Translation Errors in the English Version of Tourism Publications free essay sample

Although many tourism publications have English translations interspersed between passages of Chinese, the quality of these translated texts is not so satisfying. Some postgraduates are often engaged in translating Chinese into English; therefore, as an English teacher, the author thinks it is necessary to discuss the errors in these translation works so as to develop good English taste among students. As for the errors in translation, there are linguistic errors and pragmatic errors. Linguistic errors, violating the language rule of English, cover such errors as spelling mistakes, subject-verb disagreements and so on. Linguistic errors are usually caused by the translator’s linguistic incompetence. In addition, each text is not purely a linguistic phenomenon, but â€Å"must be seen in terms of communication function, as a unit embedded in a given situation, and as part of a broader socio-cultural background† (Hornby, 2001,69). Since translation is regarded as an activity of intercultural communication, if the translator ignores the shift of the social and cultural situations, the transfer of pragmatic rules from his native language to the target language will lead to various pragmatic failures or errors during the inter-cultural communication. We will write a custom essay sample on Translation Errors in the English Version of Tourism Publications or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Therefore, pragmatic transfer is the main cause of pragmatic failures or errors, which can be classified into two categories: pragmalinguistic failure and sociopragmatic failure. Different from linguistic errors, the pragmatic failure or error conforms to the language rule and can be detected only in the context. In translation, pragmatic failures or errors are usually attributed to the ignorance of the translator toward the intentions of the source text sender and expectations and conventions of the target readers. Translation errors occur when a particular expression becomes inadequate with regard to the communicative function it is supposed to achieve. As to the English version of tourism publications, the translation errors can be classified into three categories: linguistic translation errors, pragmatic translation errors and cultural translation errors. 1. Linguistic Errors A glance at the English versions of these beautifully printed tourism publications will surely make you shocked by the numerous linguistic errors in them. Here the linguistic errors refer to no more than the lexical and grammatical errors, including misspelled words, inappropriate punctuation marks, misused words, and ill-constructed sentences as well, which are easy to be spotted. Lexical errors cover spelling mistakes, inappropriate punctuation marks, misused words and words collocations. Lexical errors are due to translator’s carelessness and ignorance; therefore they can be reduced without any difficulties. Grammatical errors cover the ill-structured sentences and all the other syntax structures that fail to function properly, such as subject-verb agreement errors, noun morphology errors, and verb-morphology errors etc. An ungrammatical sentence will cost readers more time to identify than a lexical error. At the same time, grammar mistakes always result in the unreadability of the text. Unfortunately, grammatical errors can be frequently seen in the English version of tourism publications, as displayed in the following short paragraph: Example 1 Forest resources is rich there with 120-odd plants, 600-odd herbs, hence a natural botanical gardens. Spread over hills everywhere, ever-green; In early spring is yellow; In may like snow is white; In late autumn is red; Like graceful maiden in summer is five-leaved chaste tree; In winter is red fruits. It is shocking that the short paragraph suffers so many mistakes that it completely lost readability. The first sentence violates the subject-verb agreement rule with the plural subject â€Å"resources† and the singular verb â€Å"is†. In addition, in common sense it is unmatchable between â€Å"forest resources † and â€Å"a natural botanical garden†. It is much worse that the following sentences are so ill constructed that they are unreadable and cannot be identified at all. 2. Pragmatic Translation Errors Most of the tourism publications are translated word for word and sentence for sentence. Therefore, even if a translation is lexically and grammatically right after careful correction, it often suffers pragmatic translation errors caused by inadequate solutions to pragmatic translation problems such as a lack of receiver orientation (which means the translator translates the source text without taking into account the target readers). The translator has to take account of the fact that a piece of information that might be â€Å"trivial† to the source text recipient, because of his source-cultural background knowledge, may be unknown to the target text recipient because of his target-cultural background knowledge-or vice versa† (Nord, 1991, 97). In the English version of tourism publications, the pragmatic errors are usually triggered by a bunch of cultural terms and proper names, which often hinder English-speaking readers from thoroughly understanding the text. 2. Pragmatic Translation Errors Caused by Cultural Terms Cultural terms, regarded as the vehicles of culture, refer to words and expressions peculiar to a certain culture, such as feudal emperors and dynasties, historical figures, idioms, allusions, etc. As the translator takes it for granted that English readers can understand the cultural terms concerned in tourism publications, he gives no further explanations or other references. As a matt er of fact, most of English readers, who lack the background knowledge about Chinese culture, are unable to appreciate these translations. The pragmatic translation errors are displayed in the following example: The carved stone is made up of the central parts of two characters â€Å"Wind† and â€Å"Moon†. Therefore the two characters are â€Å"without edges† or â€Å"boundless†. That means beautiful scenes here are boundless. The Chinese version, representing the uniqueness of Chinese culture, can be well enjoyed by Chinese readers. This part is also considered as a great challenge for translators, for foreigners don’t know Chinese characters and can’t understand the cultural connotations embedded in them. In the English version, though the translator endeavors to represent the original meaning of the source text by adding explanations, he still fails to make foreigners catch the cultural information embedded in the Chinese characters â€Å" †. After reading the English version, foreigners may understand that the view of this place is very beautiful, but may still have no clear idea about the carved characters on the stone, for they can by no means associate the â€Å"wind† and â€Å"moon† with â€Å"scenery† as Chinese people do. 2. Pragmatic Errors Caused by Proper Names Pragmatic translation errors can also be caused by the proper names translated into Pinyin, which, to English readers who know little about Chinese culture, would be no more than a mess of signs without any meaning. For instance: Example 3 There are many historical and cultural relics in Rizhao. The Ruins of Liangcheng and Donghaiyu are typical of the Longshan Culture more than 4,000 years ago. The pictograph of the Dawenkou Culture discovered along the Lingyang River was one of the oldest Chinese characters. The cliff inscriptions in Heshan were carved in the largest Chinese characters, and have been registered in the Guiness Records. Dinglin Temple where the famous literary theorist and critic Liu Xie, the author of Wen Xin Diao Long, proofread the Buddhist scriptures is situated inside the Fulai Mountain, known for its ancient culture. In the English version of 97 words (including punctuation marks) appears 10 Pinyins, only half of which can be understood as names of cities, rivers, temples, mountains or the literary critic in the text. The rest half of the proper names are inaccessible even to Chinese readers, let alone foreign tourists. For example, readers can find nothing in the text that can shed light on these two terms Donghaiyu and Liangcheng. The translation of proper names is a complex issue that can’t be tackled within a short chapter. However, as to the translation of proper names in the tourism text, it seems that Pinyin alone doesn’t work very efficiently. 3. Cultural Translation Errors Cultural translation errors are caused by an inadequate decision with regard to reproduction or adaptation of culture-specific conventions. Impacted by Chinese writing conventions, the English versions are always composed in a stereotyped way, which finds its expression in such aspects as cover-all contents and formal style, pompous diction and so on. Such stereotyped writings, unconventional to English readers, always result in misunderstanding. 3. Cultural Translation Errors Caused by Coverall Contents and Formal Style Cultural translation errors can be triggered by the coverall contents and formal writing style; namely, the English versions are inclined to cover all the things, necessary or unnecessary, in very formal languages. With detailed and formal description on every aspect of the place in question, ranging from locations, climate, transportations, food, facilities, hotels, to policies and economic issues, the English versions of tourism publications look like official repo rts lacking attraction. In addition, the stereotyped content and the structure of the text can be predicted even without reading it through. Such problems occur in almost every tourism publication issued by the official bureaus and agencies we have collected. However, due to different patterns of thought, these stereotyped writings cannot be well accepted by English readers, who, preferring the informal and succinct writing, would feel bored to read such long, flat and document-like texts. Thus the translator’s efforts proved to be no avail at all.

Writing an Anthropology Term Paper A Complete Guide

Writing an Anthropology Term Paper A Complete Guide Wondering how to write a 15-page term paper for your anthropology class? In this article, you will find a complete anthropology term paper writing guide that can make the writing of your anthropology term paper easier. You will learn about effective procedure and strategies that will help you save time and effort when doing research and organizing your term paper and allow you to concentrate on its quality to make it a polished expert project that deserves a high grade. What Is an Anthropology Term Paper? It is an academic paper based on library research on a topic approved by your professor and written from the anthropological perspective. The anthropology term paper has a specific citation format which is also used by several other social sciences. Besides, an anthropology term paper requires an expository style of writing that emphasizes the unambiguous presentation of scientific information and ideas and can be easily understood by any reader. When writing a term paper in anthropology, you should not just repeat certain information that you found in one or two sources like when writing a report that is often assigned to high school students. A college-level term paper requires more commitment and intellectual involvement when completing a report does. A term paper in anthropology has to present your interpretation and analysis of ideas and data found in several credible sources that are relevant to the topic of your anthropology term paper. When analyzing the data that you found in anthropological literature, you should organize it and summarize the key ideas to answer your topic question. But that is not enough. You have to present your own interpretation of the ideas and data that is you need to discuss the meaning and implications of your answers concerning the problems, ideas, and issues that you address in your term paper. Choosing a Topic A term paper in anthropology should be organized around a certain problem that is usually formulated as you explore the anthropological literature. So the first thing you have to do is to choose an appropriate topic that you are interested in and do preliminary research to check it for feasibility and consult with your instructor. When doing a preliminary reading, you will be able to formulate your research problem or a thesis statement. This is a very important step because the problem that you choose will be the focus of your paper. It will direct your research and limit your efforts. When doing research, you have to find credible scientific data that answer your research question and to find the ideas of different scholars who have already discussed these issues. It’s important that you use only the data that is needed to provide an answer to your question otherwise your term paper will lack unity and coherence. That’s why your reading and note-taking should be subordinated to a clear problem that you state during your preliminary research and reading. When you have chosen a topic and determined that enough information is available on it, you are free to proceed in doing your research. But, if you are facing difficulty in finding adequate information, don’t waste your time and find another topic. Here is a short list of possible topics for an anthropology term paper for your inspiration. Feel free to use them if you lack your own ideas. Anthropology Term Paper Topics Our Specialists Recommend Rituals, Culture, and Practices of Contemporary Hinduism Religious Beliefs in the Contemporary World Family Issues in Contemporary Japanese Society How Feminism and Diversity are Transforming Traditional Societies Lifestyle of the Paleolithic Age Medical Pluralism in The United States Environmental Crisis in The South Africa Social Status of Women in Ancient Egypt Class Structure in The United States How to Minimize Ethnocentrism International Students and Culture Shock Anthropology in Health Research Linguistic and Biological Diversity The Anthropology of Emotions The Use of Evolutionary Theory in Anthropology Doing a Research Before you start doing research, you should make a list of keywords related to your topic and research question. You may use brainstorming techniques and create a mind map of the key concepts and sub-topics that is sure to help you organize your reading and keep it focused. You may add or delete some key words during the research process as you have a better idea of your topic to make your research more relevant and up to the point. You may revise this mind map at any time. Creating a mind map or a preliminary outline can save you tons of time because it is easier to makes changes to reorganize your anthropology term paper by adding some sections to your mind map or crossing out some of them than rewriting the whole paper itself or starting it over again. Formulate your thesis statement. It should be well-defined and focused but you may need to revise it later. Write your thesis or research question in one or two sentences because it will control the development and the direction of your entire term paper. Now you can begin your research. You can find scholarly books on your topic in the library as well as articles in scientific journals. You can also check the internet resources and electronic databases to find relevant credible sources you that you can use for supporting your argument. You should take notes as you read and for every source that you plan to use for writing your term paper, you should write down the publication information on a separate page of your notebook or on an index card. You will need this information for your bibliography page. You should write important details, points for your discussion or examples and always distinguish between paraphrasing and direct quotes. Making an Outline As your reading progresses, you will have a better idea what information is needed for analyzing your problem and in which way it has to be presented in your term paper to make a logical and coherent presentation. Now it’s time to create a working outline which you can revise and elaborate as you need it. Keep in mind that you have to think about your term paper as a whole and ensure that it is thematically united and is integrated in structure. All academic papers generally consist of three parts: an introduction, the body, and the conclusion. All these parts must be logically connected and subordinated to the main idea of your paper. The goal of your term paper is to tell your readers about your analysis of the research question that you have formulated and researched and to provide your own interpretation of it. Your task is to make your term paper as easy to understand as it is possible. Structure of an Anthropology Term Paper The Introduction The introduction should present your topic and give some background information about it. You should state your research problem and describe in brief your strategy for doing the research and understanding this problem. Besides, the introduction should grab the attention of your reader and encourage him/her to read your paper. You should persuade your reader to make an intellectual effort and read the body of your paper. The best way to write an introduction is to do it when you have finished writing your body paragraphs. In this way, you will make your introduction the most effective. The Body The body of your term paper realizes your plan and strategy to analyze and interpret your material. Here you have to provide your argument and include specific details. You have to present the necessary information in a logical order so that your reader will be able to understand your ideas. You have to organize the body in terms of answering the questions, comparison and contrast, cause and effect. Your body must derive generalizations from data and support your generalizations with data. The Conclusion The conclusion is your last chance to impress your readers and remind them of nature and the significance of the research problem that you have formulated at the beginning. It should also summarize the meaning and the implications of your analysis. You have to tell your reader what you have actually discovered and what it means. You should concisely restate your plans and intentions and tell your readers in brief what actually happened as you conducted your research. In other words, you must summarize and synthesize the progress of your understanding the problem from the first opening statement through the in-depth research and detailed development of this problem in the body of your anthropology term paper. Writing a Draft Start writing your body paragraphs and concentrate on the content without paying much attention to minor grammar error or typos. You will fix that later when proofreading your final draft. You should write your term paper with your readers in mind and be explicit and clear so that your audience could follow your argument. You have to be concise but, at the same time, it is necessary to be complete. Never refer to some ideas that are not included in your argument unless you are completely sure that your readers are familiar with that information. Make sure that your readers have all the necessary data to follow your argument and understand your logic. Choose the most precise words to explain your ideas and always explain anthropological terms and concepts that you mention in your term paper. Follow your outline to ensure that logical connections in your term paper are explicit. A good idea is to use subtitles that will keep your material organized and help your readers to see the logic in your argument. You should keep your term paper balanced and include any material in your paper only if it is important for your argument. Revise, Rewrite, and Proofread You cannot expect to write the outstanding first draft that will bring you a high grade. Any writing process is always recursive and you are likely to do a lot of revising and rewriting to make your anthropology term paper impressive and be able to convey your ideas effectively. You will always need to rewrite some vague sections where your meaning is not clear. But even if your draft is more or less comprehensive, additional revisions and rewriting will only improve it. If you practice writing academic papers and get feedback on them, you will eventually develop a sense of what and when you have to revise, what parts of paper you need to exclude, and what material you need to rewrite. Practice makes perfect. One of the best anthropology term paper tiops you could get is be ruthless when revising your term paper. Don’t hesitate to cut out any excessive or imprecise words and throw away some sentences and even entire passages that do not communicate your ideas. Check the logical flow and make sure that your paragraphs have transitions words that help your readers follow that logic. When you are satisfied with your content, you need to finally check your draft and eliminate grammar, spelling, and punctuation error if there are any. Pay special attention to your verb tenses and make sure you do not overuse the passive voice. The Citation Format of Anthropology Papers All rules that were mentioned above can actually be applied to writing any term papers but anthropology papers differ from academic papers written in other courses because they have a distinctive citation format. You may check the American Anthropological Association Style Guide to understand how your anthropology term paper should be formatted. This format is easier to use because it requires using in-text citations instead of footnotes. It means that you will need less work as you have to include the complete bibliographic information for your source only once in the reference list. As an exception, you can use footnotes for citing your sources if you include many citations into one sentence to avoid distracting your readers’ attention from your logical reasoning and do not clutter the text of your anthropology term paper. You must give citations in every case when you use someone else’s ideas to avoid plagiarism.

Child psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Child psychology - Essay Example During the childhood of Jennie Hawthorne, there were no any takeaway meals or frozen meals, and there are still no computers and no refrigerators and this is far different from the common environment of children. The life of Jennie Hawthorne in Bethnal Green is full of struggles, from her own family, environment, and herself; however, these factors influenced and transforms her life. Hundred of studies already documented the association between poverty and children's health, achievement, and behavior. There is an observed correlation between poverty and child outcomes, and it has an effect on child and adolescent well being. The income of a family appears to be strongly related to the children's ability and achievement than to their emotional outcomes. In the life of Jennie Hawthorne, she grew up in a family that full of struggles in life and poverty, she even needs to quit from school and go working. Most of her life, she had illnesses and it affects her childhood life. Their community is full of crimes, and she still recalls everything that she witnessed. Children who lived and experienced poverty have lower rates of school completion. Jennie Hawthorne encountered inadequate nutrition and fewer learning experiences, instability of residence, exposed to environmental toxins, family violence, and dangerous streets. The East end always signifies diversity in culture, there are always new immigrants arriving and there is ethnic mix of the twenties. These diversities can be observed through the names and faces of the people, some of them are from Lithuania, Russia, Poland, and Italy and they joined the Irish who arrived in the place during the middle of the 19th century. The Irish who tried to escape from the famine in Ireland and people never had an English name. Everything about the place was still in the mind of Jennie, she still remembers during the time when there were still no any buses or trains and it seems that the whole street was their playground. Jennie still remembers the ships that were packed at London's great river and for the people they considered France as a dream. Jennie still remembers all her memories in Bethnal Green, as her parents are fighting, and she remembers who she dreamed to go beyond the East End of her childhood that her study and work take her to strange places. The recall about the place, demonstrates how the young Jennie Crawley inhabited a small and very happy world in the East End. There is greenery in Victoria Park and it seems that everything was already there in the place. Poverty significantly affect the child development. The socioeconomic status has relationship with the child health and it is observed in most industrialized countries. This is observed in the occurrence of poverty especially by lack of material resources. Poverty is not a static condition, and there can be many entries and exits for this situation. Jennie Hawthorne P 3 mortality and morbidity, and poverty also affects the child health as it jeopardizes their future adult health. Most of the adult chronic health problems like cardiovascular diseases are originated from the pregnancy and during the first years of their life. The status of poverty is linked to poor child development and they are likely to have problems in completing school and they have low scores in

Finance and Financial Management assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Finance and Financial Management - Assignment Example hat; organization is a place where in different departments work together in order to contribute in the long run productivity of the company as a whole (Lauby, 2005). Among number of departments work in an organization, the name of finance department is one of them, which has its own recognition and importance from the standpoint of a company as it deals with the management of the funds of the company as a whole. Among different functions and operations, usually initiated by the finance department, the name of capital budgeting is one of them. The main theme of this paper is to analyze the capital budgeting stance of the company, mentioned in the case study as a whole. There are total four questions that require being answered accordingly in this particular report. The essence of investment is extremely important from the viewpoint of an organization and there are number of methods from which an organization can analyze the stance of investment as well as appraisal in a perfect and efficient manner. Under the nose of Investment Appraisal, the name of methods like NPV, IRR, Payback and PI comes heavily and each and every method has its recognition and importance as far as analyzing the competitiveness is concerned. Mentioned below table is showing the cash flow which would have been generated by Bodmin Plc by considering the above cost benefit analysis. Net Present Value (NPV) is one of the most important methods, used for the purpose of Capital Budgeting (Lawrence J. Gitman, 2008). Net Present Value analyzes the future cash flow at the present time. The table of NPV is mentioned below, Internal Rate of Return (IRR) is yet another important methods that use in the process of capital budgeting. IRR is a point where in the future cash flow of a project or a company becomes zero (Bryman A, Bell E, 2007). Apart from the NPV, this particular method also used heavily by the companies and the analysis is mentioned below, A method that analyzes the efficiency of a

Power Authority and Influence. BrandMaker Assignment

Power Authority and Influence. BrandMaker - Assignment Example BrandMaker is a case of leadership entangled with power struggle between the top management staff. The organization has not only lost focus on its goals, but it has also lost touch with its customers and clients since there is lack of clear leadership emanating from the management. In this regard therefore, the leadership of this company is being faced by both internal management challenges and other challenges related to other external factors. Led by the CEO, Tom Morris, Brandmaker management is being faced by various key issues to which they must address. Though Brand maker has been a game shaper especially in the marketing and advertising sector over decades, its operational methodology and functionalism tested and achieved efficacy seen, it has to strategize to remain relevant and competitive. Advancement in information communication technology has changed the way businesses are operated across the world. This has resulted into the increased competition in all industry due to ease of access to market and clients. However, with the increase in technology each day BrandMaker needs to put in place measures that would it remain relevant in the industry and be on a level ground with other companies competing in the same market. Changes in technology pose a great challenge to BrandMaker since it calls for an overhaul of its functioning and operations. Each day, customers’ needs change thus calls for clear understanding of these needs for organizations such as BrandMaker to remain competitive. This therefore means for the firm to keep the lead as it has been doing in the past they have to invest in the improvement of their technology. This would mean better measures on how to respond to the rising customer demands. The CEO and the entire management therefore need to build and invest more in new and emerging technology and come up with new product lines. The management is also obliged to ensure there is smooth transition in replacement of their personnel. For instance Brand maker has enjoyed services of some of its highly ranked officers and a change in their position is not an easy task. John Goodwin, for instance has served in Corporate Identity Marketing Division (CIM), as the head for over a decade (Banahan & Casse, 2007). This department has had tremendous growth especially in the performance of the marketing department and his replacement would pose great challenge to the CEO. He must therefore ensure that there is not only a smooth transition, but also continued upward performance of that department. BrandMaker is also being compelled to merger with EAD () from some of its management personnel, thou the two have differences with regard to their respective companies’ profile. While BrandMaker is focusing on being creative and innovative; EAD on the other hand puts a strong emphasis on an independent and

Procurement Strategy In Uk Crossrail Project Construction Essay

Procurement Strategy In Uk Crossrail Project Construction Essay This dissertation is about investigating and evaluating the procurement strategy adopted in Crossrail project. A literature review is structured under first four chapters: (1) An Introduction; (2) Crossrail Project; (3) Literature review I; and (4) Literature review II. This is done to introduce the issue. This dissertation deals with the different procurement strategy applied for cross rail project. Cross rail being one of the biggest transportation project in Europe, have very complex procurement methods which should be very well planned. The thesis observes the methods of procurement adopted by cross rail by comparing it with different standard procurement methods and best practices used in the country. Research is carried out on three different areas of procurement. They are skilled resource procurement, type of contract used and demonstration of value for money. The initial survey carried out indicated that there is a skills shortage in Crossrail project and also some of the areas were identified which needed further clarification in using NEC3 contract. The dissertation was carried out based on the questionnaire developed as a result of literature review. Interviews were conducted based on the questionnaire. From the results of the research it was possible to conclude that Crossrail following robust project management techniques to deliver the project successfully. However it would be too early to reach a conclusion since the project is still well under progress. Acknowledgement First I would like to thank Mr Barry Wood for all his advice and help. It was a great help to have a supervisor like you. It was really interesting in discussing procurement with Mr Wood. Secondly thanks must go to the employees of Crossrail and TfL for agreeing to take part in the interview. I would also like to thank Mr Rupert Bruce for providing some journals related to my topic. Finally many thanks to all my friends and the almighty for being a great support and motivation throughout my work. Chapter 1 Introduction Rational for the research The continuing demand for developing transportation infrastructure projects is increasing day by day. This is putting tremendous pressure on public sector for development. Transportation has been a main function of government since long time. In the present scenario, it is difficult to manage and fund mega transportation project because of the financial crunch. This reduced the ability of government to implement big and unique projects by itself. Project delivery is the method by which government encourages the private sectors and other agencies for the development of infrastructures. Transportation megaprojects include huge capital investment, expert and competitive contractors, long period of time and a perfect delivery strategy to deliver the project in time, quality and within budget. To make such mega projects successful, a strong procurement strategy is required. A procurement strategy is to develop a framework keeping in mind the objectives and outcomes of the project. The con tractual and commercial strategy will be defined at the design and construction stage itself which will align the project team towards achieving the objective. A good procurement strategy will have a positive impact on projects performance in terms of time and cost. Client dissatisfaction is always related to late delivery of project, over budget and poor quality of work. This happens because less importance is given to value for money. The Latham report (1994) proposed change towards more collaborative culture. Partnering through the contract chain was seen as the most efficient way. The Egan report (1998) set out five key drivers which are important for the construction industry. They are committed leadership, client focus, integrated processes and teams, a quality driven agenda and commitment to people. This made a tremendous change in the industry. Innovative approaches in procurement and other areas of construction are encouraged. Value for money is given more importance than cost reduction. Crossrail Project This dissertation is mainly focussed on the procurement strategy in Crossrail project. Crossrail is one of the biggest transportation projects in Europe. Cross rail is the new high frequency, convenient and accessible railway for London and the South East. The project value is worth  £14.8 billion .From 2018, Cross rail trains will travel from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east via 21 km of new tunnels under central London. It will link Heathrow Airport, the West End, the City of London and Canary Wharf. Crossrail obtained the Royal Assent in 2008. Crossrail is divided into four distinct sections. They are Central section, western section, north-eastern and south-eastern sections. After Crossrail starts operation, 24 trains are expected to run per hour. This will add 10% to the transportation capacity of London. Crossrail will also reduce the journey time between many key destinations of London. CRL will be directly buying and managing a relatively small number of contracts with Tier 1 contractors. They, in turn, will be buying a wide variety of goods, works and services from a large number of smaller suppliers and contractors which form the supply chain for delivery. Cross rails approach to procurement is aligned with the UK governments achieving excellence in construction principles, including a fair allocation of risk and reward, early involvement of the supply chain, minimizing of interface risks, incentivizing performance and selection of suppliers on the basis of best value (NEC,2009). Research Goals 1.3.1 Aim The aim of this dissertation is to identify, and investigate different methods of procurement and the issues involved with it in the Crossrail project. Cross rail being one of the biggest transportation project in Europe, will have very complex procurement methods which should be very well planned. The thesis will observe the methods of procurement and the measures adopted to overcome the issues involved in cross rail. 1.3.2 Objectives In order to achieve the aim, the following objectives will be used, To examine the skilled resource procurement strategy of crossrail since crossrail will face shortage of skilled resources through its different stages of project. To establish the logic behind the type of contract used in procuring different contractors and different works involved in Crossrail. To analyse and observe on how the procurement strategy for cross rail is developed to obtain value for money. Outline Methodology of the Research The research process will be broken down into two key stages in order to meet the aim and the objectives indicated earlier. These are, 1.4.1 Literature Review This stage of the research process provides a comprehensive review of the relevant literature on different types of traditional methods of procurement. A review of cross rails policies and procedure will also be done. This is to develop a better understanding of the best practices in procurement and will help in the understanding of cross rail procurement strategy. The literature review will form the foundation for the research and provided a detailed background to the subject to enable the rest of the dissertation to be conducted. Dissertation Contents The second chapter will give more thorough introduction on the crossrail project. This chapter will review the project, its vision and objectives and the different procurement strategies adopted. Chapter three and four deals with different concepts of procurement. A literature review explaining NEC3 contract, value for money and skills issues in crossrail will be done. Chapter five starts with an explanation of how the case study area was chosen and thereafter sets out in detail the research methodology. It describes the tools used to make this investigation, describes the characteristics of the research sample, and the methods used to translate the results. Chapter six shows the work conducted and the results obtained. Chapter Seven will list out the main points from previous chapters to answer the questions which were set as objectives in chapter 1. This chapter will also include recommendations and suggestions for future work. Chapter 2 The Crossrail Project The Project Crossrail project is proposed to support the transportation requirements and economic development of London and southeast regions. The project comprises new tunnels running west-east through central London connecting directly with existing surface rail routes to Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west, and to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east (Crossrail Environmental Statement, p3). Crossrail is an urban transportation service, instead of a long distance type of railway transportation. It  is  a type of project in which different type of construction works are involved and all these works are carried out throughout the route together. Crossrail is a project which has different partners for delivery like Crossrail Central, London Underground, Network Rail, DLR, Canary Wharf Group and Berkeley Homes. Crossrail has five tunnelling drives, 21 km of twin bore tunnels under the centre of the capital dealing with the complexities that this involves (Crossrail, 2010). Crossrail also consist of construction of eight new underground stations which will be connected to the already existing Underground and rail networks and four over ground spurs including a connection to Heathrow Airport. Crossrail limited has changed form a promotional body to a world class body which is highly efficient and able to deliver a world class railway after gaining the Royal Assent. Crossrail limited was a 50/50 joint venture company between Transport for London (TfL) and the Department for Transport (DfT) until 5 December 2008 when it became a fully owned subsidiary of Tfl (Crossrail, 2010). Crossrails route has four distinct sections: a central section, within central London, and western, north-eastern and south-eastern sections extending into outer London and parts of Berkshire and Essex (Crossrail Environmental Statement, p6). New twin bore tunnels will be constructed in the central section and in some parts of south-eastern section. The Central Section The central section consists of the majority of the construction works. New stations will be built along the central route of the line at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel and Canary Wharf (Crossrail, 2010). The new twin-bore tunnels will extend between Royal Oak in the west and Pudding Mill Lane (near Stratford) and the Isle of Dogs, in the east. Access will be provided to the west and east end of the platforms by the construction of two entrances and ticket halls in all the new stations except the Isle of Dogs station and probably Whitechapel station where this facilities will not be provided. For every Crossrail station, connections will be given to the already existing stations which will allow the passengers to transfer to other services, such as the Underground, Docklands Light Railway, other mainline services such as Thameslink, and bus services. Shafts will be provided at regular intervals throughout the route which will be used for emergency access, escape and ventilation. These shafts will be connecting the tunnels with the surface. Some of these shaft structures will be near to the new stations, whereas others will be located on their own. In addition, some temporary shafts will be constructed for tunnelling purposes, and will be filled in once construction is completed. (Crossrail Environmental Statement, p30) The Western Section In the western section, there may be a requirement to change the existing Great Western mainline between Maidenhead and Paddington, such as new or realigned track. Added to that, an overhead electrification will be installed along the route west of Stockley Road (Hayes). For this purpose, erection of steel gantries will be required at about every 50m intervals. Demolition or reconstruction of numerous bridges will be required as a result of overhead electrification in order to provide overhead clearance for the electric wires. Major engineering works like construction of a flyover will be required at Stockley to allow access for Crossrail trains to and from Heathrow Airport. New sidings for stabling Crossrail trains will be provided at Maidenhead, West Drayton and Old Oak Common. The stations at Maidenhead, Slough, West Drayton, Hayes Harlington, Southall, West Ealing, Ealing Broadway and Acton Main Line will be remodelled to various styles in order to accommodate Crossrail trains a nd to provide more improved and efficient facilities for passengers such as new ticket halls, escalators, bridges and lifts. At a further five stations, platform extensions will be required to serve the Crossrail trains. (Crossrail Environmental Statement, p39) The north-eastern section The proposed works in the north-eastern section are renovation of Romford and Ilford stations, extension of platform at nine different stations, a new depot and sidings west of Romford station, construction of an underpass in order to provide access for trains, new sidings for construction purposes at Alders brook and Pit sea; new sidings for stabling trains at Gidea Park and Shenfield; and a new freight loop (a single track dedicated to freight trains) between Goodmayes and Chadwell Heath, to replace an existing loop at Manor Park (Crossrail Environmental Statement, p44). The south-eastern section East of the Isle of Dogs, the twin-bore tunnels from the central section will continue under the River Lea, before emerging on the North London Line at a portal near Victoria Dock Road and Custom House station. New shaft structures will be built at Blackwall Way and the Limmo Peninsula. New twin-bore tunnels will be driven beneath the Thames to link North Woolwich with Plumstead station on the North Kent Line. New portals will be located at each site and shaft structures will be constructed at Warren Lane and Arsenal Way, in Woolwich. Two new tracks will be provided beside the North Kent Line between White Hart Road in Plumstead and a point about 1,200 m east of Abbey Wood station, to serve up to 12 Crossrail trains per hour in each direction. This will require works to two road bridges and replacement of two footbridges. Custom House station and Abbey Wood station will be reconstructed. Silvertown station, which is likely to have been closed already under powers to construct the Doc klands Light Railway extension to Stratford International, will be demolished. Passive provision will be made for a new Crossrail station at Silvertown, should this become desirable following redevelopment of nearby sites. New overhead electrification will be required throughout this section. In order to accommodate this, the existing Connaught Tunnel, which runs between Royal Victoria Dock and Royal Albert Dock, will be reconstructed. Manor Wharf, in Belvedere, will be refurbished and used to load excavated material onto barges. (Crossrail Environmental Statement, p48). 2.2 Crossrail Delivery Strategies Crossrail has procured a Program delivery partner and a Project delivery partner. The project delivery partner is Bechtel, which is responsible for the delivery of central section of crossrail. The program delivery partner is the Transcend consortium made up from Aecom, Nichols Group and CH2M Hill. Program delivery partner will be responsible for the overall management of the project. (NCE, 2012) Figure 2.1 Crossrail Delivery Strategy. Source: Michael A Kay, p155, 2009 2.2.1 Crossrail Program Delivery Partner The role of Transcend is to coordinate throughout the project. Since the crossrail project is split into many small contracts and small section of works, the major function of program delivery partner will be to manage the interface in merging the different components of work into a single and efficient railway system. To achieve this, program partner will be working closely with National Rail, London Underground Limited and Rail for London. The program partner is also responsible for the work of stations which are privately funded by developers like Canary Wharf Group and Berkeley Homes. The program delivery partner will be closely working with crossrail limited as an integrated delivery partner. Staff for the program delivery team will be chosen on the basis of efficiency and regardless of the employer. Integrating the two teams in the early stage will be safe for the clients and risks can be shared. In the later stage, if everything is running smoothly, CRL can hire more of its own staff and can reduce the number of staff in program partner. This will increase more in-house control. The role of program delivery partner is very broad as compared to the project delivery partner. (NCE, 2012) 2.2.2 Crossrail Project Delivery Partner The project delivery partner will be responsible for the delivery of Central Tunnel Section (CTS) in which stations and systems are also included. Bechtel will manage the procurement of all the contracts which will be responsible for delivery of central section. Although the contract will be between CRL and the contractors, the project delivery partner will be acting on behalf of CRL. The CTS is very well defined and therefore will require more traditional approach of project management. The main responsibilities of project delivery partner will be implementation of engineering design, managing interface within the central section, procurement, testing and commissioning. (Michael A Kay, 2009) Both delivery partners are expected to have strong inputs in finalizing the procurement strategy. Both should make important decision like size of contract and incentivization structure to get maximum output and quality. 2.2.3 Crossrail Stakeholders Crossrail being a mega project will have many stakeholders. The table below shows all the government and private stakeholders of Crossrail: Stakeholder Role Department for Transport(DfT) Co Sponsor. Main interface to national government and HM Treasury Transport for London(TfL) Co Sponsor. Main interface to local government, the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the Mayor of Londons office. Owner of the central section. Crossrail Limited(CRL); previously Cross London Rail Links Limited(CLRL) Delivery agent. Formerly a 50/50 joint venture of TfL and DfT, now a wholly owned subsidiary of TfL. Main interface to the delivery supply chain, including both the project and program delivery partners. National Rail (NR) Industry partner. Responsible for the operation, maintenance and renewal of the National Rail network. Infrastructure manager of crossrail end to end rail systems. Main interfaces to train operating companies (TOCs) and Freight Operating Companies (FOCs). London Underground(LUL);a TfL subsidiary Industry partner. Responsible for the operation, maintenance and renewal of the National Rail network. Infrastructure manager of the central section stations, except Paddington. Main interface to the PPP and PFI LUL contractors. Rail for London(RfL); a TfL subsidiary Operator franchising authority or shadow operator of crossrail. Infrastructure manager of crossrail stations at Paddington, Isle of Dogs and Woolwich. Docklands Light Railway(DLR); a TfL subsidiary Industry partner. Responsible for the operation, maintenance and renewal of the Docklands Light Railway transport system and for providing crossrail limited(CRL) with access for proposed modification of the DLR British Airports Authority Owner of the Heathrow spur Canary Wharf Group(CWG) and Berkeley Homes Group(BH) Developers that have agreed to make contributions towards the cost of stations at the Isle of Dogs and Woolwich respectively. (Table 2.1 Crossrail Stake holders and roles. Source Michael A Kay, 2009) Chapter 3 Literature Review I 3.1 Skills Issues for Crossrail Being a mega transportation project, Crossrail will be facing many skills shortage in different departments of its works. According to Crossrail Skills and Employment Strategy, July 2010, the following skills issues will be faced by Crossrail: 3.1.1 Ageing workforce Across the construction industry and engineering fields there is an ageing workforce and for many years youth were not attracted towards the industry because they did not treated it as an attractive career option. The major issue is that the age profile of Registered Engineers has been rising steadily for 20 years. Now the condition is that almost 50 percent of the Registered Engineers have either crossed their retirement age, or will be reaching their retirement age in 10 years. In London, the issue is particularly stark with 38 per cent of the engineering workforce aged 45 to 64, and only 10 per cent aged 16-24 (Crossrail Skills and Employment Strategy, 2010). Although there was a remarkable growth in construction industry since the early 1990s, the expansion the workforce was not even. It was different among different age groups. The number of older workers aged 55 years and over in the industry has increased by 65 per cent since 1990, while those aged 24 and under has fallen by m ore than 40 per cent over the same period. (CITB Construction Skills, 2011). 3.1.2 Underground construction skills gap Crossrail will have a huge requirement of skilled tunnellers.But the main problem is that since the last 30 years, the construction industry which is involved in underground works, has suffered from cyclical peaks and troughs of work due to which it failed to maintain an experienced workforce because the work were lacking continuity of employment. Not only Crossrail but there are a number of major projects in London like a number of National Grid tunnels (2009-2016), Thames Water tunnels Thames Tunnel (2012-2020) and Lea Tunnel (2009-2014), and London Underground (LU) line upgrades from 2010 onwards. On an international level, there is the  £2.5bn expansion of the Copenhagen Metro, and the 3bn Dublin Metro will be delivered between 2009 and 2018 (Crossrail Skills and Employment Strategy,2010). There is no estimate of labour available for this project but the amount of funds required for this project indicates that a huge number of workforces will be required to execute the work. T he effect of these entire projects will definitely create a tunnelling skills shortage and this can only be overcome by giving proper training to a significant number of construction workers. 3.1.3 Logistics training needs While excavating for crossrail tunnels, a huge quantity of excavated materials will need to be removed from the site. Although Crossrail has to remove much of the material by using rail transport and also by using barges, some materials will be removed by using road transportation system. Also, the road transportation system will be required to deliver the materials required for the station site. According to Crossrail, there will be around 3,500 frequent lorry drivers. In addition to these drivers, there will also be a small number (around 25) of operatives at consolidation centres, around 60 people with logistics skills at site operations and around 20 at lorry holding areas and central control. (Crossrail Skills and Employment Strategy, 2010) 3.2 NEC3 The Construction Contract The NEC is a major attempt to draft a simple and direct standard form contract from first principles without attempting to build upon the standard forms that already exist. The specification prepared in 1987 set out the aims of those drafting the NEC. 3.2.1 Overview As per Fenwick Elliott, 2007, the aims were to: Attain an advanced degree of clarity when matched to other existing contracts; Use of a simple language which is commonly used and avoid legal jargon; Repeat identical phrases if possible; Specifically and unmistakably allocating roles and responsibilities to the right Person; Aim for clarity above fairness; and Avoid including details which can be more adequately covered in a technical specification. To summarize, it can be said that using three core principles like flexibility, simplicity and clarity, the authors drafted core clauses which are applicable to all NEC contracts. The core clauses were then used as the basis for six main options (Nicholas Gould, 2007) .Under NEC3 these six main options remain: Option A (priced contract with activity schedule); Option B (priced contract with bill of quantities) provides that the contractor will be paid at tender prices. Basically, a lump sum contract approach; Option C (target contract with activity schedule); Option D (target contract with bill of quantities) provides that the financial risks are shared between the contractor and the employer in agreed proportions; Option E (cost-reimbursable contract); and Option F (management contract) a cost-reimbursable contract, where the risk is therefore largely taken by the employer. The contractor is paid for his properly incurred costs together with a margin. As per the experts of the NEC contract, the greatest strength of NEC is that it believes in partnering approach and at the same time adopts a project management technique which is proactive. There are perhaps three ways that this is clearly demonstrated in the NEC form. First one is the early warning system. According to this system, early identification of problems involved in the project and finding an early resolution is encouraged. The early warning system says that an experienced contractor would have or ought to have recognized the need to give the warning failing which, the contractor will not be compensated for the issue. Therefore contractors are encouraged to be active in early warning procedures so that any problems arising in the future can be avoided in the initial stages and inadequate cost recovery can be avoided. Second, those risks for which the employer is not expressly responsible under clause 80.1 are risks for which the contractor is liable. Finally, the target cost option most clearly reflects the early warning proactive management approach by affecting the financial bottom line of the parties, in particular the contractor (Fenwick Elliott, p7, 2007). 3.2.2 Target cost contracts In traditional form of contracts, a lump sum contract is used to carry out the work on the basis of which contractor will be paid. This sum will only be adjusted for the changes which will be done by employers or for any other risk items which will be mentioned in the contract for matter such as design errors. In this type of approach, the work will always be awarded to those contractors who quote the lowest price to do the job. In the present scenario, this type of procurement is highly discouraged and rarely practiced especially in the public sector department where best value or value for money is mostly preferred. It is now usual in the public sector where best value applies for procurement systems to provide for payment to the contractor based upon its recorded costs. To make sure that there should be no cost overrun which will be difficult to control in the future, a target for these costs is fixed at the beginning stage. This target is adjusted in such a way that any changes made by the employer and other price risk allocated to the employer under the contract are taken into account. Incentives are given to the contractor so that cost can be kept minimum. To ensure this, a gain share / pain share mechanism is fixed at the initial stage of the project. The costs are recorded and compared with the target cost. Any saving from the work will be shared between the contractor and the employer in a pre-agreed manner. Same thing happens when the recorded price exceeds the target price. 3.3 Value for Money Value for money is always beneficial to the client. It means that the project is worth doing and is more refereed in business terms rather than financial terms. Value for money is all about creating a better working environment. The term value means to make sure that a right choice is made about getting best balance of benefits in terms of cost and risk. Value management is a defined and systematic approach for the analysis and development of a project so that chances of achieving these requirements are increased and value for money will be achieved. Value engineering is a continuous process in which all the components and processes involved in construction are critically appraised to determine whether better value alternatives or solutions are available. (OGC, Risk and value management, p7, 2007). This helps in reducing wastage and managing all those inefficient processes involved in the different stages of construction. Value management is very important because it gives an option for stakeholders to give their input in the project by encouraging more participation, teamwork and end user buy in. The benefits which can be obtained by following value management approach is more focus on business needs, more flexibility to make the future needs simple, taking stakeholders into consideration to get different views and developing more options, considering various options by being innovative and creative, prevention of unnecessary wastage and inefficiency and encouraging teamwork to find solutions. (OGC, Risk and value management, p8, 2007). Value management aims to maximize project value within time, cost and quality constraints. However, sometimes extra capital expenditure is required at the start of the project to improve whole life project value. It is important that the value management method is based on the whole-life cost of ownership instead of acquisition alone. Issues of health and safety, sustainability, design quality, build ability, operation and maintenance and disposal should all be considered during value management reviews and evaluation of options (OGC, Risk and value management, p9, 2007). Departments should act as intelligent customers by discussing with suppliers all the elements of the contract price including level of service, timescale of the assignment, skill mix of the suppliers team and how costs are to be remunerated. Optimizing the cost of delivering a service or goods over the full life of the contract rather than minimizing the initial price, introducing incentives into the contract to ensure continuous cost and quality improvements throughout its duration, aggregating transactions to obtain volume discounts, collaborating with other departments to obtain the best prices and secure better discounts from bulk buying is the best approach. Developing a more effective working relationship with key suppliers to allow both departments and suppliers to get maximum value from the assignment by identifying opportunities to reduce costs and adopt innovative approaches. Chapter 4 Literature Review II 4.1 Inspiring Future Talent It is very important for the crossrail project and also the for the industry that more and more young people get attracted towards the construction and engineering industry and choose it as their career paths. CRL will inspire young people by offering them with opportunities to work in the industry in the form of work placements and Apprent

Prejudice :: essays papers

Prejudice Immigrants entering our country have always experienced discrimination due to many different prejudices. ^How they would not rent to Negroes or Puerto Ricans. How Negroes and Puerto Ricans were given the pink slips first at work^ (Colon 243). Prejudice impacted various aspects of the lives of immigrants including where they lived, their success, and their careers. The lives of immigrants were impacted everyday due to the prejudices they encountered. For instance, in the story ^Blues Ain^t no Mockingbird^, a black family was impacted by the harassment of white men because the black family was assumed to be on welfare, therefore; they were videotaped against their will (Bambara 119-124). Another more extreme example that Houston illustrates would be the case of the Japanese-Americans who were thrown into detention camps during the war. Their loyalty for the country was questioned and they had to leave many of their possessions behind because of their nationality and the hatred of the enemy during the war (111-116). These immigrants encountered prejudices by the way they looked and their race. In the selection ^To Be a Slave^, it is said that: It is estimated that some fifty million people were taken from the continent during the years of the slave trade. These fifty million were, of course, the youngest, the strongest, those most capable of bringing great profit, first to the slave trader, and later to the slave owner. (Lester 84) Lester^s illustration shows that many African people were taken because they were black indeed. If the people who resided in Africa were white, or the same as Americans or Europeans, there probably would not have been much of a problem. Success was stressed on the lives of immigrants. Immigrants had to try harder then other people. In the story ^The Fat of the Land^, Yezierska points out that success was extremely stressed. Hanneh Breineh, a polish immigrant, stressed the importance of becoming successful. She did not want her children to have it as bad as she did. She desperately wanted them to become American. By the end of the story, all of her children are successful and rich in some way (33-49). ^^What did I tell you? In America, children are like money in the bank^^(Yezierska 42). Success is also a key point in the story ^Two Kinds^ by Amy Tan. In this story, a Chinese mother and daughter immigrate to California after losing what they had in China. The mother believed ^you can be anything you wanted to be in America.^ Therefore, her mother tries to make the little girl a prodigy.