Cross-cultural communication for managers - includes related articles on training at multinational corporations and similarities of cultures

Business Horizons, May-June, 1993 by Mary Munter

OVERCOMING LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES

Language difficulties represent one of the biggest barriers to cross-cultural communication. Even if English is spoken by everyone involved, dialects, accents, slang, jargon, and code words vary tremendously among different countries, regions, subcultures, industries, organizations, and professions. For instance, the word "billion" means a thousand million in the United States, and a million million in Britain; the verb "to table" used during a meeting means to postpone discussion in the United States, and to discuss right away in Britain.

Conducting business in a foreign language compounds any problems. If you are going to spend more than a year in a country, do your best to learn the language. At the very least, you can overcome some vulnerability and isolation; at best, you can achieve much better relationships and other business advantages. If you don't know the language well, use your foreign language for socializing but not for business activities. If you don't know the language at all, you have two options:

* Use English, speaking carefully and without unnecessary large words or jargon (remember that non-native English speakers are often embarrassed to admit when they don't understand English); or

* Use an excellent interpreter who is thoroughly briefed in advance, pausing after every short paragraph or thought.

Even with excellent fluency or interpretation, however, language itself poses at least four kinds of problems.

Barriers caused by semantics. The first level of potential problems has to do with semantics, or word meanings. Some words are literally untranslatable. For example, to conduct business in Korea, you must understand the concept of kibun, which does not translate into English. Its meaning is something similar to "inner feelings" or "mood": people must communicate in a manner to enhance one another's kibun or risk creating an enemy and destroying the relationship. Similarly, understanding the word sisu will help you understand the character of your Finnish business associates. This untranslatable word means something akin to "guts," "against-all-odds stamina," or "dogged persistence"; in some ways the word encapsulates two centuries of historical Finnish struggles. As a final example, Russians may find their current economic transition even more difficult because several key English words and phrases--such as "efficiency," "free market," and "regulation"--are not directly translatable into Russian.

Barriers caused by word connotations. The second level of language problems has to do with "connotation," or implications of words. For example, the words manana in Spanish and bukara in Arabic translate as "tomorrow." Their connotation, however, may be closer to "some time in the future." In Japanese, the word hai translates as "yes," but its connotation may be "yes, I'm listening," rather than "yes, I agree." In Polish, nie ma translates as "there is none" or "we don't have any." Its connotation can be "there hasn't been any in a long time and there probably never will be." For a treasury of examples, see D. Ricks' book, Big Business Blunders (1983). The author points out, for instance, that "Come Alive with Pepsi" was translated as "Come Out of the Grave with Pepsi" in German and "Bring Your Ancestors Back from the Grave" in Asia.