How different are we-Conversing across cultures.

A few years ago a fighter aircraft crashed near Canton, China and everyone onboard that plane died. When the Chinese Air force investigated the crash, they were stumped to find the cause. An audio clip extracted from the cockpit wreckage revealed that there was a major miscommunication between the pilot and the controller at the control tower, which was the reason for crash. The aircraft was a US make and was under a trial run by the air force. The pilot was Chinese, however the controller at the tower was an American, who was trying to warn the pilot that he was flying dangerously low because of which a problem had occurred and he needed to land immediately so he kept on shouting “pull up”. The pilot however thought he was being asked to fly higher so he “pulled the aircraft up”.
The incident clearly indicates that no matter how much we may be convinced that the world is becoming a global village and getting smaller, we cannot deny the fact that across different cultures, countries and continents, how people express themselves verbally, non verbally, through body language, and even in ways in which they interpret certain gestures or colors is very different. For example the flower chrysanthemum which is admired for its beauty world over is a symbol of death in Spain European(Poland. France) and Asian (Korea, Japan) countries. So we can expect some horrified looks if we present a white chrysanthemum bouquet to a French guy even though we may be totally unaware of the symbolism attached with that flower. Or for that matter in one particular case the ad campaign for a detergent brand failed miserably in the Middle East while it was a huge success everywhere else in the world. The ad agency was baffled about the possible cause of this disaster. On researching the whole issue they realized that the ads placed through billboards were interpreted incorrectly by the audience. In Islamic society people read from right to left unlike the rest of the world which reads from left to right. So they actually looked at the billboards from the section which was the last part. Viewing that billboard from left to right meant that a dirty shirt dipped in a bucket of that detergent was clean when taken out, but their interpretation was a clean shirt dipped in that detergent came out dirty. The ad agency’s lack of research and their assumption that people all over the world are essentially the same became the reason for the failure of an ad campaign which was a runaway success in other countries.

Many more such examples can be sighted which will testify this fact that communication becomes the key ingredient in the success or failure of any possible business deal, ad campaign or any other interaction which involves people of diverse backgrounds, culturally or even geographically. And this is become increasingly important in today’s business scenario which requires us to relocate to different geographical locations, interact with people of different cultures or simply working with a multiethnic workforce.
Which is why, companies across the globe today lay a very strong emphasis on designing neutral communication inside the organization. Talking about United States, today American companies have more women employees than ever before, a higher number of blacks and Mexicans, and a very large percentage of Asians which include Chinese, Japanese and Indians among others. So we can imagine that any message from the senior management to be cascaded down to the employees has to be designed in such a way that it doesn’t hurt the sensibilities of any particular community, religion or race.
Organizations are always trying to fill the gaps that arise out of communication or rather miscommunication due to misinterpretation. These gaps are more pronounced when we talk about interactions between East and West or native English speakers and non English speakers. It is very important for native English speakers to be sensitive to the fact that English is a foreign language for many of their counterparts around the world, and the extent to which it is understood and spoken may vary widely. For example, in some countries such as Japan, English is generally studied in junior high and high school, but the method of instruction emphasizes reading and grammar. Therefore, many Japanese may be more familiar with written English than spoken English. The Japanese are also very shy and hesitate to speak for fear of making a mistake. However, never make the assumption that a person does not understand English – it can cause embarrassing situations.Another factor to consider is that non-native English speakers around the world may be more familiar with British English than American English, or vice versa. The degree to which your colleagues speak English may also vary by region, occupation, educational background, amount of international exposure, etc. Native/bilingual English speakers should to learn to adjust the way that they speak when interacting with those who are less fluent in order to facilitate successful communication and prevent or minimize communication breakdowns.
Similarly when talking about the East West gap, Americans are less likely to pay attention to indirectness or hidden expressions and implied meanings often conveyed through body language, at work than in non-work envoirnments, these trends will not be apparent in East Asian contexts leading to a greater East–West cultural divide in work settings.

Academicians have categorized cultures into High context cultures and low context cultures for research purposes, but lot of our questions can be answered if we delve deeply into these. In high context cultures the meanings are expressed in physical context of interaction or are internalized in those participating in the interaction. In other words the meanings are often derived from non verbal cues, on the other hand, low context cultures rely more on specific and direct words for expressing.
The difference between high context cultures and low context cultures are many, for instance the importance of verbal messages in low context cultures is really high, secondly people from high context cultures consider the people form low context culture to be less credible, third, people form high context cultures are more skilled in reading non-verbal cues and they do not speak a lot and expect others to be equally skilled at taking non verbal cues.
Researchers have identified different styles of verbal communication across cultures: direct Vs indirect, elaborate Vs succinct etc. The direct style, which is used in western countries, involves use of explicit words and messages which clearly communicate the intentions, needs, wants of the person expressing. On the other hand in indirect styles there is more emphasis on non verbal expressions, implied meanings and hidden cues. This is more prevalent in Asian nations. For example rather than saying a flat no or showing direct disagreement, people in Asian cultures would prefer to say some thing like “I agree to you but we can look at alternative solutions as well”. Therefore two persons belonging to these two styles, conversing with each other might find it very difficult to understand each other or may often be victims of misinterpretations and miscommunication.

The dimension of elaborate succinct style deals with the richness or exactness or succinctness of the verbal expressions. For example many Middle Eastern cultures use the elaborate style. The Arab speakers use what appears to North Americans as exaggerated expressions, over-assertions, and repetitions. An implication for listening is that someone who is not aware of the Arabic verbal style could easily infer an incorrect meaning. In contrast to this Middle Eastern elaborateness the Chinese and Japanese styles are more succinct and crisp. The Japanese talk less and do not rely on expressed thoughts or feelings, considering these to be superficial and insincere. The Chinese verbal style is characterized by conveying a lot less than the actual. They often feel embarrassed when showered with praise and compliments which may affect one’s ability to respond to praise and compliment in a way that is expected in cultures that use the elaborate style.
These verbal styles are learned within cultural contexts of the users and therefore also reflect cultural values.

In essence we can say that even if we may accept a certain language as a universal language we can never truly understand and interpret messages and cues from our counterparts from other cultures which may not seem to be a very big challenge to us in the beginning but it certainly can pose a threat to our business relations and future multiethnic and multicultural collaborations. Hence it is very important to understand the importance of communication and lay strong emphasis on development of neutral communication styles. We should not only take into consideration, the sensibilities of different cultures but also try to avoid the temptation of tuning the message as per our styles and interpretation....