Cross Cultural Communication

Since the horrific comprehension of the final tally of the Great War lead to the formation of the League of Nations, countries have sought to come together in mutual security and trade, thus disincentiveising aggression by rendering it mutually harmful. that policy from its inception had limited success, as the outbreak of World War 2 and the Cold War will show, however, since the Glasnost period a remarkable phenomenon has brought these aims to fruition - globalization.

The advent of technology such as the internet has opened up the world to international trade and in response; nations have embraced that opportunity wholeheartedly. The result is that, what the League of car insurance quotes and later the United Nations failed to do, has been accomplished by international trade.

As an example I cite the interdependence of the USA and China. China exports gargantuan amounts of goods to the USA. The funds that China receives in payment are then re-invested in US Treasury Bonds that support the US economy. If the US were to attack China or its allies, China could sell off these bonds and decimate the US economy, the result, however, Gourmet Gift Basket be the destruction of the value of their foreign ($) holdings, and thus of their economy in equal measure.

Although, as shown, there are undoubted benefits to globalization, it also brings with it hurdles that need to be surmounted...globalization brings together cultures that may never have interacted in any great measure and brings an imperative for cross cultural communication. Whilst the perceived solutions to that are many and could be debated ad-infinitum an awareness of the dilemma and its manifestations would serve us well...that awareness might very well prove to be a solution in its own right.

Firstly then let us make some general observations about other cultures to give us an awareness that we can use as a basis for a common understanding:

To gain an awareness of any culture, firsthand experience is necessary. People often do not take up the opportunity to gain that experience because interaction commonly engenders apprehension, lack of confidence, feelings of fear, threat or loneliness. that is common throughout all cultures.
conference call rates Different cultures place stress and value on different things, therefore, whilst we might value a principle, that might seem irrelevant to another culture.
A single race or country often contains many different cultures, so generalization is inappropriate. Take India as an example; the vista that most of us picture, is that of a vignette from 'jewel in the crown'. Whilst that might be accurate in a very small region in the North West of India, the rest of that vast continent is culturally, completely different.
The last and perhaps most important point is that to really understand a culture you need to learn the language of that culture.

Now that we have a framework for understanding the characteristics of other cultures, let us look at some practical manifestations of cultural differences:

Other cultures often have different conversational frameworks such as when to open or close a conversation, or points of buyer structured settlement interruption or reply.
The use of tone, silence or non verbal communication will vary vastly between cultures.
The over-free expression of opinions or comment is normal in many cultures as a sign of honesty, whilst other cultures find that inappropriate.
Using humour appropriately varies vastly between cultures and can unintentionally be offensive.
Showing respect by not looking away during a conversation is common in the west but in many African countries that is not a recognized social construct and thus could inadvertently cause misunderstanding outside their culture.

Having gained a comprehensive overview of cultures and their manifestations, we have good base with which to successfully interact with any other culture and as long as that understanding is combined with a genuine honesty, sincerity and wish to get on, we will have mastered the conundrum of cross cultural communication.

Jack Waley-Cohen is the Operations Director of Lingo24 www.lingo24.com/translation-services-london.htmltranslation company London, a provider of high quality www.lingo24.com/legal_translation.htmlegal translations.