Inter-cultural Communication

[Lucretia]

Define inter-cultural for me, buddy?

In a business communications setting like this, it means dealing with co-workers, customers, businesses, etc. who have a different cultural background. In this case, since the textbook is for the Canadian market, it means helping Canadian students to better communicate and work with people from other geographies/cultures--e.g., Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, etc.--and also with the non-dominant cultures that exist within Canada--First Nations, Quebecois.

Oh cool. I was trying not to sound wilfully stupid and just wanted to make *sure* that was what you meant, in case I started waffling about something and had taken the wrong tack (this does happen a lot).

In conclusion - gosh this is an interesting thread. I have nothing better to add than "Please let us know what you come up with?"

[jadde]

My first reaction too was to avoid overgeneralization. But I see your point about being too generic. I can see the need for practical knowledge like the examples you mentioned.

Maybe, as you mention traits of cultures and particularities, you could point out a “level of accuracy”. For instance, you could concentrate first on what’s more “objective” and well-set, like the August vacations in France. For things that are less certain, you could specify it can be subjective. I don’t know if it would fit though; I understand you don’t want to make it too long. Also, I don’t know if you’re allowed to personalize your writing, I mean recognizing that such and such statement is a matter of opinion to a certain degree.

I have a bachelor’s degree in history, and something we learn is that, since a human is doing the research, like in all social sciences, there is always a part of arbitrary judgment. That’s where my commentary comes from.

I’m not sure this was really helpful, but really you’re touching a subject that I have at heart.

[Callie]

Ooh, something I know a bit about, yay!

I'm now in the most diverse office I've ever been in. We have two managers in the office, one is Mexican (married to a Greek), one is English-Norwegian. We have 21 others in the office, including 7 English, 1 Czech, 1 Swedish, 1 Polish (married to a South African), 1 English-South African I think, 2 Spanish, 1 Italian, 1 Russian, 1 Finnish, 1 French, 1 Egyptian-Finnish, 1 Ukrainian, 1 Turkish and 1 Greek. If you include specialists, we can add German to the mix.

The World Cup was boding to be quite interesting in our office, but sadly the banter never really took off. I was looking forward to that!

I think the greatest potential for misunderstanding comes in written communications. I know the Czech guy can seem abrupt almost to the point of rudeness, but that's now how it's intended, I don't think. For people whose first language isn't English, in their striving for clarity of meaning, they sometimes end up quite abrupt, rather than softer language. I know my Mexican boss (and her boss, who's English), pointed out that with Italians, you have to be quite clear about "I want you to do this, by ____ and let me have ____ when you're done" - don't phrase it as "Could you do this when you get a minute?" Also, they don't tend to read emails.

We also work quite closely with our colleagues in Bangalore and the USA, so again you have to tailor your approach to them - Bangalorians are very polite and helpful, and we try to be like that with them (though sometimes they do misdirect queries to us and we have to be firm in stressing they aren't for us). Relations between my immediate colleagues and some of the American staff (mainly one project manager and a developer) have sometimes been incredibly frustrating, because of time zone problems, and just strong personalities, trying to explain why they're right. Diplomacy and making sure you consider the other person's feelings, are key.

I'll have a think and get back to you with more

[grace]

Having been born and reared in Georgia but currently residing in Michigan, I consider myself an expert in aspects of getting along in a culture not my own. You should hire me to consult. Ha...you think I jest?