{"id":37154,"date":"2013-03-29T14:08:37","date_gmt":"2013-03-29T18:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/?p=37154"},"modified":"2013-03-29T14:08:37","modified_gmt":"2013-03-29T18:08:37","slug":"language-barriers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2013\/03\/29\/language-barriers\/","title":{"rendered":"Language Barriers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bill Bonner, billbonnersdiary.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Came the news yesterday that the governor of Cyprus’ central bank is a fellow named Panicos Demetriades.<\/p>\n

No kidding.<\/p>\n

But even though the Central Bank of Cyprus is showing the world \u2013 in
\nstark naked detail \u2013 how governments will deal with their debt problems,
\nthere is no general panic.<\/p>\n

Panicos goes about his business… like Ben and Mario… ripping off
\nsavers to protect the feds’ access to easy cash. In Cyprus, they even
\nstab their major industry \u2013 banking \u2013 in the back to… what?<\/p>\n

Protect their economy? Nope.<\/p>\n

They do it to protect the power of the government<\/strong><\/a>. The economy can go to hell, which is what will happen in Cyprus. Who will want to keep money in a Cyprus bank<\/strong><\/a> now? Only a fool. Or someone who reads the newspapers.<\/p>\n

Read the papers, take them seriously, and you are ready to believe
\nanything. The problem is partly a language barrier. The newspapers will
\ntell you that that the authorities “saved” Cyprus… and the entire
\nEuropean financial system.<\/p>\n

That is the trouble with the language of public information. The
\nwords mean little or nothing. It is just noise. Events are often exactly
\nopposite in meaning to the description given them in the press.<\/p>\n

Mots Justes<\/h3>\n

Someone cuts you off in traffic, and you know just what to say. You have the mot juste<\/em> on the tip of your tongue even faster than you can raise your middle finger.<\/p>\n

But what do you say to ZIRP (zero interest rate policy), which cuts
\noff the earnings from your savings? What do you call QE3, which
\npotentially undermines the value of your savings and your earnings by
\nadding billions to the money supply?<\/p>\n

We barely have words for the kind of premeditated larceny done by
\ncentral banks and central governments. The meaning of them is hidden
\nbehind gobbledygook descriptions and noisy public information.<\/p>\n

As an aside, the same is true in geopolitical and military matters<\/strong><\/a>.
\nOne generation learns that attacking one’s neighbors is bad business.
\nThe next forgets… and begins to invent nice new words to describe bad
\nold habits. We have “surgical drone strikes” now, not assassinations!
\nAnd we have “enhanced interrogation techniques,” not torture.<\/p>\n

But it’s as hard to come up with something new in military affairs as
\nit is in literature and economics. “Enhanced interrogation techniques”
\nis a direct translation of the Nazis’ Versch\u00e4rfte Vernehmung<\/em>, right out of the Gestapo handbook.<\/p>\n

Cross-Cultural Misunderstandings<\/h3>\n

Even in simple everyday matters, language is a barrier to
\nunderstanding. When you talk to people you know, who speak the same
\nlanguage, and come from the same area, you can usually tell what they
\nare talking about. The words give you some of the meaning. The rest of
\nit is supplied by tone, emphasis, facial expression and body language.<\/p>\n

We spent the week with friends from France. We speak the language
\nreasonably well. Even so, there are subtle meanings we never understand.
\nIt’s not enough to know the words. You have to know the context… and
\nthe nuances… to get the full meaning of them.<\/p>\n

That’s what makes cross-cultural marriages and multinational
\nbusinesses so treacherous: You never know what the other side is really
\nsaying! Sometimes it’s better that way. Sometimes, worse…<\/p>\n

The French are very proud of their language. They despise people who
\nuse it badly. Speak French badly to a Parisian waiter, and he will make
\nfun of you… usually in ways you won’t understand. Make a mistake in
\nfront of a person from the 16th arrondissement<\/em>, and he will say nothing… but his mouth will betray a slight smile of superiority.<\/p>\n

The Argentines \u2013 at least in this part of the country \u2013 are more
\ngenerous with their language. We say something to the field hands. They
\nget a quizzical look on their faces. They don’t understand what we are
\nsaying because the local dialect is different and because we don’t speak
\nSpanish very well. But unlike the French, the local people act
\nembarrassed and pained \u2013 as if it were their fault that they didn’t
\nunderstand you.<\/p>\n

“How many calves did we get this year,” we intend to ask Jorge, our
\nfarm manager. He looks at us intently, as one looks at a mental
\ndefective, struggling to make sense of what he saying.<\/p>\n

“Yes, I’ll be here on Friday,” he replies.<\/p>\n

“How many?”<\/p>\n

“All day long,” he responds.<\/p>\n

Regards,<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/p>\n

Bill<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bill Bonner, billbonnersdiary.com Came the news yesterday that the governor of Cyprus’ central bank is a fellow named Panicos Demetriades. No kidding. But even though the Central Bank of Cyprus is showing the world \u2013 in stark naked detail \u2013 how governments will deal with their debt problems, there is no general panic. Panicos … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Language Barriers”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}