Promoting Intercultural Communication
Strategies to Promote Effective Intercultural Communication
Doing business abroad is definitely not an easy job these days. Along with other business skills international businesses also require a complete set of communication skills for effective intercultural business communication, failing which can cost your business both financially and morally. However, with a few simple techniques any business can fine-tune their communication skills with their international clients.
First of all it has to be considered to learn and study other cultures. As a matter of fact studying the culture of the country where you want to do business is really important. Showing respect and gratitude towards their culture is the key concept behind this. Learn their history, culture and language, show them that you are a part of them, you understand their needs their culture and their language. There is very low probability that your business will be considered serious, if you do not give much respect to the country, you are operating in. (John Ellis, 1995)
The first and foremost policy to build effective intercultural communication skills is to learn the culture and assess the language of your audience and plan accordingly. Use simple words in your communication as bigger words require more translation causing ambiguities between the two parties. It has been also suggested by experts that simple sentence structures also play an important role in communication especially when the people are belonging to different regions having completely different cultural and social backgrounds. Repeat the main concept over and over using different words which will allow understanding at different levels. This does not mean to keep repeating everything you say for an effective translation, the idea is to smartly repeat the key concepts so that the complete picture is clear at both ends. Usage of Visual aids for presentation can also be very useful. A useful tip suggested by many successful
Doing business abroad is definitely not an easy job these days. Along with other business skills international businesses also require a complete set of communication skills for effective intercultural business communication, failing which can cost your business both financially and morally. However, with a few simple techniques any business can fine-tune their communication skills with their international clients.
First of all it has to be considered to learn and study other cultures. As a matter of fact studying the culture of the country where you want to do business is really important. Showing respect and gratitude towards their culture is the key concept behind this. Learn their history, culture and language, show them that you are a part of them, you understand their needs their culture and their language. There is very low probability that your business will be considered serious, if you do not give much respect to the country, you are operating in. (John Ellis, 1995)
The first and foremost policy to build effective intercultural communication skills is to learn the culture and assess the language of your audience and plan accordingly. Use simple words in your communication as bigger words require more translation causing ambiguities between the two parties. It has been also suggested by experts that simple sentence structures also play an important role in communication especially when the people are belonging to different regions having completely different cultural and social backgrounds. Repeat the main concept over and over using different words which will allow understanding at different levels. This does not mean to keep repeating everything you say for an effective translation, the idea is to smartly repeat the key concepts so that the complete picture is clear at both ends. Usage of Visual aids for presentation can also be very useful. A useful tip suggested by many successful
References: John Ellis, 1. (1995). International Business Strategy. Financial Times Management. Tamer Cavusgil, 2. (2007). International Business: Strategy, Management, and the New Realities. 1 Edition. Prentice Hall.