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.Content:
Chapter 1 Changing Times, Changing Style Guides (pages 17–39): Jennifer O'Neill
Chapter 2 Concinnity of Assorted Nuts (pages 41–59): Marina Lin
Chapter 3 Learning Curve (pages 61–80): Vaishnavi Thogttluva Vijayaram
Chapter 4 Lost in Translation (pages 81–101): Elena Groznaya
Chapter 5 Collective Learning in East Africa: Building and Transferring Technical Knowledge in Livestock Production (pages 103–121): K. Alex Ilyasova and Cheryl Birkelo
Chapter 6 That's Worth Waiting For: GLDD's Spanish JSA Booklet (pages 123–142): Christina Schulz
Chapter 7 Making Excellence a Habit across Intercultural Barriers (pages 143–165): Saurabh Kudesia
Chapter 8 Crash of Cultures (pages 167–184): Sam Racine
Chapter 9 Collaboration on a Pan?European Project Spanning 35 National Research and Education Networks across the European Union (pages 185–207): Warren Singer
Chapter 10 Are Chinese Documents Ready for Global Audiences? (pages 209–225): Melanie G. Flanders
Chapter 11 Subject Matter Expert Meets Technical Communicator: Stories of Mestiza Consciousness in the Automotive Industry (pages 227–245): Angela M. Haas
Chapter 12 My Life as an EFL Trainer/Technical Translator in Shanghai, China (pages 247–261): Huiling Ding