A morepractical approach may be to use an intermediary or a translator. For example,if our company has a foreign subsidiary, we can delegate the communication jobto local nationals who are bilingual. Or we can hire bilingual advertisingconsultants, distributors, lobbyists, lawyers, translators, and otherprofessionals to help us. Even though Vons operates within the United States,management hires bilingual personnel to help its Hispanic customers feel morecomfortable.
Theoption of teaching other people to speak our language doesn't appear to be verypractical at first glance; however, many multinational companies do, in fact,have language training programs for their foreign employees. Tenneco, forexample, instituted an English-language training program for itsSpanish-speaking employees in a New Jersey plant. The classes concentrated onpractical English for use on the job. According to the company, these classeswere a success: Accidents and grievances declined, and productivity improved.
Ingeneral, the magnitude of the languagebarrier depends on whether you are writing or speaking. Written communicationis generally easier to handle.
Barriers to written communication
One survey of100 companies engaged in international business revealed that between 95 and 99percent of their business letters to other countries are written in English.Moreover, 59 percent of the respondents reported that the foreign letters theyreceive are usually written in English, although they also receive letterswritten in Spanish and French. Other languages are rare in international businesscorrespondence.
Because many internationalbusiness letters are written in English, North American firms do not alwayshave to worry about translating their correspondence. However, even when bothparties write in English, minor interpretation problems do exist because ofdifferent usage of technical terms. These problems do not usually pose a majorbarrier to communication, especially if correspondence between the two partiescontinues and each gradually learns the terminology of the other.
Moresignificant problems arise in other forms of written communication that requiretranslation. Advertisements, for example, are almost always translated into thelanguage of the country in which the products are being sold. Documents such aswarranties, repair and maintenance manuals, and product labels also requiretranslation. In addition, some multinational companies must translate policyand procedure manuals and benefit plans for use in overseas offices. Reportsfrom foreign subsidiaries to the home office may also be written in onelanguage and then translated into another.
Sometimesthe translations aren't very good. For example, the well-known slogan"Come alive with Pepsi" was translated literally for Asian markets as"Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave," with unfortunateresults. Part of the message is almost inevitably lost during any translationprocess, sometimes with major consequences.
Barriersto oral communication
Oralcommunication usually presents more problems than written communication. Ifyou have ever studied a foreign language, you know from personal experiencethat it's easier to write in a foreign language than to conduct a conversation.Even if the other person is speaking English, you're likely to have a hard timeunderstanding the pronunciation if the person is not proficient in English.For example, many foreigners notice no difference between the English sounds vand w, they say wery for very. At thesame time, many people from North America cannot pronounce some of the soundsthat are frequently used in other parts of the world.
Inaddition to pronouncing sounds differently, people use their voices indifferent ways, a fact that often leads to misunderstanding. The Russians, forexample, speak in flat level tones in their native tongue. When they speakEnglish, they maintain this pattern, and Westerners may assume that they arebored or rude. Middle Easterners tend to speak more loudly than Westerners andmay therefore mistakenly be considered more emotional. On the other hand, theJapanese are soft-spoken, a characteristic that implies politeness or humilityto Westerners.
Idiomaticexpressions are another source of confusion. If you tell a foreigner that acertain product "doesn't cut the mustard," chances are that you willfail to communicate. Even when the words make sense, their meanings may differaccording to the situation. For example, suppose that you are dining with aGerman woman who speaks English quite well. You inquire, "Morebread?" She says, "Thank you," so you pass the bread. She looksconfused, then takes the breadbasket and sets it down without taking any. InGerman, thank you (danke) can also be used as a polite refusal. If thewoman had wanted more bread, she would have used the word please (bittein German).
Whenspeaking in English to those for whom English is a second language, followthese simple guidelines:
• Try toeliminate "noise." Pronounce words clearly, and stop at distinctpunctuation points. Make one point at a time.
• Look for feedback. Be alert to glazed eyes or signsof confusion in your listener. Realise that nods and smiles do not necessarilymean understanding. Don't be afraid to ask, "Is that clear?" and besure to check the listener's comprehension through specific questions.Encourage the listener to ask questions.
• Rephraseyour sentence when necessary. If someone doesn't seem to understand whatyou have said, choose simpler words; don't just repeat the sentence in a loudervoice.
• Don't talkdown to the other person. Americans tend to overenunciate and to"blame" the listener for lack of comprehension. It is preferable touse phrases such as "Am I going too fast?" rather than "Is thistoo difficult for you?"
• Useobjective, accurate language. Americans tend to throw around adjectivessuch as fantastic and fabulous, which foreigners consider unrealand overly dramatic. Calling something a "disaster" will give rise toimages of war and death; calling someone an "idiot" or a"prince" may be taken literally.
• Let otherpeople finish what they have to say. If you interrupt, you may misssomething important. And you'll show a lack of respect.
CULTURALDIFFERENCES
As we know,misunderstandings are especially likely to occur when the people who arecommunicating have different backgrounds. Party A encodes a message in onecontext, using assumptions common to people in his or her culture; Party Bdecodes the message using a different set of assumptions. The result isconfusion and, often, hard feelings. For example, take the case of the computersales representative who was calling on a client in China. Hoping to make agood impression, the salesperson brought along a gift to break the ice, anexpensive grandfather clock. Unfortunately, the Chinese client was deeplyoffended because, in China, giving clocks as gifts is considered bad luck forthe recipient.
Suchproblems arise because of our unconscious assumptions and non-verbalcommunication patterns. We ignore the fact that people from other culturesdiffer from us in many ways: in their religion and values, their ideas ofstatus, their decision-making habits, their attitude toward time, their use ofspace, their body language, and their manners. We assume, wrongly, that otherpeople are like us. At Vons, management has spent a great deal of timelearning about the cultural preferences of the store's Hispanic customers.
Religionand values
Although NorthAmerica is a melting pot of people with different religions and values, thepredominant influence in this culture is the Puritan ethic: If you work hardand achieve success, you will find favour in the eyes of God. They tend toassume that material comfort is a sign of superiority, that the rich are alittle bit better than the poor, that people who work hard are better thanthose who don't. They believe that money solves many problems. They assume thatpeople from other cultures share their view, that they dislike poverty andvalue hard work. In fact, many societies condemn materialism and prize acarefree life-style.
Asa culture, they are goal-oriented. They want to get the work done in the mostefficient manner, and they assume that everyone else does too. They think theyare improving things if they can figure out a way for two people using modernmethods to do the same work as four people using the "old way." Butin countries like India and Pakistan, where unemployment is extremely high,creating jobs is more important than getting the work done efficiently. Executivesin these countries would rather employ four workers than two.
Rolesand status
Culturedictates the roles people play, including who communicates with whom, what theycommunicate, and in what way. In many countries, for example, women still donot play a very prominent role in business. As a result, female executives fromAmerican firms may find themselves sent off to eat in a separate room with thewives of Arab businessmen, while the men all eat dinner together.
Conceptsof status also differ, and as a consequence, people establish their credibilityin different ways. North Americans, for example, send status signals thatreflect materialistic values. The big boss has the corner office on the topfloor, deep carpets, an expensive desk, and handsome accessories. The mostsuccessful companies are located in the most prestigious buildings. In othercountries, status is communicated in other ways. For example, thehighest-ranking executives in France sit in the middle of an open area, surroundedby lower-level employees. In the Middle East, fine possessions are reserved forthe home, and business is conducted in cramped and modest quarters. AnAmerican executive who assumes that these office arrangements indicate a lackof status is making a big mistake.
In NorthAmerica, they try to reach decisions as quickly and efficiently as possible.The top people focus on reaching agreement on the main points and leave thedetails to be worked out later by others. In Greece, this approach wouldbackfire. A Greek executive assumes that anyone who ignores the details isbeing evasive and untrustworthy. Spending time on every little point is considereda mark of good faith. Similarly, Latin Americans prefer to make their dealsslowly, after a lengthy period of discussion. They resist an authoritarian"Here's the deal, take it or leave it" approach, preferring the moresociable method of an extended discussion.
Culturesalso differ in terms of who makes the decisions. In american culture, manyorganisations are dominated by a single figure who says yes or no to everydeal. It is the same in Pakistan, where you can get a decision quickly if youreach the highest-ranking executive. In other cultures, notably China andJapan, decision making is a shared responsibility. No individual has the authorityto commit the organisation without first consulting others. In Japan, forexample, the negotiating team arrives at a consensus through an elaborate,time-consuming process (agreement must be complete — there is no majorityrule). If the process is not laborious enough, the Japanese feel uncomfortable.
Differingperceptions of time are another factor that can lead to misunderstandings. Anexecutive from North America or Germany attaches one meaning to time; anexecutive from Latin America, Ethiopia, or Japan attaches another. Let's saythat a salesperson from Chicago calls on a client in Mexico City. Afterspending 30 minutes in the outer office, the person from Chicago feels angryand insulted, assuming, "This client must attach a very low priority to myvisit to keep me waiting half an hour." In fact, the Mexican client doesnot mean to imply anything at all by this delay. To the Mexican, a wait of 30minutes is a matter of course.
Orlet's say that a New Yorker is trying to negotiate a deal in Ethiopia. This isan important deal, and the New Yorker assumes that the Ethiopians will give thematter top priority and reach a decision quickly. Not so. In Ethiopia,important deals take a long, long time. After all, if a deal is important, itshould be given much careful thought, shouldn't it?
TheJapanese, knowing that North Americans are impatient, use time to theiradvantage when negotiating with us. One of them expressed it this way:
"YouAmericans have one terrible weakness. If we make you wait long enough, you willagree to anything."
The classicstory of a conversation between a North American and a Latin American is thatthe interaction may begin at one end of a hallway but end up at the other, withneither party aware of having moved. During the interaction, the LatinAmerican instinctively moves closer to the North American, who in turninstinctively steps back, resulting in an intercultural dance across the floor.Like time, space means different things in different cultures. North Americansstand about five feet apart when conducting a business conversation. To anArab or a Latin American, this distance is uncomfortable. In meetings withNorth Americans, they move a little closer. We assume they are pushy and reactnegatively, although we don't know exactly why.
Bodylanguage
Gestures helpus clarify confusing messages, so differences in body language are a majorsource of misunderstanding. We may also make the mistake of assuming that anon-American who speaks English has mastered the body language of our cultureas well. It therefore pays to learn some basic differences in the ways peoplesupplement their words with body movement. Take the signal for no. NorthAmericans shake their heads back and forth; the Japanese move their righthands; Sicilians raise their chins. Or take eye contact. North Americans readeach other through eye contact. They may assume that a person who won't meetour gaze is evasive and dishonest. But in many parts of Latin America, keepingyour eyes lowered is a sign of respect. It's also a sign of respect among manyblack Americans, which some schoolteachers have failed to learn. When they scold their black students, saying "Lookat me when I'm talking to you," they only create confusion for thechildren.
Sometimespeople from different cultures misread an intentional signal, and sometimesthey overlook the signal entirely or assume that a meaningless gesture issignificant. For example, an Arab man indicates a romantic interest in a womanby running a hand backward across his hair; most Americans would dismiss thisgesture as meaningless. On the other hand, an Egyptian might mistakenly assumethat a Westerner sitting with the sole of his or her shoe showing is offering agrave insult.
What is politein one country may be considered rude in another. In Arab countries, forexample, it is impolite to take gifts to a man's wife but acceptable to takegifts to his children. In Germany, giving a woman a red rose is considered aromantic invitation, inappropriate if you are trying to establish a businessrelationship with her. In India, you might be invited to visit someone's home"any time." Being reluctant to make an unexpected visit, you mightwait to get a more definite invitation. But your failure to take the Indianliterally is an insult, a sign that you do not care to develop the friendship.
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Doas the Natives Do,
If offered, youshould eat the roast gorilla hand—so says Roger E. Axtel, vice president of TheParker Pen Company. Axtel spent 18 years living and travelling in the 154countries where Parker sells pens. He learned that communicating with foreignnationals demands more than merely learning their language. The gorilla hand(served rising from mashed yams) was prepared for a meal in honor of anAmerican family-planning expert who was visiting a newly emerged Africannation, and the guest of honor was expected to eat it, so he did. Learning thebehaviour expected of you as you do business internationally can be daunting ifnot intimidating. Axtel recommends the following rules to help you get off to agood start without embarrassment.
Basic Rule #1:What's in a Name?
The first transactionbetween even ordinary citizens— and the first chance to make an impression forbetter or worse—is an exchange of names. In America, there is not very much toget wrong. And even if you do, so what? Not so elsewhere. In the EasternHemisphere, where name frequently denotes social rank or family status, amistake can be an outright insult, and so can using someone's given namewithout permission. "What would you like me to call you?" isalways the opening line of one overseas deputy director for an internationaltelecommunications corporation. "Better to ask several times," headvises, "than to get it wrong." Even then, "I err on theside of formality." Another frequent traveler insists his company providehim with a list of key people he will meet—country by country, surnamesunderlined—to be memorized on the flight over.