Spoken English - Not always what it seems

It may interest you to know* that English is widely accepted around the world in business circles but sometimes the true meaning of some English phrases are hidden for all but those for whom English is the mother-tongue..and can lead to some confusion.

Try some of these for example..

English spoken: "I hear what you say"

Perception: "He understand and agrees with me"

Actual Meaning: "I disagree and will not discuss it any further"

English spoken: "This is in no sense a rebuke"

Perception: "I am not cross with you"

Actual meaning: "I am furious with you and letting you know it"

English spoken: "With the greatest respect"

Perception: "He is listening to me"
Actual meaning: "I think you are wrong (or a fool)"

English spoken: "Correct me if I'm wrong"
Perception: "Tell me what you think"

Actual meaning: "I know I'm right. Please don't contradict me"

English spoken: "That's not bad"

Perception: "That's poor or mediocre"
Actual meaning: "That's very good"

English spoken: "QUITE good" (with the stress on the "quite")

Perception: "Quite good"
Actual meaning: "Rubbish"

English spoken: "quite GOOD" (with the stress on the "good ")

Perception: "Quite good"
Actual meaning: "excellent"

English spoken: "Perhaps you would like to think about..."
Perception: "Think about the idea, but do what you like"

Actual meaning: " Just do it."

English spoken: "Do as much as you think is justifed"

Perception: "Do what you can"
Actual meaning: "Do it all"

English spoken: "Oh, by the way..."

What is understood: "This is not very important ..."
Actual meaning: "The primary purpose of our discussion is..."

English spoken: "I was a bit disappointed that."

Perception: "It doesn't really matter"
Actual meaning: "I am most upset and cross"

English spoken: "Very interesting"
Perception: "They are impressed"

Actual meaning: "I don't believe you"

English spoken: "Could we consider some other options"
Perception: "They have not yet decided"

Actual meaning: "I don't like your idea"

English spoken: "I'll bear it in mind "
Perception: "They will probably do it"

Actual meaning: "I will do absolutely nothing about it"

English spoken: "Please think about that some more"
Perception: "It's a good idea, keep developing it"

Actual meaning: "It's a bad idea: don't do it"

English spoken: "I'm sure it's my fault"
Perception: "It was somebody else's fault"

Actual meaning: "It is your fault!"

English spoken: "That is an original point of view"
Perception: "They like my ideas!"

Actual meaning: "You must be mad"

English spoken: “I’m sure you'll get there eventually”
Perception: “Keep on trying; they agree I'm on the right track”

Actual meaning: “You don't stand a chance in hell”

^*Read this now and don't forget it!!

Across India in three minutes!

Back to a travel related themes and something nice for the weekend. These Time-Lapse films by Mike Matas are really superb.

Here he covers a journey by Auto-Rickshaw from Nepal covering 2000 miles. He takes 3,000 photographs which are compressed into THREE minutes.

Just enjoy!

Journey Across India from Mike Matas on Vimeo.

The New Great Game: The Battle for Africa

The 'Great Game' was a term used to describe the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia (mostly Afghanistan!) between 1813 and 1907. It was first commonly used by Rudyard Kipling in his novel 'Kim'.

There now seems there is a new Great Game; the battle for African Energy Resources.

India took a leap in Africa on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Singh pledging $5 billion for the Africa's development over the next three years. Spreading out the Indian presence from agriculture to information technology, and medicine to a virtual university, India now rivals China for top honours in the new Great Game in Africa!

India will offer $5 billion dollars for the next three years under lines of credit to help Africa achievesome of its development goals. (To put the figure in perspective, India's healthcare budget is around $ 5.9 billion). This credit would be apart from the $700 million pledged for new institutions in Africa.

India also announced a railway line between Ethiopia and Djibouti at a cost of $300 million. The initial plan by the Africa Union was for a line running across the breadth of Africa, but the task of coordinating land acquisition through so many sovereign states was a challenge they weren't willing to take on (just yet).

China has the biggest presence in Africa, constructing airport terminals and football stadiums at a breathtaking pace, in return for access to resources and minerals. Its bilateral trade with Africa in 2010 was $126.9 billion, as compared to just over $40 billion India-Africa trade. Earlier this week, India declared a target of $70 billion by 2015.

India has had a long-standing relationship with African countries, particularly on the eastern seaboard, but it took a backseat when China went into Africa with deep pockets and insatiable demand for energy and resources.

Since then, India has been playing catch-up, although India prides itself on doing things differently from China. It's 'Sort Power' approach sees itself as less extractive in its engagements and more inclined towards helping African countries improve their capacity. As a senior African diplomat observed, "China invests in our today, India in our tomorrow."

African nations are not unhappy at being the centre of attention and largesse by India and China. Although China is more efficient in the way it processes aid in Africa, India has been actively invited by African leaders themselves as they seek to balance the Chinese presence.

The Indian presence is also mainly in the private sector, unlike the state-driven presence of China. This makes the Indian engagement far less threatening in Africa. Having said that, Indian companies are increasingly getting into mining for coal, copper and more industrial-use metals in different African countries. Indian farmers are engaging in commercial farming in countries like Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. In a recent agreement, Andhra Pradesh will send 500 farmers to become farming entrepreneurs in these countries.

PM Singh declared that India would invite all African airlines to Indian cities over the next three years. That's because no Indian airline now flies to Africa even as Chinese airlines are increasing their flights to the continent. Yet..

Plugging your products the Spurlock way

Morgan Spurlock is back with a film about, and COMPLETELY funded and financed by product placement!

He describes his new film, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, as "the mother of all product placement movies".

He came up with the idea three years ago when watching TV series and found the heroine blatantly plugging Nissan's latest car model. "We're in a world where all the TV shows that I love are becoming commercials," he told BBC World Service.

As rules for product placement are being changed in the UK, it's an interesting view on how the process works, the transparency (or lack of) and the demands and conditions made by advertisers..

'Horse Shampoo?'

He started with 600 potential products, a long and broad-ranging list of companies he hoped would jump at the opportunity to feature in the movie.

He approached airlines, car makers, hotels, drink companies, clothing labels and even a manufacturer of horse shampoo, with a success rate of 2.5%..

After the proposal to be a leading sponsor was rejected by Coke, Sprite and Pepsi, Spurlock found a keen collaborator in POM Wonderful, the less well-known manufacturer of pomegranate juice.

POM Wonderful committed $1m to the film, $600,000 was paid up front and the rest is dependent on the success of the movie at box offices worldwide.

The juice company bought the "above the title" naming rights which means the movie's official title is "POM Wonderful presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold"

'Don't mention Germany'

Other conditions were put in place by the film's various advertising partners. Mini Cooper, for example, insisted Spurlock drive one of their cars but added that while driving or filming in a Mini he should avoid disparaging the country of Germany.

"Once outside of the car and beyond the vehicle, however, I could disparage Germany all I like," he says.

And of course everyone in the film were obliged to drink POM Wonderful all the time and in countries where POM Wonderful isn't even sold, it still managed to appear.

His film is a comment on the way in which advertising has encroached on our daily lives, following us everywhere from elevators to taxis, toilets and even schools.

"Schools are a big one in the US, they're selling advertising within school districts to make up budget gaps. It's a brand new thing and I think its an issue," he says.

The key thing for Spurlock is transparency: that we are aware when we are being subject to advertising without it creeping surreptitiously into our lives and maintaining that awareness was a crucial part of the film-making process as was the battle to retain creative control.

See the trailer here

Music Tourism worth £1.4bn

Feargal Sharkey (one-time leader of the Undertones) is now CEO of UK Music, an organisation representing the collective interests of the UK’s commercial music industry. Today they published a report showing that music tourism contributes around £1.4bn to the UK economy. This represents a positive contribution of £864m (GVA) to the national economy and equivalent of 19,700 full-time jobs.

Their report shows that large-scale live music across all regions of the UK attracts at least 7.7m attendances by domestic and overseas music tourists and that although foreigners made up just 5% of music tourists in the UK, they were responsible for 18% of the spending.

The UK Music report found that iconic venues, such as the Salford Lads Club in Manchester (seen on the sleeve of The Smiths album The Queen is Dead) were attracting attention.

For some dedicated tourists, going to the Salford Lads Club or wal;king on the Abbey Road pedestrian crossing, is just as important as a visit to Buckingham Palace and Stonehenge!

From these findings UK Music has issued a list of recommendations to Government – including the implementation of a national live music tourism strategy, with the immediate goal of increasing the number of overseas music tourists.

The research, undertaken by Bournemouth University’s International Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research, follows the Government’s Plan For Growth, published alongside the Budget. This specifically identified the UK’s creative industries and tourism amongst sectors with the greatest potential to drive economic growth.

Research leader, Professor Adam Blake said: “This is the first time that a comprehensive study of music tourism has ever been undertaken in the UK. The data on where music-goers come from confirms that large numbers of them do travel around the country to go to music events, and significant numbers come from overseas. However, it is important to note that our definition of a music tourist is hugely conservative, and that we did not analyse the vast numbers of non-ticketed or smaller capacity events. Subsequently, the true value of music to UK tourism will be much higher.”

A word of caution however, after 10 years of growth, the live music industry stuttered last year, there was a drop of 6.7% in UK live music revenues. The sector's revenues rose by 9.4% in 2009 and 13% in 2008.

Down load the full report here

LinkedIn pushes Queensland tourism..

Remember the Million Dollar Memo Ad for Queensland tourism? Well here's an update on the campaign that was exclusively focused on twitter and linkedin..

On May 1, the Queensland tourism wrapped up a five-week video submissions contest that's giving away a $1 million (Australian dollars) travel package. In terms of paid online advertising, the "Million Dollar Memo" campaign completely focused on LinkedIn to target executives looking to reward employees with a group travel package. The ads directed viewers to a dedicated microsite, which recorded 293,000 unique visitors and 1.4 million page views from 187 countries.

The microsite included a downloadable one-page PDF - styled like an official office memo - that encouraged readers to make a :60 video for the contest. The microsite also included a :60 campaign video that's titled, "Have you read the Million Dollar Memo?"

(There was actually also also a newspaper print component to the campaign in so far as a promo appeared via Australia's News Limited's masthead, while ads ran in the Sydney Morning Herald)

According to its agency, SapientNitro Australia, the initiative garnered 290 video entries from 28 countries and reached three million viewers that work for firms of at least three employees. These companies ranged from large multinationals to small independent businesses

The LinkedIn ads were geo-targeted toward the U.S.; Australia; New Zealand; Europe; India; the Middle East; and Asia and the agency believes the campaign generated a marketing value of $5 million (Australian dollars) in web, print, and broadcast mentions.

Tourism Queensland also posted and tweeted about the campaign to its Facebook (337,000 "likes") and Twitter (14,000 followers) audiences.

Queensland Tourism can only hope the 2011 campaign captures the same buzz that its "Best Job in the World" campaign received during the past two years. Since it won awards for that campaign, the agency has estimated the effort created more than $400 million (Australian dollars) in publicity.

Womens Army shows the way for Red Tourists

On July 1st, on the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party operators throughout China are creating a selection of cultural and commemorative "red" tours.

On the island province of Hainan, visitors can travel to rural Qionghai, to visit Pan Xianying, mother of seven, and now nearly a 100 yrs old, and one of three remaining members of a famed Communist all-women army unit in China and a living attraction on a "red" tour of the southern island province of Hainan.

Pan was about 15 when she joined the unit in 1931; the battalion was formed by a Hainanese Communist to promote gender equality. It was created to protect party leaders and fight rival Nationalist forces during China's civil war, the unit and composed of 140 women. The unit was disbanded after several years, when Nationalist forces drove local Communists underground. But its members were hailed as heroines after Mao Zedong's victorious forces took over China in 1949 and the unit has since inspired a popular ballet, The Red Detachment of Women, and several films.

Local authorities in the rural community of Qionghai decided to capitalise on the detachment's fame this year with tours of its former training grounds and meeting spots. The tours attracted 360 people in April, some coming as part of events organised by their employers, others independently. Besides old revolutionary sites -- one of them just a bare field where influential communists once met long ago -- outdoor sports such as hiking are also on offer.

The hikes are billed as instilling army-style camaraderie among tour members and follow a route that Red Army soldiers are said to have struggled through. The tour guides sport revolutionary-style green caps complete with a red star, which visitors can buy for 10 yuan. They can also choose to wear a full soldier's uniform for 100 yuan.

'Red' tourism is not new in China, where the party has deftly managed to keep alive memories of the communist revolution even as it has transformed the country into an economic powerhouse. The Hunan province city of Shaoshan where Mao was born and the longtime Communist base of Yan'an in Shaanxi province are already star attractions.

But the trend is gaining ground. In the southwestern city of Chongqing, authorities have ordered state radio and television to promote the mass study of "red songs" praising the Communist Party. Citizens are being urged to download tunes from websites, while newspapers print their lyrics, state media reported. Other cities have made similar moves.

Chen Doushu, head of the agency organising the tours, said red tourism reflects a desire by many to look fondly back at the past after more than 30 years of focus on the future during China's rapid recent modernisation.

"Chinese people cannot forget their history, and the best way to do that is to go and remember it, to study it. That's where red tourism comes from," he said.