What is it?
Intercultural communication is becoming a major part in doing business. Business is made between individuals; these individuals don’t necessarily have to have the same beliefs, morals, or ideas. The individuals need to have the want to do business, and the want to deal with different cultures, and their differences.
What to do?
The individuals need to “read between the lines” and understand the non-spoken expressions in various cultural contexts. More important than language are the non-verbal cues, they are sometimes overlooked when studying another country. When studying how you should act in dealing with another culture, you must know how to conduct yourself with non-verbals. Body language is a major part of communication and can make or break a deal if you disrespect the other person.
Example:
In India, you must not make eye contact, you must not point your feet at the person you are talking with, you should never touch anyone on the head. When standing around you should never put your hands on your hips or wag your finger at another person to get them to come to you. These little things are very important to follow. If you break one of these rules while there you will defiantly not get the sale or deal you are striving for while visiting the other country.
The differences in meeting times are also important. In India you have meetings at brunch time or in the mid afternoon never dinner meetings. Also you never ask for a drink or food, you wait to be asked, (and you wait to be told where to sit) and when you are asked you do not say yes the first time that is considered rude. When the meal is coming to an end, never finish everything on your plate, this is considered rude, you must leave a little bit not eaten, this means you are stratified with your meal and not still hungry.
Work Example:
As I have stated before, I am the assistant coach for the swim team. We have a swimmer that is from Israel and another one from Thailand. When talking about holidays with the Galit it is hard because, she is Jewish and does not like to talk about God or Christmas or any thing of that sort. So when at practice I need to be thoughtful when she is around to not make her feel uncomfortable. Also the girl from Thailand (Nune) she has the cultural differences some the same as in India. I always wondered why she never looked me in the eyes or never faced me while talking. The reason she does not do this is because in her culture she does not point her feet at the person she is talking to nor have eye contact with them. Also when she is around an elder she must be lower than them, if she is taller than her parents she must bend down while speaking with them. The good thing is Nune is very short so that is not a problem around me. She is a very nice girl but now that I know she has these cultural differences (from talking with her about India), I have been a bit more cautious not to aggravate her.
Other Links:
This link goes into more depth about the subject of intercultural communication. It helped me explain the subject throughout my blog.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2008/10/142_32870.html
This link was handy while I was learning the cultural differences from working in India.
http://nealgandhi.wordpress.com/2008/01/17/working-in-india-cultural-differences/
Intercultural communication is becoming a major part in doing business. Business is made between individuals; these individuals don’t necessarily have to have the same beliefs, morals, or ideas. The individuals need to have the want to do business, and the want to deal with different cultures, and their differences.
What to do?
The individuals need to “read between the lines” and understand the non-spoken expressions in various cultural contexts. More important than language are the non-verbal cues, they are sometimes overlooked when studying another country. When studying how you should act in dealing with another culture, you must know how to conduct yourself with non-verbals. Body language is a major part of communication and can make or break a deal if you disrespect the other person.
Example:
In India, you must not make eye contact, you must not point your feet at the person you are talking with, you should never touch anyone on the head. When standing around you should never put your hands on your hips or wag your finger at another person to get them to come to you. These little things are very important to follow. If you break one of these rules while there you will defiantly not get the sale or deal you are striving for while visiting the other country.
The differences in meeting times are also important. In India you have meetings at brunch time or in the mid afternoon never dinner meetings. Also you never ask for a drink or food, you wait to be asked, (and you wait to be told where to sit) and when you are asked you do not say yes the first time that is considered rude. When the meal is coming to an end, never finish everything on your plate, this is considered rude, you must leave a little bit not eaten, this means you are stratified with your meal and not still hungry.
Work Example:
As I have stated before, I am the assistant coach for the swim team. We have a swimmer that is from Israel and another one from Thailand. When talking about holidays with the Galit it is hard because, she is Jewish and does not like to talk about God or Christmas or any thing of that sort. So when at practice I need to be thoughtful when she is around to not make her feel uncomfortable. Also the girl from Thailand (Nune) she has the cultural differences some the same as in India. I always wondered why she never looked me in the eyes or never faced me while talking. The reason she does not do this is because in her culture she does not point her feet at the person she is talking to nor have eye contact with them. Also when she is around an elder she must be lower than them, if she is taller than her parents she must bend down while speaking with them. The good thing is Nune is very short so that is not a problem around me. She is a very nice girl but now that I know she has these cultural differences (from talking with her about India), I have been a bit more cautious not to aggravate her.
Other Links:
This link goes into more depth about the subject of intercultural communication. It helped me explain the subject throughout my blog.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2008/10/142_32870.html
This link was handy while I was learning the cultural differences from working in India.
http://nealgandhi.wordpress.com/2008/01/17/working-in-india-cultural-differences/
No comments:
Post a Comment