Passage II

World Trade: Lost in Translation?

As American businesses explore overseas markets. They learn firsthand how language differences can stand in the way of trade. After experiencing a period of slow gasoline sales in a new foreign market, an American oil company learned that its name in the foreign nation's language means "stalled car." A major American car manufacturer, you see, found out that the name of one of its models being converted into hard cash in South America is a Spanish word meaning "ugly old woman." Blunders like these illustrate that an important step in breaking down barriers to international trade is to break down language barriers.

The many countries of Western Europe have always faced this problem.Overcoming it is one of the tasks of the European Economic Community or Common Market an organization founded at its start to promote trade among nations in that part of the world. But it s a difficult task.When one of the European Economic Community's (EEC's) twelve official languages are used at a meeting, translation must be available to the other delegates. (23) Finding translators for English, French, and German is relatively easy. But finding them for languages like Danish, Portuguese, and, especially, Greek has proven more difficult. In fact, when it was almost two decades ago becoming clear that Greece would join the Common Market, officials began to look for translators three years in advance.The results of their search were disappointing to this day, it is almost impossible for them to find translators who can turn Greek into, say, Danish.

Then, a standing joke among language officials at EEC headquarters begins with the interrogation of someone by asking the question "What is a Great Dane?" With a rueful smile, someone is likely to respond, "Any Dane who knows how to speak Greek?" All that's needed to turn that smile into a look of despair, is a reminder that Turkey, whose language is not widely studied in Western Europe, may someday become a member of the Common Market.