Aerospace & Aviation
Volume 1 • Issue 3
The Press for Harmonization
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Although the process of harmonizing standards and regulations worldwide is under way, it will take considerable time and effort to achieve complete harmonization. Just the task of reaching around the world, not only into different countries, time zones, languages and cultures, but also into different standard developing organizations (SDOs), with their own countries agendas, is a monumental task. But, the ultimate objective of free trade worldwide makes the endeavor of harmonized standards and regulations a worthwhile goal.
Meet Ronald Sterkenburg, an Assistant Professor at Purdue University and a professional who has first-hand experience in the need for harmonized standards. Sterkenburg was born and raised in The Netherlands and served in the Royal Netherlands Navy for over 20 years. During his tenure, he was primarily involved in the maintenance of Maritime Patrol Aircraft. "Most aircraft manuals are in English. If you don't speak English as your first language and you have to read this manual, it becomes rather interesting and extremely difficult to follow," Sterkenburg explained. "I know we discussed areas in the manual that people in America would never discuss, because to them it was so clear and didn't lend itself to interpretation," he continued. "To us and our limited English skills, I'm sure we designed totally different procedures and yet, we were reading the same manual. This actually could be dangerous."
As companies open up business across borders and continents, more and more are enlisting the help of language translation services to convert their software, marketing materials, product manuals, and Web sites into the languages and technologies of foreign markets. "The worst part about getting manuals translated is that translators aren't typically technical people and if you don't have a technical background, there are so many options for a single word and with scientific or technical information and terms can be inconsistent," stated Sterkenburg. "I worked on an airplane once where the original manual was in French and it was interpreted into German and then into English," laughs Sterkenburg. "So I think that wasn't a very good document."
Even between countries where the same language is spoken, there are vocabulary inconstancies. Although people speak French in both France and Quebec, it is not the same brand of French. Yet, the European Union (EU) is attempting to bridge the gaps between language and culture to come up with standards and regulations in which more than 15 countries can comply. "There are a lot of EU countries in which most people don't speak English," Sterkenburg said. "Perhaps the college graduates know English, but there are a lot of aircraft mechanics that never went to college," he continued. "So complying with standards and regulations is a big challenge."
"Culture and language are the two biggest obstacles for the EU as far as developing and enforcing harmonized standards and regulations are concerned," Sterkenburg suggests. "These countries just have different philosophies and ways of doing things. Powerful countries like Germany, England and France are always going to have differences in their operations and consequently, how they comply with the regulations."
Regulation and standards harmonization on a global scale is difficult at the very least. However, it brings together the collective expertise of varied cultures, with unique traditions. If international standards harmonization is the desired result, a strong spirit of cooperation and a demonstrated willingness to compromise must be mandatory ethics of the EU, it's committee participants and the national SDO committees they represent. Cooperation and compromise will go a long way toward achieving the mutual goal of one set of standards and regulations accepted worldwide.