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Its more than a line from a Black-Eyed Peas song.  It’s something most of us do daily whether we are conscious of it or not. Most of us switch up the way we speak to different groups like parents, co-workers and friends.  The complexity of words we use at work differs from those we use at a ball game with friends.  Is it a phony put-on to change your patterns of speech and vocabulary according to where you are and who you’re with? When I go down south to visit my parents, I i

As the new Health Care Act moves into place, market research from the patient’s perspective needs to be a focus.  Understanding how patients travel through this new system of healthcare, the decisions they face and how they make them will provide an edge to any brand team wishing to drive uptake. There are many articles touting the advantages of a psychological approach to qualitative market research.  Knowing the thoughts and feelings behind patient decision making creates d

When it comes to global market research, translating marketing materials is considered a necessary, but tedious, final step in the process.  It doesn’t have to be.  Instead of an afterthought, make your translation team part of the initial strategy.  The following suggestions can help reduce costs and create efficiencies: Involve Your Translation Team Early in the Process:  Knowing the ultimate purpose of the document (research? education? ad?) allows for quicker translation

While we believe in the importance of providing culturally relevant information to patients, reaching them in a culturally sensitive way is sometimes easier said than done.  In Western, industrialized societies disease is viewed as a scientific phenomenon treated with interventions based on scientific information.  Other cultures see disease as a spiritual phenomenon that should be treated with spiritual interventions.  Very different approaches.  There are many ways differin

How do we make patients listen to us?  Do we speak to them in their native tongue?  Do we deliver culturally sensitive messages?  Do we use smart marketing techniques to get them to take their medication every day? Yes, all of these things are helpful, but perhaps first we should look at the attitude behind the term “patient compliance.” The word compliance alone indicates the action or fact of complying with a wish or command and indicates a meeting of rules or standards.  P

For humanity, the field of medicine and its continued achievements—in research as well as in the resulting products—may very well be the most powerful of our feats. After all, our health and the ability to prevent and overcome even the deadliest diseases are the basis for human evolvement in every area of life. Marketers not only draw from but also expand on this concept of power, often tying it visually to energy or electricity in ads or commercials. Sunrays, frequently eman

Not to personify here, but did you know words are born, die and have mid-life crises? According to a team of statistical physicists, words emerge into a language and are either sustained or driven to extinction.  In a March 2012 paper entitled “Statistical Laws Governing Fluctuations in Word Use from Word Birth to Word Death,” the authors, using Google’s Ngram viewer estimate there are one million words in the English language.  Google’s Ngram Viewer is a searchable corpus of

While they can be dismissed as unimportant parts of speech, idioms add spice and life to a language.  They are born from their culture of origin and they differ radically from one language to another. There are different strategies for translating idioms and the care with which your translator uses these strategies can make or break your translation.  Inexperienced translators who only consider plugging one expression in for another may fail to transfer the true meaning of th

What happens when two people who need to communicate with each other learned different mother tongues?  In the days of the Ottoman Empire when Mediterranean port cities were the hot bed of commerce and diplomacy, this was a real problem.  The solution was Lingua Franca. A common language, Lingua Franca was mostly Italian mixed with a smattering of French, Spanish, Greek and Arabic for commonality sake.  Franca means frankish since Europeans were called “Franks” or “Franji” in

A few weeks ago I had the chance to interpret press interviews for German rock band Rammstein at the Forum in Los Angeles and witnessed their large-scale, fire-wielding show as well as the frenzy of their American fans. It was quite incredible to see (and hear) the audience sing along in a language they don’t actually speak. The language barrier seemed to enhance the appeal of the band much rather than diminish it. Granted, death metal is just the kind of music that lends its