MOM 2006 journal for pdf.pmd - University of Michigan-Flint

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interviewees was generally very limited (ranging from none at all, to two years of German at the university level, to competence resulting from five-year work-related stays in Japan and Mexico). One interviewee was presently taking French through private lessons in the company so that she could communicate more effectively with her French counterpart in France. She is employed by a French company. Another said that his company offered Spanish to employees, but he had not taken advantage of this opportunity. All of the interviewees regularly did business with international clients from around the world, including Japan, China, Mexico, Eastern Europe (Romania and Slovakia), Western Europe (France, Portugal, Spain and Germany), South America (Argentina and Brazil), Morocco, Turkey and the Philippines. One universal response by interviewees was that they wished they had begun to study languages at an early age as their foreign counterparts had done. This reflects an American cultural bias against the importance of foreign language study. Those who did not know a foreign language bemoaned the fact that it was of daily importance in their work lives. An engineer said that to have capability in a foreign language prevents confusion by not having to rely on a third party for important communication and preparation of important documents. In addition, the cultural knowledge can prevent confusion in foreign markets about products. Engineers said that they have daily contact with the nationals with whom they are working, both here and abroad, but very few American engineers have the language skills to speak in any other language but English. A number of interviewees pointed out that a significant amount of business is done by phone conferences in today’s world, but it was noted that often communication breaks down due to both language and culture barriers. To underline the gap that exists between Americans and their international counterparts, it was observed that plant managers in Mexico (in this case, French expatriates) spoke both English and Spanish, whereas American plant managers and engineers in Mexico still rely on interpreters. Although the use of foreign language and culture was acknowledged by everyone as crucial to the international business relationship and success of business endeavors, it is also the case that American companies do not specify that knowledge of language is necessary for job applicants—the reason given being that it was feared there would not be applicants. Language skills are thus considered to be ‘preferred’, but not required (even if the prospective applicant would be sent abroad for the company). The commonly held notion that English is the international language of business was repeatedly tested by comments from the interviewees. For instance, one business manager did a recent project in Brazil where the workers spoke only Portuguese and Italian, but not English. He had to rely on an interpreter. One interviewee commented that when outsourcing, his company looks for people with bilingual or multi-lingual capabilities. He observed that most often, if his company has people with foreign language capabilities, it is most often because they come from homes where languages other than English are spoken. All interviewees said that if a business meeting is conducted in English, that does not mean that all other interactions are also conducted in English; after the meetings, important opportunities to communicate with foreign clients in more social settings, are often lost to Americans without language skills. A CEO from one of the big three car companies who is a native German speaker recounted an experience that he had while traveling to the rapidly expanding business market of China where he addressed a large audience of Chinese students. He observed that he was able to make his presentation in German. Meeting of Minds 2006 56
Chinese students regularly had as much as 20 hours per week of intensive language study as part of their formal study. This CEO pointed out that it would be impossible for him to do such a presentation in his native German in the United States for business students. Our conclusion, based upon our interviews with members of the international business community in Oakland County, was that Americans do not seem to have kept up the pace with people from foreign countries in terms of placing their value on cultural and language acquisition. Foreign language and cultural expertise play an important role in daily business, and everyone recognized this. However, changes must occur within the educational system of the USA, as well as within the culture. If the geographical isolation of the USA has allowed Americans in the past to live without feeling the need to learn foreign languages, the USA is no longer as isolated as it was. The undervaluing of foreign language and culture skills is represented by making this knowledge ‘preferred’ and not mandatory for people applying for jobs in international companies. There is still a heavy reliance on interpreters. The outside perception of Americans may be that we do not need foreign languages to survive or succeed, but our contact with the people from the business community of Oakland County revealed that the need for foreign languages is real and urgent, along with the technical preparedness that is already recognized as essential for success. Works Cited Granholm, Jennifer. Oakland Press, 22 September, 2004. Schoonover, Penny. “Foreign Languages Desired But Unrequired: Results of an Idaho Survey.” ADFL Bulletin 13, no.4 (May 1982): 16-21. Voght, Geoffrey M., and Schaub, Ray. “Foreign Languages and International Business.” CAL Digest September 1992. Meeting of Minds 2006 57
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Meeting of Minds XIV Journal of Und
Page 3 and 4:
ABOUT THE MEETING OF MINDS: JOURNAL
Page 5 and 6:
TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Contribut
Page 7 and 8:
DIFFERENCES IN TEACHING: INNER-CITY
Page 9 and 10:
1995. The teacher believed they are
Page 11 and 12: In studies of age related declines
Page 13 and 14: slightly smaller than the incongrue
Page 15 and 16: Since the requirements of surviving
Page 17 and 18: Table 2 Observed behaviors of Imara
Page 19 and 20: Figure 2 Relative frequencies of de
Page 21 and 22: References Alexander, R. D. “The
Page 23 and 24: She goes for it. She proves to the
Page 25 and 26: Hypotheses The current study examin
Page 27 and 28: Previous fMRI research suggests tha
Page 29 and 30: [LDL’s] carry cholesterol from th
Page 31 and 32: for amounts in excess of 0.5 grams.
Page 33 and 34: Dewey, David L. “Hydrogenated Oil
Page 35 and 36: These are the tranquillized Fifties
Page 37 and 38: The reader is thrust out of the mem
Page 39 and 40: WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING OUT: CO
Page 41 and 42: What follows is a description of tw
Page 43 and 44: The ceiling of the church is adorne
Page 45 and 46: Against the back wall of the church
Page 47 and 48: Bibliography Bowen, John R. Religio
Page 49 and 50: (Gough, 1957). Because individuals
Page 51 and 52: References Bochner, A., di Salvo V.
Page 53 and 54: It is difficult for many critics, a
Page 55 and 56: It seems clear that Bishop is not a
Page 57 and 58: “SHE WAS ONLY A SLIP OF A THING B
Page 59 and 60: women are strong enough to care for
Page 61: had the luxury of doing business
Page 65 and 66: The age of the participants ranged
Page 67 and 68: Table 3 illustrates the results of
Page 69 and 70: If I was to further this study, I w
Page 71 and 72: idomain conductivities (σ iL , σ
Page 73 and 74: Meeting of Minds 2006 67
Page 75 and 76: THEORETICAL INVESTIGATIONS ON ADSOR
Page 77 and 78: 1T 3T 5T Figure 1: The cluster mode
Page 79 and 80: The N-O bond lengths also show a si
Page 81 and 82: The relative energies of the NO ads
Page 83 and 84: INVESTIGATION OF SUBSTITUTED CYCLOO
Page 85 and 86: were 9 possibilities from the X and
Page 87 and 88: 28 O O RSS NA 8.6 28 O O SSS NA 8.6
Page 89 and 90: As seen from the distance data abov
Page 91 and 92: continually touches her and plays w
Page 93 and 94: In the last scene, Act 5.4, the tra
Page 95 and 96: Tristan was the one who had her bef
Page 97 and 98: Bibliography Béroul. The Romance o
Page 99 and 100: given day one could observe a cheat
Page 101 and 102: Many countries have taken Latin Ame
Page 103 and 104: References and Works Cited Andaló,
Page 105 and 106: differentiates human beings from an
Page 107 and 108: has to beg the wind to help her. Th
Page 109 and 110: APOCALYPSE, WHEN? Joanne Chiu Facul
Page 111 and 112: Lowell’s energetic diction connec
Page 113 and 114:
The apocalypse has come and as with
Page 115 and 116:
RELIGION AS A MANIPULATIVE TOOL IN
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With a sense of his mastery of stra
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References Arenal, Electa and Stace
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constructed a visual lexicon aggres
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them as the hoods plot their next t
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The motivation behind Guston’s re
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LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: A PARADOX OF
Page 129 and 130:
GUNTHER VON HAGEN’S GESTALT PLAST
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are borrowed directly from the visu
Page 133 and 134:
In general, science museums do not
Page 135 and 136:
The report suggests that war-crimes
Page 137 and 138:
DATA MINING IN BIOINFORMATICS: USIN
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Zealand, which was ranked 77 th in
Page 141 and 142:
THE JENSEN LANDSCAPE AT HENRY AND C
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number of Boxelder trees increased
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Figure 3. The distribution of Sugar
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THE EFFECT OF RETINOIDS ON REGENERA
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deparaffinized in xylene. After the
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A B C Figure 2 Photographs of tadpo
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IU/mL retinoids is the best concent
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