks about the negative impact language barriers can have on effective process implementation, teamwork and creating common goals and objectives. http://www.business2community.com/marketing/5-language-problems-when-outsourcing-to-multiple-bpo-firms-0250658  

Using the right language to communicate to your customers is vital, because the words you use help shape people’s perception of who you are as an organisation and what products and services you offer. To ensure you don’t marginalise parts of you customer base it is important that you can show your customers that you speak their language – the language used by an organisation should reflect the language of its customers. http://www.business2community.com/strategy/the-importance-of-careful-language-in-script-writing-0259883  

Embarrassing marketing errors made by global brands! From Coca-Cola’s brand name in Chinese “Bite the wax tadpole” to KFC’s slogan in Chinese “Eat your fingers off” ­ they are all examples of what can happen when translation is overlooked in multilingual marketing campaigns.http://www.searchlaboratory.com/blog/2012/12/translation-false-nots/

This is a superb article highlighting the value learning a new language or culture can bring to organisations around the world. It touches upon the vital aspects of communicating with foreign businesses, understanding (from an organisational perspective) when businesses should invest language, and which employees might benefit most from learning a new language. http://www.sbnonline.com/2012/08/how-learning-a-new-language-and-culture-can-be-valuable-in-the-business-world/?full=1  

This is an interesting article about the latest research into what it means to grow up in a multilingual environment. Researchers have drawn on psychology and linguistics to increase our understanding of how using different languages to express different emotions can play a role in children’s emotional development. http://www.healthnewsdigest.com/news/Children_s_Health_200/Speaking_Multiple_Languages_Can_Influence_Children_s_Emotional_Development.shtml

Scientists are trying… Animal and language psychologists have for many years tried to teach animals the human communication system and have done so rather successfully. Koko the gorilla understands up to 2000 spoken words in English and can through the use of a special sign language express a range of different emotions. However, researchers in this field have taken a step further and are now trying to learn the language of dolphins, elephants, gorillas and other animals alike. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48692497/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.UC5E-6O8tbw