As movies are released globally, many audiences still prefer to hear local voices dubbed over the original voices. An article from the Associated Press highlights the challenges translators have when it comes to character personalities, vocal cultures (think accents and intonation), pop culture and the very challenging task of translating humor from one language to another.

Here’s one particular challenge from the article:

Pixar Animation’s ‘Cars 2′ went out this summer in 44 different languages. And every country faced the same problem when it came to dubbing the aw-shucks ramblings of one of the movie’s lead characters — the country bumpkin tow truck Mater, voiced in the movie by Larry the Cable Guy.

‘Mater’s kind of a redneck, but that means nothing to anyone overseas because they don’t have that particular vocal culture,’ says Rick Dempsey, senior vice president of Disney Character Voices. ‘So we had to figure out what region of Germany, for example, has more of an uneducated population without being offensive.’

Translation is as linguistic as it is cultural. The cultural perspective foreign films offer viewers is a core component of their value, and the translator’s job is crucial to a movie’s ratings and ultimately its success in any country. How much is lost in translation when creating a dubbed or subtitled movie? “Subtlety is important,” says Elena Barcia who writes Spanish subtitles for Central and South America. Cultural nuance can be tricky to recognize, and making a joke resonate across cultures is no simple task.

How do you translate a phrase like “holy cow” from English to Hindi, where cows are literally considered to be holy? In these cases, phrases are so colloquial, they are dispensed with entirely, and the intent of the phrase is paired with a local equivalent.

I strongly prefer to watch subtitled movies because so much is lost when you can’t hear the original language. Subtitles are not always accurate, but translators are not forced to match words to the movement of the actors mouths. What is your take on dubbing versus subtitles? How does culture impact this process?

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

Did you know that when Wal-Mart first entered the German market in 1998 they made all employees start the day with:

1) The Wal-Mart Chant (practical, reserved Germans aren’t so keen on workplace chants),

2) Instructed all employees to smile and greet customers upon entry (Germans tend not to smile at strangers and often construe it as flirting),

3) Imposed their American corporate model and insisted on keeping the American-ish name Wal-Mart (Germans like their national brands and are not especially change tolerant) and

4) Located many of their stores on the outskirts of towns (Germans tend to keep their shopping more central and accessible to pedestrians).

It’s little wonder the company ended up losing several hundred million dollars and left Germany in 2006.

Since then, Wal-Mart has learned its lesson and taken a far more location specific approach to its international operations. However, they could have saved themselves a good deal of trouble if they’d read this CFO Magazine article first. It lists 6 points to keep in mind when setting up operations in Europe. Good, concise article that can teach you the lessons and save you some headaches beforehand.

Adam

RW3 CultureWizard

+ The US is a nation of immigrants, comprised of people from diverse backgrounds and ethnic groups. Americans pride themselves on their individuality, their entrepreneurial attitude and a positive, optimistic outlook on life.

+ There are many stereotypes about the way people from different regions behave:

Southerners are known for their “Southern Hospitality.” They are generally polite, warm and friendly. They are also thought to appreciate a slower pace of life and are more relationship-focused than people from other parts of the country.

Texans exude self-confidence and are proud of the fact that they were once an independent country. They tend to be “larger than life” and often equate bigger with better.

West Coasters, or people from the west coast, are thought to be casual, free-spirited and liberal.

East Coasters are considered to be fast-paced, efficient, formal and comparatively conservative.

+ Americans can be superficially friendly when first meeting others. They may frequently say “hi” or “how are you?” to a lot of people, which is a sign of politeness and an egalitarian outlook. Remember, “how are you doing?” is usually a greeting, not necessarily a question.

+ When leaving a group, Americans may give a group wave or say farewell to everyone at once rather than to each person individually. This is an efficient way of departing, and in business settings a sign of the transactional nature of Americans.

+ From childhood, Americans are raised to see themselves as separate individuals who are the masters of their destiny. As such, they expect to be held accountable for their decisions. This can make them appear self-centered to people from less individualistic cultures. They may presume that people from other cultures feel the same way and may be surprised when they realize that people from other cultures are group- or community-oriented.

- from RW3′s CultureWizard™ Country Profiles

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Tesco, a British company, opened a supermarket on the platform of a Seoul subway station. This is not a brick and mortar supermarket, but a virtual one. Watch the video below to get a better sense for how this works. Using your smartphone, e.g. an iPhone, you scan QR codes of individual products, create a shopping list and submit to Tesco for delivery to your home, all while waiting for your ride home.

South Koreans have one of the longest work weeks anywhere (see our previous post on prosperity and culture here). Tesco chose an innovative strategy that seems to resonate with the local populace.

However, the consumer’s inability to examine the quality of produce, for example, might dissuade one from adopting this way of grocery shopping. What does it say about culture in South Korea? Is there a value system, a driving force of culture, that is saying, “it is better to save time shopping by doing so on this subway platform than taking away from my free time to relax, be with family, etc.”?

Would this work in, say, a European city? Grocery chains in the US are no stranger to home delivery, but this convenience may not be valuable in European locales. What about a Chinese city? How does work-life balance change a culture’s focus on convenience? Thinking further about emerging markets, how does the process of industrialization change culture in general?

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

I imagine that many of us have, at one time or another over the last few years, seen one of those “Happiest Nations” lists. In fact, to much fanfare in the business and internet news world, the Legatum Institute released an exhaustive and comprehensive Prosperity Index, which ranked one hundred and ten countries, a full ninety percent of the world’ s population. Using eight categories and eighty-nine variables, the Legatum Prosperity Index essentially attempts to quantify what it is that makes a country a happy and prosperous place to live.

The results of the study were rosy for northern Europe and particularly glum for Africa, with six of the top ten most prosperous nations in Northern Europe and sixteen of the bottom twenty in Africa.

A summary of Legatum's Prosperity Index

Out of curiosity, I cross-referenced the Prosperity Index with the OECD rankings of work week hours per nation. Interestingly, I discovered that of the ten hardest working countries in terms of paid work time, only Canada (#7) and the USA (#10) were also on the Prosperity Index top ten. Of the five nations that have the longest work week (Japan, South Korea, Mexico, China and Canada), only Canada seemed to enjoy the fruits of its labors.

The next highest nation on the prosperity index that also works the hardest was Japan, with a prosperity ranking of 18 against the longest work week in the world. Comparing the two lists, it looks like certain Northern European nations seem to have an excellent formula: low work hours, better work / life balance and high prosperity – two tickets to Norway, please!

No doubt, working a few too many hours yourself – from your experience, what nations seem to work the hardest and what nations seem to enjoy the most prosperity, and are they one and the same?

What can we learn from culture in each of these countries about the value placed on a decent work / life balance versus the status many of us derive from being hard workers?

Adam

RW3 CultureWizard

Has there ever been a time in recorded history when the aging ruling class wasn’t convinced that the compromised morals and ethics of the younger generation would lead to the undoing of society? While I’m not an expert on such things, I venture to say the answer would be, no.

And now, according to New York Times columnist and social commentator David Brooks, comes a lecture from the Aspen Ideas Festival, where Brooks supposes that society teeters on the verge of collapse because of unabated “self-importance.” (In fact, this blog covered the topic in 2009, read “Extreme Individualism” here)

According to Gillian Tett’s article in FT Magazine,

If Brooks is to be believed, an important shift has taken place in relation to the concept of ‘self’ – and ‘self-importance’ – in American society (if not the western world more generally). In the first half of the twentieth century, Americans were generally reluctant to talk too much about themselves, or promote themselves too aggressively in public. They were also cautious – or modest – when assessing their own skills.

Nowadays, however, Americans are so over-fueled on self-esteem and confidence that it’s tearing away at the very fabric of American society, so goes Brook’s commentary. As evidence of the decay, he points to how the two major US political parties are unable to negotiate and compromise in addition to the continued abuses on Wall Street.

Brooks didn’t seem to have any of these insights when he was championing the “over-confident” ideas (some might say) of the Bush administration. Nevertheless, Brooks raises a few interesting points regarding America’s obsession with self-confidence and how such an inflated sense of self-esteem can have drastic consequences.

Tett writes the following in observation:

Having spent time living in different cultures around the world, I have always been struck by the level of self-confidence and self-promotion in modern America. The contrast is particularly striking when compared with a place such as Japan, where self-effacement is ingrained. Even compared with Britain there is a cultural gap.

A classic American tale of self-confidence

Take any global business meeting as an example, the Americans in the group will more likely than not be outspoken in contrast to non-Westerners. The Little Engine That Could was first published in the US in the early 20th century, which affirms the place of optimism in American society as a core value. Of course, this is related to individualism and the “I think I can, I think I can” mentality.

What’s your opinion on self-confidence when it comes to working across cultures? What challenges come out of US – Asia joint ventures, for example, where what works in one place does not at all in the other?

Adam

RW3 CultureWizard

If you’re an expat, please share your experience of life abroad by completing HSBC’s Expat Explorer 2011 survey.

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In this month’s issue:

* Athens Protests
* Proclivity for Resignation
* Made in China
* Middle East Culture Redux

CultureLinks
+ American Lawyers Working in India
+ A Winter Solstice Celebration in Chile

CultureTips
+ Greece

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