Summary and paraphrase of Buckley's article - Essay Example

This is problematic, because it is a sign of the attitude of complacency. During a movie, he observed similar kinds of attitudes with the projectionist, because the film was out of focus. This is in spite of the fact that everyone knew this, but no one seemed to care. 3. In keeping with his theory of social etiquette, Buckley sees a similar situation with himself every New Year’s Eve. He continually makes resolutions to himself to speak up against the kind of indifference from people like the train conductor, yet every year he never does.

The classic example of this occurred on the airplane when he was trying to get the flight attendant to collect his empty tray. During this process, she spoke rudely to him and he had to wait longer for her to pick up his tray. 4. As a result, Buckley deduces that some kind of fundamental shift has taken place in the world. The shift is that no one is willing to go the extra mile for their customers, and that public is unwilling to speak up against it. The reason why he believes this is occurring is the tremendous technological advancements in this modern age.

Beyond Babel: Why the Babble Below Will Matter Less By: Michael Schrage 1. In his article, “Beyond Babel…” author Michael Schrage is making the argument that although it is an impressive feat of intelligence to be multilingual, it is really unnecessary in terms of the global economy and its success. 2. Schrage clearly states that in a global management meeting, there are many linguistic differences and inefficiencies that do more harm than good. Although a non-native English-speaking representative is doing their best to relay a particular point, without proper fluency in the example language of English, it is more difficult for others to understand what the non-native English speaker is trying to say, as well as that person’s ability to relay the information.

It is noted in the article that it is much more likely that business people in Asia speak Microsoft Word much more fluently than they do English. In toleration of an executive that seems to speak more malapropisms than can be understood, those that misidentify the numbers of the business will be fired. This is perceived as an unfair disadvantage, due to the fact that although someone may not be able to speak English, they may still be overlooked in spite of their shining examples of spreadsheet data.

In this technological age, words are increasingly less important than the technology itself. Language is becoming a marginal ingredient in managerial goals. It is more important that the spreadsheet or simulation that has been provided have words to reinforce the images of these articles, not the words creating images on their own. It is still important for the words used to be articulate, but not so diluted with malapropisms or gerunds that the language is unclear. 3. Schrage makes the argument very clearly that it is not cost-effective, nor necessary for people to be multilingual in today’s technological economy.

He clearly mentions that although someone may be able to speak the language with some fluency, they may not totally understand what they are saying or what is going on. He supports this with the linguistic inefficiencies of people who are not quite fluent in English, but are trying very hard. He mentions diversity creating a need for less ambiguous communications, thus using technology to increase the cross-lingual