If you’ve ever visited a foreign country you’ve probably experienced trying to communicate but feeling like the wires were crossed and the messages weren’t getting through. Learn three easy ways of how you can improve your cross-cultural communication skills.
Know Yourself
A knowledge of self and behavior patterns are critical to effective cross-cultural communication.
Each of us has a personal culture. Often in North America, a person’s identity is centered around “I”.
The culture of “me” is the biggest cause of rifts between relationships. When two cultural entities meet the natural reaction is defensive.
Recognizing your personal triggers improves your cross-cultural communication. If you can recognize emotions, you can manage them. If not, you may try to push your values system on someone else.
Be Aware of Differences in Personal Space
Personal space is an important issue in communication. When someone enters your personal space you get a brain freeze and tune out – this is where miscommunication can occur. [Try it out: Have a conversation with someone and step closer and closer together. How difficult is it to maintain the chat?]
In Canada, our personal “bubble” is about one arm length (elbow to finger). However, in many other countries, personal space is much closer.
When speaking with someone from another culture and they enter your bubble, acknowledge your emotions so you can deal with it and move on. Recognize that the “affront” to your personal space was not intentional, but simply what the other person is used to.
Don’t Be Afraid of … Pauses in Conversation
Every language has a cadence. This is one of the most difficult things to learn about a language and usually takes about a generation to master.
Using large pauses is not typical in Canadian cadence, but in many cultures this is standard. In fact, if you don’t pause and reflect before answering it’s seen as rude and disrespectful.
This point is especially important when interviewing candidates from another culture. Keep in mind that when the person pauses it’s not because they don’t know the answer, but that they are used to reflecting before responding.
Question: What other ways can we improve our cross-cultural communication skills? What have you found works in your experience? Share your insights and examples in the comment section!
Vance,
Thanks for sharing this example! It’s so true that we take many things are granted as culturally neutral. This is a great reminder!
Lydia
I totally agree with Andy- For example a very common question that is asked by westerners is “what do you do for a living?” but asking that to someone from an Eastern culture can be considered very abrasive- like you are trying to evaluate the other person. But oddily (for Westerners) the same people that think it is abrasive to ask about what you do for a living- will openly ask friends how much money they make. That really catches people off guard. Funny how even questions can be taken for granted as culturally neutral but really can be a giant reflection of our culture- what we value and what we think is private/public.
Andy,
Thanks for the comment!
Watching how others interact definitely gives clues as to what is the norm in that society.
Lydia
Great point Lydia. While working for an international aid agency one of the cultural communication lessons I’ve learned is to watch how people from around the globe initially communicate with you. What we feel is the norm in our day to day conversations here in North American can be seen quite (and sometimes to our detriment) differently by those on the receiving end. Much like any form of communication – listening and being tuned into your audience is the best way to avoid confusion or a complete misfire of the message. Cheers, Andy