Cultural translation machine?

Exactly, well isn't always so exact...

One of the interesting things I find in Persian is that it generally isn't that exact. When asked where something is, rather than saying in the basement next to the stairs on the left, one would say just "it's down" typically.

If communication is the process of giving and receiving a message then there is the problem of cultural perception glasses putting the message out of tint.

Perhaps the fact is that more explanation is required and expected, so perhaps what we need is a standard for a 'cultural dictionary'. It is one thing to translate the words. It is another to convey the true meaning, the whole message. Yes it would be better to really understand completely and adjust and adapt, but sometimes we don't always have that much time. Learning a language takes quite some time, understanding a different way of thinking and truly accepting it, well this is something different. Just going over the notions of intercultural exercises isn't really addressing the issue.

Particularly when expatriates need to lead teams in different countries and react accordingly, what we really need is a dictionary. For example it isn't unknown for Germans to be found just a little bit too much to the point. Then others get upset, then that takes time to recover, well ultimately

Something like

German 'Meaning'	English 'Way of saying'
That was very bad / awful work.	"That wasn't what we needed to do. We have a lot of room for improvement and we gotta do better next time"
What the hell are you doing? That's stupid!	I don't see any sense in doing that

Or....

British 'Meaning'	Afghan Way of Saying
We must do this exactly like that...	This thing is very important. It's needed for x/y/z. Talk through the steps. Quiz understanding. Check at regular intervals. If we do a different, this would cause this problem, if we do b different, that would cause that problem...
That was very good - we should continue like that	This thing done like this will bring benefits x/y/z ... has been well done...
We should invest in this	There is a very good opportunity here - if we can work together we could benefit...

On the one hand over simplistic, but a starting point. When you go to a country you would obviously try to avoid doing something that is considered taboo there (we hope) like kissing in public where this isn't allowed. Frankly sometimes I just have too many other things to think about, and when that's the case, I fall back into my own culture without realizing.

The spoken word may not be that high a percentage of communication overall, but it is what nails the details. Or so we think. But then it doesn't when we use the same language but at the same time a different language.

Hmmmm.... Thoughts anyone?