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But some language combinations work much better than others and even when the translation’s good, it’s never perfect. “Google Translate is good at helping you get what is called a gestation or essentially the essence of what the other person is communicating,” says Goolgle’s Michael Galvez. I’m skeptical that “gestations” will be enough. Much of what we read on the web is written beautifully or full of nuance and software will never be able to translate that. So some translation projects, like a new website called Meedan.net, are still using good ol’ humans. “The idea is a Wikipedia-style approach to translation,” says Meedan founder Ed Bice. Meedan uses a mix of human and machine translation to present articles, blog posts, and comments about the Middle East in hopes of bridging the gap between the Arabic and English-speaking worlds. The comments following an article like this one show how the presentation of the translated text will also be an important issue to tackle. Google Translate essentially wipes out the foreign language, showing you web pages only in your language. Meedan instead has the English and Arabic side-by-side. This layout is a valuable addition to the translations themselves when it allows you to see comments bouncing back and forth between languages.

What is Global Competence? Help us better define global competence. Send in your students' work. Be a part of a ground-breaking effort to assess student global competence. We are collecting samples of work that demonstrate student global knowledge and skills at various developmental levels. Once the work is published, it will help teachers strengthen instruction and better evaluate student work and provide examples for students to help them strive for greater achievement. With each submission, you will be entered into a regular drawing for $500 Staples gift certificates. Learn more and get involved (PDF download). A globally competent student can Investigate the World Recognize Perspectives Communicate Ideas Take Action Students investigate the world beyond their immediate environment. Students recognize their own and others’ perspective. Students communicate their ideas effectively with diverse audiences. Students translate their ideas and findings into appropriate actions to improve conditions. Students can: Generate and explain the significance of locally, regionally or globally focused researchable questions. Identify, collect and analyze the knowledge and evidence required to answer questions using a variety of international sources, media and languages. Weigh, integrate and synthesize evidence collected to construct coherent responses that is appropriate to the context of issues or problems. Develop an argument based on compelling evidence that considers multiple perspectives and draws defensible conclusions. Students can: Recognize and articulate one’s own perspective on situations, events, issues or phenomena and identify the influences on that perspective. Articulate and explain perspectives of other people, groups or schools of thought and identify the influences on those perspectives. Explain how the interaction of ideas across cultures influences the development of knowledge and situations, events, issues or phenomena. Articulate how the consequences of differential access to knowledge, technology and resources affect the quality of life and influences perspectives. Students can: Recognize that diverse audiences may perceive different meanings from the same information. Use appropriate language, behavior and strategies to effectively communicate, both verbally and non-verbally, with diverse audiences. Explain how effective communication impacts understanding and collaboration in an interdependent world. Select and effectively use appropriate technology and media to communicate with diverse audiences. Students can: Recognize one’s capacity to advocate for and contribute to improvement locally, regionally, or globally. Identify opportunities for personal and collaborative action to address situations, events, issues or phenomena in ways which can make a difference. Assess options for action based on evidence and the potential for impact, taking into account varied perspectives and potential consequences for others. Act creatively and innovatively to contribute to improvement locally, regionally or globally both personally and collaboratively.

Blunders like these can be costly. And as burgeoning markets in Asia increase in importance, new insight is required to break through what you could call a language barrier.As a result of the globalization of business through mergers and international investment, English has become a lingua franca. Almost two billion people worldwide speak it, and more than half of these learned it as a second language. Moreover, global popular culture is dominated by English-language television, music, film, print and social media.

I see two fundamental differences between connected life, that is, life through the lens of technology, and real life, the one in which we live (I realize that it could be argued that tech life is the real one in which many of us live, but I see that as a problem). First, wired life is not real, meaning experiences are created by technology with the aim of approximating and simulating actual experience. The problem with this "low-resolution" life is that, though it shares similarities to real life, it lacks the high resolution and the granularity of real life. For example, email can be a wonderful means of communication, but it lacks visual input (so important to effective communication), the nuance of facial expressions and body language, and clear emotional content. Second, digital life is mediated by the technology that makes it possible. There is always something between us and our experiences, whether a text message or a Wii sports game, and, as I just noted, a great deal is lost in the translation.