0:03 communication between people of
0:05 different cultural backgrounds is
0:07 becoming increasingly common in nearly
0:10 every facet of Our Lives from politics
0:12 and business transactions to scientific
0:14 research and websites it is important to
0:16 recognize that what you are trying to
0:18 communicate is being received by a
0:19 diverse audience from all parts of the
0:22 globe this video will highlight some
0:24 simple guidelines to facilitate
0:26 Intercultural personal and professional
0:28 interactions first let us consider
0:30 different styles of communication
0:32 Two basic kinds are explicit and
0:35 implicit an explicit Communicator
0:36 assumes that Their audience has little
0:38 to no knowledge of background
0:40 information or related topics and
0:42 considers it their responsibility to
0:44 supply such information on the other
0:46 hand an implicit Communicator assumes
0:48 that the listener is already fully aware
0:51 of the subject and relays information
0:53 accordingly thus an explicit
0:54 Communicator may find implicit
0:57 communication confusing or vague while
0:59 an implicit Communicator may find
1:02 explicit communic unication overly
1:04 comprehensive non-verbal communication
1:06 can be even more difficult to interpret
1:08 it goes without saying that I contact
1:10 body language and hand gestures vary
1:13 dramatically across cultures for example
1:15 a simple okay sign that is commonly used
1:18 in the US and UK to symbolize absolutely
1:21 fine or great can be taken to mean zero
1:23 or worthless in some European countries
1:25 and yet other countries like Brazil and
1:28 Germany this sign has a more crude connotation
1:30 connotation
1:32 conflict whether in a professional or
1:35 personal setting is also dealt with
1:37 differently some cultures find open
1:39 conflict and loud voices perfectly
1:41 acceptable While others would rather
1:43 avoid face-to-face confrontation
1:44 preferring to work the situation out
1:47 over a written exchange two other
1:49 challenges that we may face in regards
1:51 to cross-cultural communication include
1:53 task completion and decision-making
1:55 Styles different cultures have various
1:57 approaches to completing tasks when
1:59 having to work with a different style
2:01 than your own own you may be left with
2:03 anger frustration or
2:05 confusion depending on the resources
2:07 available Notions of time and varied
2:09 ideas about relationship building and
2:11 task oriented work task completion
2:14 Styles will vary for example european-
2:16 Americans focus on the task at hand and
2:18 let relationships develop with the
2:20 progression of the task while Asian and
2:22 Hispanic cultures work on relationship
2:25 building prior to working on the task at
2:27 hand decision- making Styles vary across
2:30 cultures as well for example
2:32 Southern European and Latin American
2:34 countries place an emphasis on
2:36 individualized decision
2:41 making and in contrast the US makes
2:45 decisions based on the delegations by an
2:47 official westerners tend to dichotomize
2:50 between the person and the words or acts
2:52 we rather freely evaluate another's
2:54 words ideas or actions believing that
2:56 our comments are not personal and should
2:58 not strain the relationship for most
3:00 people in the world however this free
3:03 evaluation may be constituted as an
3:05 attack on the person and is perceived as
3:10 vicious different cultures handle
3:12 personal disclosure differently in the
3:13 United States and other Western
3:15 countries it is common to leave personal
3:18 issues out of any business discussion in
3:20 fact many Americans tend to keep their
3:22 business and personal lives completely
3:24 separate however in other countries
3:27 Japan for example is customary to ask
3:29 non- business related questions like
3:31 asking about their family or the weather
3:34 prior to conducting business this being
3:36 said the Japanese tend to be more
3:38 private about specific aspects of their
3:40 life for example Proctor and Gamble used
3:43 a commercial in Japan that depicted a
3:44 woman bathing and her husband washing
3:46 her back the Japanese audience
3:48 considered this an invasion of privacy
3:51 and the commercial was not well received
3:53 different cultures also interpret or
3:55 understand information differently when
3:57 trying to communicate persuasively this
3:58 is very important to take into
4:01 consideration Western cultures tend to
4:03 rely on facts such as statistics numbers
4:06 and accomplishments other cultures may
4:08 put more importance on more abstract
4:10 Concepts such as serving the need of the
4:13 nation total customer satisfaction
4:15 trustworthiness or environmental issues
4:17 however this is not to say that Western
4:19 cultures do not care about these
4:21 abstract issues like the environment or
4:23 customer satisfaction or that Eastern
4:25 cultures do not take facts into
4:27 considerations when dealing with other
4:29 cultures keep in mind how they handle
4:30 different form forms of communication
4:33 body language decision-making Styles
4:35 task completion ways of understanding
4:38 information and handling business versus
4:40 personal life when working with people
4:43 from other cultures be sure to educate
4:45 yourself about their culture have an
4:49 open mind be patient and cooperative and
4:50 understand that misunderstandings will
4:52 occur and when they do work to correct them
4:54 them [Music]
5:01 a [Music]
