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Former Astronaut Views New Space

Thomas Reiter is the 7th German astronaut (1995, 2006) and the one with the longest duration in space (cumulative 350 days). In the interview he answers questions about extraterrestrial habitat designs, nations’ race for bringing satellites in orbit, the relation of NASA to SpaceX as well as the latter firm's effects of price dumping. However, some topics were too sensitive to be included.Read more ...

Yippie AI Yay? Re-imagining Bavaria’s Biotech ”System Domdey”

BioM Cluster Development, Bavaria’s biotech whip is searching to escape political and academic self-complacency which has been characterising its eco-system for a while. What is the changed narrative for a hub pampered by previous successes? Will Deep Tech suffice?Read more ...

Roller Coaster of a Pan-African Automotive Market

- Inside Auto Industry Diplomacy

Opportunities and disappointments of creating a pan-African automotive market for the industry. David Coffey, CEO of AAAM details what has been achieved in discreet negotiations and in hands-on activities. On gridlocks and regulatory suprise, government’s manoeuvering, or vehicle production volumes. Will indigenous carmakers benefit? Will development wither away? What about batteries, or alternative fuels?Read more ...

Communicating across different worlds

opinion

Bridging Cultures: Communicative Experiences along Chinese, English, and German

“Pardon?” A Chinese would rather politely say 不好意思 or «I am sorry, I did not listen exactly”. Instead of an impolite 啥?(What) one would reply in a neutral way 能再说一遍吗 or «Could you repeat that».You might be surprised how differently Chinese speakers handle difficulties of understanding each other. All the more so in case of thanking, apologising, declining something, criticising, shaking hands or exchanging business cards. Haiwen Dong, a linguistics graduate describes his experiences in Chinese, English, or German interaction, and offers some practical suggestions for being polite and courteous in spoken, nonverbal, and written communication.Read more ...

On Understanding and Being Understood in Multilingual Work Settings

So, in the workplace everybody communicates in English, right? You might be surprised what can go wrong even mastering three languages. Marco Arana recounts from his own personal experience shifting from academia to the blue collar world having to communicate in Spanish, German and, of course English.Read more ...