Communicating Across Cultures

There are a number of skills and guidelines that can be suggested for communicating successfully with people from different cultures.

• Pay Attention: Clear your mind of its various preoccupations so you can concentrate on what is being said. Remember that there is no point in talking if you cannot pay (or receive) attention. If you cannot, try to postpone the conversation

• Set your assumptions and values aside and try to hear not just what the other person is saying but what is mean by what was said. (This may require asking many questions.) It is easier to understand if you se aside your ideas and try to explore theirs thoroughly.

• Withhold judgment You will have more success in communicating with other people if you are trying to understand them rather than to evaluate them.

• Be complete and explicit Be ready to explain your point in more that one way and why you are trying to make a particular point in the first place. Give the background; provide the context; make clear “where you are coming from”.

• Pay attention to the other person’s response You can usually tell whether you have blundered or failed to make yourself clear by taking time to notice the other person’s verbal and nonverbal reactions.

• Paraphrase After the other person has spoken, restate what you heard the other person say and what you thought was meant. You can say something like this: “As I understand it, you are saying . . . Is that correct?” This can help avoid situations where you and other person assign different meanings to the same word or phrase.

• Ask for verification After you have spoken, asks the other person to restate what you have said. It does not usually work to ask the other person, “Do you understand?” Most people will say “yes” whether they understood or not.

• Be alert for different meanings for certain words, phrases, or actions. Sometimes you will think you are understanding what the other person is saying and suddenly realize you do not.

• Do not ask questions you would not or could not answer yourself. If you do not want to tell the other person about your sex life, for example, don’t ask them about theirs.

• When you are having trouble communicating, talk about the trouble you are having. Using phrases such as “I don’t understand that point” or “Let me explain why I’m telling you this” may help clarify the situation.

Adapted from “Getting Along with your Foreign Roommate”, Gary Althen, Office of International Education and Services. University of Iowa, 1988

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