Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness Essay Example

Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness Essay Example Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness Paper Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness Paper Having a poor understanding of the influence of cross cultural differences in areas such as management, PR, advertising and negotiations can eventually lead to blunders that can have damaging consequences. It is crucial for todays business personnel to understand the impact of cross cultural differences on business, trade and internal company organization. The success or failure of a company, venture, merger or acquisition is essentially in the hands of people. If these people are not cross culturally aware then misunderstandings, offence and a breakdown in communication can occur. The need for greater cross cultural awareness is heightened in our global economies. Cross cultural differences in matters such as language, etiquette, non-verbal communication, norms and values can, do and will lead to cross cultural blunders. Cross cultural blunders that could have been avoided with appropriate cross cultural awareness training are as following: 1. Locum is a Swedish company. As most companies do at Christmas they sent out Christmas cards to customers. In 1991, they decided to give their logo a little holiday spirit by replacing the o in Locum with a heart. 2. The Japanese company Matsushita Electric was promoting a new Japanese PC for internet users. Panasonic created the new web browser and had received license to use the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker as an interactive internet guide. The day before the huge marketing campaign, Panasonic realized its error and pulled the plug. The ads for the new product featured the following slogan: Touch Woody The Internet Pecker. The company only realized its cross cultural blunder when an embarrassed American explained what Touch Woodys Pecker could be interpreted as! 3. The Swedish furniture giant IKEA somehow agreed upon the name FARTFULL for one of its new desks. 4. In the late 1970s, Wang, the American computer company could not understand why its British branches were refusing to use its latest motto Wang Cares. Of course, to British ears this sounds too close to Wankers which would not really give a very positive image to any company. 5. There are several examples of companies getting tangled up with bad translations of products due to the word mist. Irish Mist (an alcoholic drink), Mist Stick (a curling iron from Clairol) and Silver Mist (Rolls Royce car) all flopping as mist in German means dung/manure. Fancy a glass of Irish dung. 6. Traficante and Italian mineral water found a great reception in Spains underworld. In Spanish it translates as drug dealer. 7. In 2002, Umbro the UK sports manufacturer had to withdraw its new trainers (sneakers) called the Zyklon. The firm received complaints from many organizations and individuals as it was the name of the gas used by the Nazi regime to murder millions of Jews in concentration camps. 8. Sharwoods, a UK food manufacturer, spent  £6 million on a campaign to launch its new Bundh sauces. It received calls from numerous Punjabi speakers telling them that bundh sounded just like the Punjabi word for arse. 9. Honda introduced their new car Fitta into Nordic countries in 2001. If they had taken the time to undertake some cross cultural marketing research they may have discovered that Fitta was an old word used in vulgar language to refer to a womans genitals in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. In the end they renamed it Honda Jazz. 10. A nice cross cultural example of the fact that all pictures or symbols are not interpreted the same across the world: staff at the African port of Stevadores saw the internationally recognized symbol for fragile (i.e. broken wine glass) and presumed it was a box of broken glass. Rather than waste space they threw all the boxes into the sea. 11. Pepsodent tried to sell its toothpaste in Southeast Asia by emphasizing that it whitens your teeth. They found out that the local natives chew betel nuts to blacken their teeth which they find attractive. 12. Bacardi concocted a fruity drink with the name Pavian to suggest French chic but Pavian means baboon in German. 13. In 1995, Nintendo has set the gaming world on fire with their new DS system, built entirely around its touch screen. A Korean company wanting to make a piece of dictionary software that takes advantage of the touch screen capabilities. Touch Dictionary just needed to shorten it up, to make it snappier, something cool that the kids will remember, hence â€Å"Touch Dic.† 14. The American Dairy Associations huge success with its campaign Got Milk? prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention that the Spanish translation read Are you lactating? 15. When Gerber first started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the USA with a cute baby on the label. Later they found out that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what is inside since many people cannot read! 16. A company advertised eyeglasses in Thailand by featuring a variety of cute animals wearing glasses. The ad was a poor choice since animals are considered to be a form of low life and no self respecting. Thai would wear anything worn by animals. 17. The soft drink Fresca was being promoted by a saleswoman in Mexico. She was surprised that her sales pitch was greeted with laughter, and later embarrassed when she learned that fresca is slang for lesbian. 18. A soft drink was introduced into Arab countries with an attractive label that had stars on itsix-pointed stars. The Arabs interpreted this as pro-Israeli and refused to buy it. Another label was printed in ten languages, one of which was Hebrewagain the Arabs did not buy it. In addition to interpersonal cross cultural gaffes, the translation of documents, brochures, advertisements and signs also offer some comical cross cultural blunders. 19. Kellogg had to rename its Bran Buds cereal in Sweden when it discovered that the name roughly translated to burned farmer. 20. When PepsiCo advertised Pepsi in Taiwan with the ad Come Alive With Pepsi they had no idea that it would be translated into Chinese as Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead. 21. American medical containers were distributed in Great Britain and caused quite a stir. The instructions to Take off top and push in bottom, innocuous to Americans, had very strong sexual connotations to the British. 22. In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water. 23. United Airlines unknowingly got off on the wrong foot during its initial flights from Hong Kong. To commemorate the occasion, they handed out white carnations to the passengers. When they learned that to many Asians white flowers represent bad luck and even death, they changed to red carnations 24. A famous drug company marketed a new remedy in the United Arab Emirates. To avoid any mistakes they used pictures. The first picture was of someone ill, the next picture showed the person taking the medication, the last picture showed them looking well. What they forgot is that in the Arab world people read from right to left! In conclusion, poor cross cultural awareness has many consequences, some serious others comical. It is imperative that in the global economy cross cultural awareness is seen a necessary investment to avoid such blunders.

Can You Retake AP Exams Expert Guide

Can You Retake AP Exams Expert Guide SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Most AP tests are very challenging, and scores don't always turn out the way you imagined they would. If you're concerned that you've forfeited any chance of getting college credit, can you retake an AP exam?In this article, I'll show you how you can bounce back from a low AP score to end up with college credits and AP Scholar Awards. Can You Retake AP Exams If You Do Poorly? First off, can you retake an AP exam? The answer is yes! If you don’t do well on an AP exam, you can retake it the next time it’s offered the following May. However, you should consider this decision carefully before committing.If you score a 3 or above on an AP test, I wouldn’t recommend going for a retake unless you’re absolutely set on earning college credit for your work. Ultimately, your AP score will have minimal impact on your admission chances unless you’re applying to the most selective colleges with 1s and 2s. According to theCollege Board FAQ, "When we surveyed admission officers, more than 75 percent indicated that a low score on an AP Exam would NOT harm an applicant’s admission prospects"(emphasis mine).In other words, the grade you earn in the year-long AP class is more important than areyour AP score for admissions purposes. Retaking AP tests is expensive; it will cost you an extra $94!It's also a pretty big time commitment to take on additional studying on top of a full course load. Really think about whether it's worth it before you settle on your decision. If you still feel sure that you want to retake the exam, speak to your school’s AP Coordinator about registering.You cansign up through your school, just like you did the first time you took the test, except now your teacher won't be helping you through the process. It’s completely up to you to track down the coordinator and make arrangements to take the test. If you want to retake an AP test, you gotta shed the training wheels and ride your big-girl bike over to the guidance office. If you really want to impress them, ride a unicycle. Do Both AP Scores Show Up? Which One Counts for AP Scholar Awards? Your score report will include all your AP scores (including repeats of the same test) unless you choose to withhold or cancel scores.The difference between withholding and canceling scores is that when you cancel your score, it is permanently deleted, as if you never even took the test.There is no fee for canceling a score. Here's theScore Cancellation Formyou would need to send to the College Board. On the other hand, if you choose to withhold your AP score, it won’t be seen by colleges, but it will stay on record in case you want to send it later.It costs $10 per score to withhold scores from colleges that you originally indicated on your answer sheet.Here’s theScore Withholding Formyou’d need to send to the College Board. The deadline for both withholding and canceling AP scores for tests you took is June 15.If you miss the deadline, all your scores will be sent to the colleges you indicated on your answer sheet. If you choose to retake an AP test, only your highest score will count toward AP Scholar Awards, even if you don’t cancel or withhold your lower score.That means you don’t have to worry about your initial score ruining your chances at becoming an AP scholar if you show improvement on your second try. Never fear, you can still become a scholar with a sweet beard even if you get a low AP score the first time around. Study Tips for Retaking AP Exams Here are a few important tips to keep in mind as you prepare to retake an AP test. To be successful in improving your score, you'll need to assess your weaknesses critically and study strategically. #1: Understand Where You Went Wrong Last Time Your primary goal is to avoid repeating the mistakes you made on your first AP test.Think about why you did poorly and what you can do to prevent those pitfalls this time.Did you wait too long to start studying? Did you take unofficial practice tests that gave you an unrealistic idea of the test’s content or difficulty level? Did you rely completely on your class to carry you through the test and find your knowledge lacking?Whatever the case may be, do some reflection to figure out how you can fix these problems and redeem your score a second time around. You might consider tutoring if you think you did poorly because the subject as a whole was not your strong point or your teacher didn't do a good job of explaining the material.You could even ask one of your peers who did well on the test to give you some studying advice or tutor you on concepts you’re having trouble mastering on your own. #2: Get a High-Quality Review Book If you’re going to retake an AP test, you won’t be just finishing up a year of studying the subject in class. As a result, notes and study materials might not be as readily available to you, and it will be harder to structure your time without a teacher and class schedule to guide you. You should get a review book that covers all the concepts in the course thoroughly so that you have an easy way to study content, plan out your time, and do practice questions.Think of it as a lighter version of self-studying.Usually, Barron’s books are a good option for more in-depth surveys of AP courses. #3: Start Studying Early One of your problems the first time around might have been that you ended up waiting until the last minute to study.Cramming is a bad idea for AP testssince they cover so much information and expect you to answer questions that require high-level critical thinking. You won't do yourself any favors by skimming the surface. Start studying at least a couple of months before you take the test.Ideally, you should review concepts throughout the year so that your memory stays fresh and you have time to correct whatever issues you had with the material originally. You should also take plenty of practice tests so you can keep tabs on your performance and make sure you're improving. Be the early bird. Get out there and catch your AP worm. Summary: Can You Retake AP Exams? You can choose to retake an AP test when it’s offered again the following year.If you really need college credit or are concerned about how a low score will look on your application, you might consider this option. Assuming you retake an AP test and get a better score, that score will be the one that counts toward AP Scholar awards.You can even choose to withhold or cancel your lower score if you don’t want it to show up on your record. Taking an AP test a second time is an expensive commitment, so you should make sure you put some serious effort into studying for it.Try to learn from whatever problems you had the first time around, and avoid cramming or glossing over content areas you don’t quite understand. What's Next? Ideally, you'll get a high score on your test the first time around. To make sure that happens, read our five-step plan detailing the best way to study for AP exams. Practice tests are super important when preparing for AP exams. Learn more about where to find the best AP practice tests to use in your studying. It might be tough to take new AP classes on top of preparing for a retake. Find out how many AP classes you should take in high school and whether it's worth it to load up your schedule. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: