Language Selection Policies in International Standardization – Perception of the IEC Member Countries
Abstract
International standards setting organizations have different language selection policies. These policies have, besides their financial aspects, also an important cultural/ political dimension. The standards setting organizations are either bilingual (English/ French), or unilingual (English), or multilingual (English, French and further languages). We have investigated the references of the 65 national members of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The main findings are a moderate preference for the use of both English and French for the technical work, and a strong preference for the use of English only for communication.. The obvious dominance of the English language is seen as a necessity, rather than an indication of a hypothetical Anglo-American linguistic/ cultural imperialism. Finally, some conclusions regarding language selection policies in international standards setting organizations are presented.Download Info
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Paper provided by Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam. in its series Research Paper with number ERS-2009-031-LIS.Length:
Date of creation: 02 Jun 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:dgr:eureri:1765016038
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Web page: http://www.erim.eur.nl/
Related research
Keywords: bilingualism; IEC; international standardization; language selection policies; multilingualism; unilingualism;This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2009-07-03 (All new papers)
- NEP-CUL-2009-07-03 (Cultural Economics)
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