India-China joint venture lost in translation

The [Indian] air force's plans to hold its first-ever joint exercises with the Chinese air force have hit turbulence. The hiccup: language barriers. Plans may be afoot to conduct joint exercises with China's People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) in 2012, but top air force officers fear not knowing each
other's language could be fatal in the skies.

A senior air force officer said, "Finding a way around language barriers is crucial if we have to conduct joint air maneouvres with China. It is a huge hurdle."

...

Here's how dangerous miscommunication can be: In 1993, Chinese pilots flying a US-made MD-80 were attempting to land in heavy fog at Urumqi in northwest China.

They were flummoxed by an audio alarm from the plane's ground proximity warning system.

Just before impact, the cockpit voice recorder picked up one crewmember asking another in Chinese: "What does 'pull up' mean?"

Read more here.

Date: 16 Aug 2010

Stephen Fry reveals new BBC TV series

Planet Word, a five-part series, will cover language – but it's 'a bit of a secret', Fry tells 14-year-old interviewer

Read more here.

Date: 21 Jul 2010

In Asia, English tongues still tied

DECADES after the Australian rock group Men at Work asked "Do you speak-a my language?", the likely answer Down Under is no.

Australia is the third most monolingual nation in the world, a report by the Griffith Asia Institute says. Three-quarters of the population speak only English.

Within 30 years half of Australia must be fluent in an Asian language or risk falling further behind other countries, says the report, Building An Asia-Literate Australia: An Australian Strategy For Asian Language Proficiency.

Its lead author, Michael Wesley, director of the Griffith Asia Institute, said the country was suffering from a less well-known skills shortage: the ability to operate in different cultures and languages.

"As China's and India's influence spreads, and Japan and Indonesia become major players, our region will increasingly conduct its business in the languages of the big Asian powers, and be shaped by their mindsets and preferences," the report said.

Read more here.

Date: 11 Jun 2009