Writing for Business Success/Introduction to Business Communication/Inter-cultural communication

“	All communication is more or less cross-cultural. We learn to use language as we grow up, and growing up in different parts of the country, having different ethnic, religious, or class backgrounds, even just being male or female - all result in different ways of talking	”
—Deborah Tannen

Communicating across different cultural and/or social groups can be challenging. Even if you come from the same cultural group as your audience, or speak the same language as them, think about times when you have tried to communicate with people much older or much younger than you, for example, or people with a completely different professional background to you. You may have found that they use different words for the same thing, or maybe use a lot of informal or colloquial language.

Non-verbal communication, including things like body language and gestures, can also mean different things to different people. Did you know, for example, that in some countries the 'thumbs-up' gesture can mean that everything is good, but in other countries it can represent the number one, the number five, or it can also be an insult? Similarly, pointing at something with your finger is perfectly acceptable in some cultures, but extremely bad manners in others. One element of preparation, then, when you are communicating with people from different cultural or social groups to yours, is to think about how you can avoid this type of misunderstanding.

Media

Watch this short video about the Staircase Model of Inter-cultural Communication. [2:29 min.]

The video describes four phases of learning in developing inter-cultural communication competence. These phases are a continuum of having no knowledge of other cultures, to awareness you aren’t communicating effectively, to practising flexible communication skills. The highest level, which most of us only aspire to, involves being able to apply a deep level of knowledge and experience to communication across many cultures.

Staircase Model of Intercultural Communication

WEnote

Where would you place yourself on this communication ‘staircase’ at the moment? For example, how well do you communicate with others who speak a first language different than your own? How easy or difficult is it for you to shift your communication style in different cultural contexts?

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