Unit8Globalization—ForandAgainstPassageAHallmark’sAsianValentineThetraditionofcardgivingonValentine'sDayseeminglyanAmericanphenomenonistakingrootinAsia,too.Yet,whenAsiancustomersbuyValentine'sDaycards,theyoftenchoosetheoriginalEnglishversionsevenwhentheydon'tspeakthelanguage.Hallmark'sgreetingcardsareknownthroughouttheworld.TheKansascity-basedcompanyhasdevelopedintoa$billioncorporation,fromitsbeginningsin1910whenJoyceC.Hallstartedproducingcardsfromsampleshestoredunderhisbed.Now,over90yearslater,HallmarkhasdevelopedintoaglobalcompanywithexpansionintoAsiaamajorpartofitsstrategy.InAsiaalone,theKansascity-basedfirmacquiredacompanyinJapanin1994andfoundedcreativeorganizationsinHongKongandSingaporein1998andinShanghaiin1999.HallmarkrepresentativesliketopointoutthatAsiahasdevelopedintoan"areaofemphasis."HongKongandSingaporearebeingturnedfromdistributioncentersintoinvestmentcenters.IntheUnitedStatesalone,67%ofValentine's Dayactivities consistofgivingValentine'sDaycardsasgiftstopeople.Andin2000,accordingtoHallmark,Americansspentmorethan$billiononValentine'sDay.ButwhilethemarketintheUnitedStatesishuge,thepotentialforHallmark's1,330differentValentine'sDaycardsinAsiaisevenbigger.BasedonthesalesofHallmarkcards,itappearsthatthenumberofconsumerromanticsinChina,JapanandKoreaisrising.Thisisnotsurprising,giventhatHallmarkgreetingcardshaveproventobeagreatwaytoovercomesomeoftheemotionalrestrictionsthatstillreigninanumberofAsiansocieties.BecomingDonJuanwithoutlosingfaceTheprobleminEasternsocietiesisthatculturalnormsandromanceoftenrunintoadilemma:howdoyoutellagirlthatyoufancyherwithoutputtingyourselfinapositioninwhichyoucould"loseface"InChina,forexample,becauseofculturalnorms,menwillperhapsneverbemistakenforShakespeare'sRomeo.Romance,oftheWesternvariety,issimplynotaChineseman'scupoftea.So,howdoyouovercomethisdilemmaTosidesteppossiblepitfallsofculturalimpropriety,theChineseDonJuangoesandbuyshissweetieaHallmarkcardforValentine'sDay.Thus,hecanexpresshisemotionsthroughapre-mademessageonpaper,ratherthanthroughuncomfortablesweettalkinperson.InJapanandKorea,therulesaresomewhatdifferent.Heremengenerallytendtobemuchlessinhibitedabouttheiremotionsandromanticinterests.ToassessjusthowemotionalJapanesemencanbeinallwalksoflife,justrecalltheoccasionalnewsfeatureofatopJapaneseorKoreanCEOapologizingintearsfortheweakperformanceorbankruptcyofhiscompanyinfrontofhisnation's TVcameras.InJapanandKorea,itisthewomenthataremoreemotionallyinhibitedthanthemen.So,inorderforthemtodisplaysomeaffectioninasuitable manner,womenwillsendouttheHallmarkValentinecardstotheobjectoftheiraffection.But,ifyouthinkHallmarkcardsneedtobetranslatedintothedifferentAsianlanguagestoenableloverstoexchangetenderwords,thinkagain.Lovetalkisglobal,andnolanguageskillsarerequired.SincemostoftheHallmarkcardsboughtinAsiaareproducedwithincountry,itseemedonlynaturalthatHallmarkcardswouldbetranslatedintothelocalvernacular.Toaccommodatecustomersthroughouttheworld,Hallmarkprintsgreetingcardsin30differentlanguages.Thus,cardsarenowactuallybeingprintedinMandarinandJapanesewithplanstoextendthetranslationstovariousIndianlanguages,suchasHindi,GujaratiandTamil.Customersurveys,however,revealedthatthiseffortwasnotreallynecessary.EnglishisthehipthingYousee,ifyoureallywanttoimpressyourChinesegirlfriendoryourJapaneseboyfriend,don'tsendthemaJapaneseorMandarinlanguagecard.Thisisaturn-off.ContrarytoHallmark'sexpectations, itturnsoutthatAsianloversprefertogivetheirsweetiesEnglish-languagecardsevenwhentheyspeaklittleornoEnglish.Itisjustthehipthingtodo.Anduponlearningofthisculturalpreference,Hallmarkreactedquickly.EventhoughChineseandJapanesedescendantsofRomeoandJulietarenowabletobuygreetingcardsintheirnativelanguage,HallmarkhasmadesurethesupplyofgreetingcardsinEnglishisplentiful.Thus,theircustomerscanachievebothadisplayoftheirhipcosmopolitanflair,whilealsosendingtheirsweetiethatall-importantmessageofloveatthesametime.A霍爾馬克的亞洲情人節(jié)？情人節(jié)贈(zèng)送賀卡從表面上看是美國(guó)的作法， 但這種現(xiàn)象也正在亞洲生根發(fā)芽。 然而，亞洲顧客在購(gòu)買情人節(jié)卡片時(shí)，他們常常選擇帶有英語(yǔ)原文的卡片， 哪怕他們一句英語(yǔ)也不會(huì)說(shuō)。全球主義者在此探討情人節(jié)的全球化和美國(guó)公司在亞洲的作用。 ？霍爾馬克問(wèn)候賀卡在全世界人人皆知。 自1910年霍爾.馬克根據(jù)他儲(chǔ)藏在床底下賀卡試樣生產(chǎn)賀卡至今，總部設(shè)在堪薩斯的卡片生產(chǎn)公司已經(jīng)發(fā)展成為擁有 億美元的企業(yè)。90多年后的今天，霍爾馬克已成為一家全球化公司， 并且把向亞洲擴(kuò)展作為它戰(zhàn)略決策的主要部分。？?jī)H僅在亞洲，這家總部在堪薩斯的公司就于 1994年在日本開設(shè)了一家公司，又于1998TOC\o"1-5"\h\z年在香港和新加坡，1999年在上海開辦了數(shù)個(gè)富有創(chuàng)造性的機(jī)構(gòu)?；魻栺R克公司的代表指出亞洲已成為“一個(gè)重點(diǎn)區(qū)域”。香港和新加坡正從分銷中心變成投資中心。 ？單就美國(guó)而言，情人節(jié)67%勺活動(dòng)是給人贈(zèng)送情人卡禮物。根據(jù)霍爾馬克公司的說(shuō)法，2000年的情人節(jié)美國(guó)人共花去了億美元。盡管美國(guó)的市場(chǎng)很大，但在亞洲銷售 1330種不同類型的情人節(jié)卡片的潛力就更大。 ？根據(jù)霍爾馬克卡片的銷售量，似乎可以看出， 中國(guó)、日本、韓國(guó)的具有浪漫色彩的消費(fèi)者的數(shù)量正在上升。這一現(xiàn)象并不令人吃驚，因?yàn)榛魻栺R克賀卡已成為一種絕妙的克服情感拘謹(jǐn)?shù)暮棉k法，而情感拘謹(jǐn)在亞洲許多國(guó)家仍然很普遍。 ？既作唐璜式的風(fēng)流才子，又不失臉面。 ？東方國(guó)家的人們由于文化的準(zhǔn)則與浪漫的愛(ài)情常常陷入兩難的境地，那就是： 你怎樣才能告訴一個(gè)女孩你喜歡她，但又不至于使自己“丟面子”呢比如在中國(guó)， 由于文化準(zhǔn)則的緣故，中國(guó)男性大概永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)被誤認(rèn)為是莎士比亞筆下的羅密歐， 而西方的風(fēng)流逸事也決不會(huì)成為中國(guó)男人茶余飯后的話題。 因此，怎么克服這種兩難窘境為了避免文化習(xí)俗上的失誤，中國(guó)的唐.璜們購(gòu)買情人卡送給他們的心上人。這樣，他可以通過(guò)卡片上事先印制好的文字來(lái)表達(dá)他們的感情，而不用當(dāng)面說(shuō)一些令人尷尬的甜言蜜語(yǔ)。 ？在日本和韓國(guó)，文化準(zhǔn)則又稍有不同。總的來(lái)講，日本和韓國(guó)男人對(duì)自己的感情和浪漫情趣較少抑制。評(píng)價(jià)日本男人在生活的各個(gè)方面是如何易動(dòng)感情的， 只需回憶一下一個(gè)日本和韓國(guó)的上層首席執(zhí)行官在國(guó)家電視臺(tái)的攝像鏡頭前， 淚流滿面地為公司的不良運(yùn)作和破產(chǎn)而道歉的新聞特寫的情景就足夠了。 ？在日本和韓國(guó)，女人要比男人更加克制自己的感情。 因此，為了用恰當(dāng)?shù)姆绞奖戆鬃约旱膼?ài)情，女性往往喜歡送霍爾馬克卡給她們愛(ài)慕的對(duì)象。 但是，假如你認(rèn)為應(yīng)該把霍爾馬克卡片上的英文翻譯成亞洲各國(guó)的語(yǔ)言以便使情人們能相互交換愛(ài)慕的話語(yǔ)，你不妨再想一想。？談情說(shuō)愛(ài)是世界相通的，不需要任何語(yǔ)言技巧。 ？由于在亞洲出售的大多數(shù)霍爾.馬克卡片是在當(dāng)?shù)貒?guó)家生產(chǎn)的，因此，把卡片的英文譯成當(dāng)?shù)匚淖炙坪跏呛茏匀坏?。為了適應(yīng)全世界消費(fèi)者的需要，霍爾馬克用 30種不同的語(yǔ)言印制賀卡。？因此，霍爾馬克卡片正在使用漢語(yǔ)和日語(yǔ)印制，并計(jì)劃擴(kuò)大語(yǔ)言范圍， 如印度語(yǔ)，吉吉拉特語(yǔ)，泰米爾語(yǔ)。然而，對(duì)顧客的調(diào)查卻發(fā)現(xiàn)，這種努力沒(méi)有真正的必要。 ？英語(yǔ)就是這種時(shí)髦語(yǔ)言。？如果你真的想給你的中國(guó)女友或日本男友留下深刻的印象， 不要給他們送日語(yǔ)或漢語(yǔ)賀卡。否則這會(huì)令人乏味。與霍爾馬克（卡片）公司的預(yù)料相反，亞洲的情人們更喜歡給他們的心上人送英文賀卡片，哪怕他們基本不懂或根本不懂英文。送英文賀卡是一件很時(shí)髦的事。在了解了這一文化偏愛(ài)后， 霍爾馬克（卡片）公司做出了快速反應(yīng)。 盡管中國(guó)和日本的當(dāng)代羅密歐與朱麗葉們現(xiàn)在能夠買到印漢語(yǔ)和日語(yǔ)的賀卡， 霍爾馬克（卡片）公司還是確保供應(yīng)大量的英文賀卡。這樣，既展現(xiàn)了顧客的時(shí)髦的世界性的品位， 同時(shí)又能向他們的心上人表達(dá)至關(guān)重要的愛(ài)戀信息。 ？PassageBTheGreatGlobalDVDDivideParentsallovertheworldcomplainthesedaysthatkidswatchtoomuchTV.Oursolution,however,offersaparadox:KidsshouldwatchevenmoreTV.What'sthecatchTheyshouldwatchtheirfavoriteDVDsinalanguageotherthantheirown.SincetheyalreadyknowHarryPorterbyheartintheirnativetongue,theycouldintuitivelyimprovetheircomprehensionofFrench,German,SpanishorMandarinChinese.Toimplementoursolution,however,themovieindustrywillneedtotakeabroaderviewofitsownbusinesslogic.Whetheryoulikeitordetestit,Hollywoodunitestheworld.Peopleineverycorneroftheglobewatch.movies,manyofthemdubbedintotheirnativelanguages.ThefacesofthesameHollywoodstarsgracethewallsfromBangkoktoBuenosAires.Andgossipmagazineseverywherediscusstheirlovelivesandperiodicnervousbreakdowns.Kids'rolemodelsThatfascinationrunsevendeeperamongtheworld'schildren.Kidslovewatchingmovies,ofcourseandtheyseetheirfavoriteonesoverandoveragain.Soon,theyknowthembyheart.Insteadofdividinguptheworldwithanelectronic"IronCurtain,"Hollywoodshouldmovetoatrulyglobalproduct.Inaglobalizedworld,thiscouldbeabrilliantwayofteachingthemlotsofforeignlanguagesanddosowhiletheyarehavingfun.EspeciallysincetheDVDtechnologyallowsthesamefilmtobeviewedwithsoundtracksaswellassubtitlesinavarietyofdifferenttongues.However,thereisasnag.Thetruthisthatthe.movieindustrydividestheworldtechnologicallyevenasitunitesitculturally.Itsplitstheworldintoregionalmarkets.FromtheIronCurtaintotheDVDdivideIneachmarket,themovieindustrywantstoreleaseitsfilmsaccordingtolocalmovie-goingseasonsandattheconvenienceofthelocaldistributor.Thissame"divideandrule"logicisalsofollowedinthereleaseofeachmovieonDVD.Asaresult,allDVDplayerssoldaroundtheworldcomewitharegion-codingfunction.Naturally,therearesemi-officialhackerswhocanhelpyougetaroundtheregionalcode.Infact,inEurope,modifiedDVDplayersthatcanplaydisksfromeveryregionoftheworldareprettycommon.Some64%ofDVDplayersinEuropeancountrieshavethemultiregionalcapacity.ButintheUnitedStates,mostDVDplayersremainlockedinasingleregionvariety.Onereasonisthatthe"Code1"countriesgettheearliestreleasesofallthebestmovies.Thebuilt-inpresumptionisthis:Onlythemoviebuffsthatlove"art-house5"foreignflickswouldneedthemultiregionalfunctioninAmerica'smarket.Yet,theUnitedStates,thepre-eminentglobalpower,isalsoacountrywherethenativepopulationspeaksfewestforeignlanguages.Americankids,infact,couldbenefitthemostiftheycouldwatchtheirfavoritemoviesinforeignlanguages.Theymayalsobetheoneswhoneedastronginducementtolearnforeignlanguagesandcultures.MyopicvisionOfcourse,the.filmindustrywouldbeupinarmsagainstthisidea.WhyItmaynolongerbeabletomaximizetheirprofitsiftheydidn'thavetheabilitytostackuptheirreleaseonDVDs.Afterall,theDVDmarketisrapidlybecomingthemostimportantmoney-makingsegmentintheentertainmentindustryasDVDplayersbecomebothcheapandwidelydiffused.Plentyof.parentswouldprobablybuyDVDsasalearningtoolfortheirchildren,iftheycould.However,thisissurelyamyopicvision.GlobalizationhasbeenthesecretofHollywood'ssuccess.Ithascontributedtoitscreativityasdirectors,writersandevenmoviestarsnowhailfromeverycorneroftheglobe.Itisalsopartofitsfinancialsuccess,as25%ofAmerica'sexportsarecomprisedofentertainment.Worldwidereceiptsonblockbustermoviesroutinelysurpasssumsearnedinthe.marketalone.Manyfilmswouldneverbemadewereitnotforthebuilt-inexpectationsofglobalreceipts.Asaresult,anythingthatpromotesglobalizationsuchasbetterknowledgeofforeignlanguagesamongkidsworldwideultimatelybenefitsHollywood.Alternatively,anythingthatdetractsfromitsuchascreatingdifferenttechnologicalstandardsforDVDplayersisalong-termlossforHollywood.Therefore,Hollywoodandtheentire.entertainmentindustryshouldwiseupanddropitsartificialwayofdividinguptheworldwithsomenewkindofelectronic"IronCurtain."Instead,itshouldmovetoatrulyglobalproductmovie,DVDs,withwidepickingsinalternatelanguagetracksallasapartofthesamepackageB全球性DVD^iJ分？你全世界的父母都抱怨當(dāng)今的孩子們電視看得太多了。 然而，我們的解決方法卻是一個(gè)反論：即孩子們應(yīng)該多看電視。其中有何道理他們應(yīng)該多看他們最喜歡的非母語(yǔ)的外語(yǔ) DVD由于他們已經(jīng)用母語(yǔ)把哈利.波特的故事牢記于心， 因此他們能夠憑直覺(jué)提高他們的法語(yǔ)、德語(yǔ)、西班牙語(yǔ)和漢語(yǔ)的理解能力。 然而，為了實(shí)施我們的解決方法， 電影工業(yè)需要修正其商業(yè)邏輯，拓寬視野。？?無(wú)論你是喜歡還是厭惡好萊塢，它卻統(tǒng)一了世界。全球各個(gè)角落的人都能觀看好來(lái)塢的電影。許多好來(lái)塢的電影都被翻譯成他們的母語(yǔ)。 好來(lái)塢影星們的同一副面孔無(wú)論是在曼谷還是在布宜諾斯艾利斯都到處可見(jiàn)， 熠熠生輝。各地的小報(bào)雜志都談?wù)撍麄?/p>