Communication gaps

Most educated Indians have a working knowledge of English and take it so much for granted that they find it hard to understand the difficulties of non-English-speaking investors. This was comically highlighted when a company from mainland Europe that was setting up operations in India called a press conference. The chief technology officer (CTO) who made the presentation was French and, predictably, uncomfortable in English. At one point, he began to answer questions in French. This prompted one journalist to ask questions in Hindi, setting off a four-way dialogue. The Hindi questions were translated into English by the company’s Indian representative, the CTO replied in French, and his answers were translated back into English by yet another official for the benefit of the audience.