Class 8. Communicating Across Culture

Communicating Across Cultures
By Mohammad Amin Patwary, Maj (Retd)

Assistant Professor, BUP
Globalization and Intercultural Communication: Understanding culture of a country or a

region is very important for conducting successful business. Multi-national companies of
Bangladesh like Beximco, BD Foods, Square pharmaceuticals, Expeditors, Renata, Rangs and
many others have their offices in several countries of the world. The companies doing business
in another country acclimatize themselves with the culture of that country where they are
working in.
While doing business in another country one need to respect culture and law of that country. This
is more appropriate for the United Nations International staffs who are working in another
country. Normally it is said that United Nations people come under two laws – United Nations
own code/rules and the laws of the country in which she or he is working.
Misunderstandings took place in the past between companies with diverse culture and languages
and as a result of which important business deal was unsuccessful. This means inter cultural
communication is important in business. On many occasions it happened that a foreigner ordered
for a food item in the restaurant but the waiter served him a different food due to language and
cultural gaps. Gesture, posture and non-verbal communication may vary from country to
country. In general, geographical features, language, religion and past history form the culture of
a country or a region. French people although they know English but they like to communicate in
French even in another country. But however, these days they have learnt from their mistakes.
Some of the non-native English speakers cannot fully understand the English pronunciation of
native speakers especially English and Americans. It is also that non-native speakers when they
speak English, the pronunciation of their mother tongue partially influences on speaking of
English. It is true for French, Arabians, Spanish, Chinese and Thai citizens. They try to
pronounce some of the alphabets of English as like as their vernacular.
The new Global mantra ‘go local’: The best way to cope with a new foreign culture is to go
local’ which means adjust with the culture of the country where you are working. In Bangladesh
context, BD Food has subsidiary in countries like UK, Saudi Arabia, and Italy. In the same way
Beximco and other Bangladeshi companies have their offices in various countries. They train
their personnel in the culture of the country where they are working. They are also taught the
languages and local dialects. (Dialect is a particular form of a language which is peculiar to a
specific region or social group. Dialect, a variety of a language that signals where a person
comes from. The notion is usually interpreted geographically, but it also has some application in
relation to a person's social background.) Tata has its offices all over the world and it is a
requirement that Indian nationals working in those offices know languages of that country where
they are working. It is also important to hire local employees to cope with the situation. Locals
will help in training its foreign employees on their culture. United Nations work all over the
world and they recruit local staffs along with international staffs. The local staffs assist the
international staffs in understanding language, customs, business etiquettes, etc. It creates cordial
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atmosphere which helps in developing the business. Without the cooperation of the locals it is
impossible to develop a business in a foreign country.
Examples of some intercultural Activities: Few noticeable intercultural activities are given
below:
a. Emirate airlines operating from Bangladesh earlier only used to play Indian Hindi music
in their in-flight services. But for last about 12 years they do play also Bengali songs
along with songs from other languages.
b. In Democratic Republic of Congo, it is obligatory that when a funeral of a dead body is

taken in a procession on the street by a vehicle, all other vehicles coming from any other
direction must stop and park on the road-side to show respect to the funeral procession.
Foreigners in D R Congo sometimes were in problem for not showing respect or not
stopping their vehicles.
Cultural Sensitivity and Differences:
a. Dinner diplomacy in China is more effective than board room meetings for securing
businesses.
b. Persons traveling in New York in taxis will sit at back seat, but in Australia drivers
expect if someone is traveling alone will occupy the front seat next to him. Most New
York cab drivers think that if a single male attempt to get in the front seat, next to him, he
(the passenger) might be a robber and can commit harm to the driver. Australian cab
drivers on the other hand, feel that a man sitting in the back seat alone is rather
unfriendly.
c. In a conference or a meeting place in English one might say ‘pleased to meet you’ or
‘how do you do’, whereas in Japanese one says ‘Hajimemashite’ (it is beginning).
d. Japanese executives first exchange business cards instead verbally introducing

themselves. But American and European business people instead will say ‘I am so and so
and I have come to meet so and so’. Japanese also bow their head while presenting their
business card and they hand over the card holding by two hands.
Low context culture: North Americans and West Europeans.
High Context Culture: Some Asian, African and South American countries.
Space as a cultural factor: Distance between two persons while standing also represent their
culture.
Some examples of cultural Diversity: Japan, France, Germany, Brazil, America.
Blundering with words:
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a. Olympia tried to introduce a copier machine in Chile which is a Spanish speaking
country. The initially gave the name as ‘Roto’ but in Spanish roto means broken and thus
initially the business did not go well. They had to change the name later.
b. American motor company vehicle ‘Matador’ was marketed in Puerto Rico which in their
language meant ‘killer’ and Puerto Rico is a high traffic fatality country. Thus, business
had a failure.
c. Toyota’s MR2 did well in most of the country but in French language it meant ‘merde’
meaning human waste. So, it did not do well in France.
d. Ford encountered problems when it introduced a low-cost truck it named ‘fiera’ in Latin
American countries. The name meant ‘ugly old woman’.
e. When Nike attempted to place a graphic of flames on its shoes, it resembled with Arabic
word ‘Allah’. The American-Islamic council demanded an apology on this and
withdrawal of shoes from market.
Lack of language Equivalency: Some words in one language has no corresponding word in
another language. French has no words to distinguish between mind and brain, man and
gentleman. Russians have no words for efficiency, challenge, fun. There are grammatical
differences among languages. For example, Urdu does not have gerund and some languages have
no adverbs and adjectives.
English is the international business language. But not always people do use English. For
example, a businessman from Saudi Arabia and a businessman from Iraq will communicate with
each other in Arabic. Same is the case for Spanish and other nationalities speaking a common
language.
Two-word verbs with diverse meaning:
Give up – surrender
Speed up – accelerate
Put off – delay, extinguish
Take off – depart (airplane)
Advice from Communicators across the world:
a. Do your research:
b. Know yourself and the company:
c. Be aware of stereotypes and try to avoid:
d. Adapt your English to the audience:
e. Be open to change:
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Class 8. Communicating Across Culture

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Communicating Across Cultures

By Mohammad Amin Patwary, Maj (Retd)

Globalization and Intercultural Communication: Understanding culture of a country or a

b. In Democratic Republic of Congo, it is obligatory that when a funeral of a dead body is

Cultural Sensitivity and Differences:

d. Japanese executives first exchange business cards instead verbally introducing

Low context culture: North Americans and West Europeans.

Some examples of cultural Diversity: Japan, France, Germany, Brazil, America.

Blundering with words:

Two-word verbs with diverse meaning:

Advice from Communicators across the world:

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