International relations is a subject taught in all the major universities of a country. In today’s world, a country’s progress depends a lot upon its strategic ties with other countries. Not only good relations with other countries promote peace and stability in a region, they also directly affect the economic growth or abeyance of a country. It is hard to enumerate the factors that play their role in bringing two countries close to each other at one point in time, and creating a state of cold war between the two at another time. But it is established that a country which maintains friendly relationships with other countries, thrives politically and economically as well. It has more trade partners as well as more allies in the world. In the modern world, a country which develops need based relationships has nothing to lose. China is a living example of a country which maintains cordial ties with developed, developing and under-developed countries, utilizing these relations to the best possible way. Translators and translation services become a need, when we talk about inter-cultural communication.
Relations between countries are often strained, due to stratification and polarity. Nations follow different political and economic systems from each other, resulting in polarity. Stratification which means the uneven access to resources of the world often leads to enmity between two countries and may even lead to war. History has shown that when the world had a capitalist and a communist bloc, this polarity led to enmity and resulted in wars. There had been much debate over the pros and cons of a uni-polar world. The international system is stratified in the light of which states have vital resources, needed to survive in the world. These resources can be natural like oil, gas and water resources, military strength or economic power. In order to benefit from the resources of other countries or to barter, communication between countries is necessary. It is therefore the responsibility of the translation companies to help build an atmosphere of mutual trust and confidence, for they serve as “links”, intermediaries in all inter-cultural dealings.
The distinction between the haves and have-nots comes from the stratification of control and resources. Stratification of resources and power, develop a system which only becomes unstable when the dominant powers are challenged by the states beneath them. A group of second-tier powers often tries to claim the resources and economic power possessed by the first-tier powers, resulting in confrontation, enmity and war. The rising powers, continually strive to gain the status of the supreme powers and they can go to any extent to gain this status. But after the two bloody world wars, states have changed their strategies to claim resources around the world. They use the techniques of economic statecraft and diplomacy. Here too translators have to bear this responsibility of spreading across the message of peace and harmony across the world. Nothing is more precious than human life. A victory that takes away the lives of thousands of people isn’t worth celebrating. With the lethal weapons, now invented by mankind, it is incumbent upon political leaders to use the art of diplomacy.
A few strategies can be adopted, to avoid confrontation and also achieve the required results. According to Karen A. Mingst there are a few techniques that might be adopted.
1) The target state can be given a hint, publicly or privately, that a certain policy adopted by it, causes distress for other countries.
2) It should be impressed upon the state that a certain course of action would result in amicable relations between the two countries.
3) An international body, e.g the UN can be approached to legitimize the demand and gain support from other countries as well.
4) Offer the target state some incentive to adopt the desired course of action in the form of foreign aid or diplomatic recognition.
5) Take away the needs of the target state like foreign aid, sever diplomatic ties and stop any trade that takes place between the two countries.
The above few methods might prove useful to avoid confrontation which only results in killing thousands of innocents and is also an economic burden for countries. In the present world, translation companies and translators have to step forward and play their role in inter-cultural communication.
