Intercultural communication in transnational work

Just take a minute to reflect: On a Sunday, during a walk in town, you happen to meet a friend you know from your volunteer service. She is from some Mediterranean country, maybe Italy. You don’t know each other very well, but when you meet you both enjoy the chats together. Your friend greets you warmly and offers – what you interpret as – a profusion of compliments about your new look.

How would you understand the compliments? A) as a nice way of initiating a conversation, although you know they might be a bit exaggerated? B) You think they are embarrassing and not true?

Depending on your cultural background you may decide for a) or b).

The challenges in intercultural communication may show on three different levels: a) on the verbal, b) non-verbal and c) value level. In the following we can only give an introduction to this interesting but complex field.

• The verbal level:

The way people greet each other, engage in conversation, the topics they like to talk about and even how they structure the verbal approach to certain topics are influenced by culture. You have probably already heard of complex greeting rituals (with ritualized questions and answers about family, family members and their well-being) in African countries (Lüsebrink, 2016, 57). Cutting them short would imply an affront to politeness and may lead to a break-off in conversation.

Also to the opening of a conversation cultures have different approaches to. Some cultures like to start with a compliment “What a unique shirt you have today. The colour is just made for you.” (Mediterranean cultures like Italy, see also the example above), well knowing that the compliment is only meant as start for an informal verbal exchange.

Also simple questions like “How are you doing today?” of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-American cultures and the French “ça va?” (Lüsebrink, 2016, 61) are culturally bound. An earnest answer to them is not expected and would lead to an awkward situation.

Maybe you have experienced how differently turn-taking and silence in conversation can be, depending on the cultural embedding of the members of the conversation. Speakers from Germanic cultures will prefer an orderly sequence of distinct turns, while those cultures like the Mediterranean ones will probably start the own turn earlier, which may seem impolite to partners from other cultures. More than thirty seconds of silence seem inacceptable in German, Mediterranean and Anglo-American cultures and may be interpreted as lack of interest, while this is not so in the Finnish and Chinese cultures (Lüsebrink, 2016, p. 57).

Depending on the cultural background, some topics are more suited than others for conversation. In Germanic cultures to talk about private family and financial matters like childlessness and wages seems less appropriate than in other cultures (see also Lüsebrink, 2016, p. 59).

• The non-verbal level:

Just take a minute to reflect: Have you ever thought why conference tables are so large? Have you noticed differences in size between cultures?

https://pixabay.com/de/photos/treffen-moderne-zimmer-konferenz-1177454/

Body language (like gestures, mimic, eye-movement) and the physical distance of the own body kept during a conversation in relation to others (proximity) is a universal in all humans. All human beings, independent of cultural background are able to recognise emotions and states of mind like aggressiveness, ease, familiarity and so on. This is a universal faculty.

However, how these elements are displayed varies from culture to culture. For example, gestures can be misleading and may cause embarrassment, confusion or irritation. Think of the gesture symbolising the brief American statement “Ok!” In France the same gesture stands for “this is nothing” (see Pease, 2013, p. 108).

https://pixabay.com/de/photos/okay-a-ok-frau-ja-positiv-symbol-2385794/

Depending on the cultural background, gesticulating during a conversation may also not be appreciated. Frequent gesticulation can be seen as a sign of engagement and interest in some cultures (Mediterranean), while the same frequency can be understood as heavy emotional participation and manifestation of aggressive behaviour by other cultures (Germanic).

The meaning of facial expressions like smiling can be very different in different cultures. In most European cultures it can be taken as an expression of happiness or ease, some Asian cultures however show this reaction in situations of embarrassment or uncertainty. In European cultures to establish eye-contact is a means to build up trust and openness in a relationship. In other cultures, like Asian and Muslim ones, it can be seen as impolite and aggressive. In Muslim understanding, to establish eye-contact with a woman can compromise her honour and her integrity.

How much space a body takes during a conversation is influenced by culture and can have a symbolic meaning. It is known for example, that in some Arab, Asian, South-European or Latin American cultures the acceptable distance between bodies in formal encounters is less than in North-American or North-European ones. Also the positioning of the bodies is different: In Arab countries, for example, people stand closer in front of each other than in the U.S.A. or European countries. (See Lüsebrink, 2016, p. 62).

• The value level

Cultures have different values and attitudes that determine what members of a certain culture believe is important and how they interact with others [the culture dimensions see unit 1]. These values and attitudes naturally also show in communication. When communication partners differ strongly in their attitudes, their beliefs, their values, these differences can lead to misunderstandings and critical incidents in intercultural situations (Barmeyer, 2012, p. 84).