Negotiating Cultural Encounters: Narrating Intercultural Engineering and Technical Communication

Discusses the challenges of intercultural communication in engineering, technical, and related professional fields Given today's globalized technical and engineering environment, intercultural communication is an essential topic for engineers, other technical professionals, and technical communicators to learn. Engineering programs, in particular, need to think about how to address the ABET requirement for students to develop global competence and communication skills. This book will help readers learn what intercultural communication is like in the workplace—which is an important first step in gaining intercultural competence. Through narratives based on the real experiences of working professionals, Negotiating Cultural Encounters: Narrating Intercultural Engineering and Technical Communication covers a range of design, development, research, and documentation projects—offering an authentic picture of today's international workplace. Narrative contributors present firsthand experience and perspectives on the complexities and challenges of working with multicultural team members, international vendors, and diverse customers; additional suggested readings and discussion questions provide students with information on relevant cultural factors and invite them to think deeply and critically about the narratives. This collection of narratives: Responds to the need for updated firsthand information in intercultural communication and will help us prepare workplace professionals Covers various topics such as designing e-commerce websites, localizing technical documentation, and translating workplace safety materials Provides hands-on studies of intercultural professional communication in the workplace Is targeted toward institutions that train engineers for technical communication tasks in diverse sociocultural environments Presents contributions from a diverse group of professionals Recommends additional material for further pursuit A book unlike any other in its field, Negotiating Cultural Encounters is ideal for all engineering and technical communication professionals seeking to better communicate their ideas and thoughts in the multicultural workplaces of the world.

Preface xi A Note from the Series Editor xiii INTRODUCTION 1 Han Yu and Gerald Savage CHAPTER 1 Changing Times, Changing Style Guides 17 Jennifer O′Neill CHAPTER 2 Concinnity of Assorted Nuts 41 Marina Lin CHAPTER 3 Learning Curve 61 Vaishnavi Thogttluva Vijayaram CHAPTER 4 Lost in Translation 81 Elena Groznaya CHAPTER 5 Collective Learning in East Africa: Building and Transferring Technical Knowledge in Livestock Production 103 K. Alex Ilyasova and Cheryl Birkelo CHAPTER 6 That′s Worth Waiting For: GLDD′s Spanish JSA Booklet 123 Christina Schulz CHAPTER 7 Making Excellence a Habit across Intercultural Barriers 143 Saurabh Kudesia CHAPTER 8 Crash of Cultures 167 Sam Racine CHAPTER 9 Collaboration on a Pan–European Project Spanning 35 National Research and Education Networks across the European Union 185 Warren Singer CHAPTER 10 Are Chinese Documents Ready for Global Audiences? 209 Melanie G. Flanders CHAPTER 11 Subject Matter Expert Meets Technical Communicator: Stories of Mestiza Consciousness in the Automotive Industry 227 Angela M. Haas CHAPTER 12 My Life as an EFL Trainer/Technical Translator in Shanghai, China 247 Huiling Ding Index 263

HAN YU is an Associate Professor of Technical Writing and Professional Communication in the English Department at Kansas State University. Dr. Yu has published numerous journal articles within this area. GERALD SAVAGE is Professor Emeritus and former Internship Director and Technical Writing Program Director in the English Department at Illinois State University. Dr. Savage has published numerous books and articles on technical communication.