The Internet, Data and Language Interpretation

Companies' external and internal communication over the last decade has been radically altered by the World Wide Web, which is now the preferred medium for exchange of information and intercultural communication. Speaking about intercultural business communication, the WWW integrates those types of means of communication that partly or fully replace old media and shape up the outlook of business communication. There are several questions that arise when we talk about the language policies that companies apply to intercultural communication, and they can be summarized to: How is multilingualism realized through websites? What role does English play with reference to other languages? How are international and domestic customers treated? Which languages are used in the communication with them? Long before the advent of the WWW, international railway companies had been doing business, so they will serve a good example in attempting to answer these questions. It is curious to note that one German railway company used to offer information only in English on its website, but otherwise its customers were used to receiving information in German only, a German Translator once noticed this and got suspicious about this matter.

In the mid 1990s the Internet and the World Wide Web became more commercial and even though today every company's business is unthinkable without a website, in the first years most businesses hesitated to invest in them. Advertising, public relations, sales and marketing are among some of the most sought after customer services functions which are all included in the principle of electronic commerce as all other sorts of communication and business transactions. The business text genres that websites comprise will include combinations of the following: reports, manuals, catalogues, advertisements and brochures. Others would include slide shows, video, animation, audio presentations, etc. What nowadays is in most respects impeded by language seems to be information and communication, we cannot but agree. Thus if we are able to access a website no matter where we are in the whole world, it may not be comprehensible to us and it is language that remains the last obstacle to it even though the main contribution of the Web to communication and trade has been to remove all existing barriers. Selecting the language of a website is related to defining the target audience. For instance, using only Portuguese on the website makes it available only to Portuguese speakers. However, it could gain much wider audience if it is translated into English by a English to Portuguese Translator.

There used to be some problems for languages other than English when going online, but the situation has changed and there are no more technical barriers to producing websites in other languages. In order to equip the WWW with the necessary technical tools so it could meet the demands and standards of modern business, interpersonal communication and research which would have the capacity to serve the whole global community, an association was established in 1994. Those languages that used writing systems different from English were provided with new and different kinds of coded characters. Further dimensions have been brought by developing the possibility to add video and sound and the WWW has brought new solutions for intercultural business communication. As a result, different cultures can set their own parameters, which is due to the fact that software is developed without the accompanying cultural characteristics. As a result, if the French conventions could be used by a English to French Translator to translate software parameters that could be valid to France, targeting international audience would not be restricted to the use of English as the only means of communication.