How Do You Manage Verbal Intercultural Communication Effectively?
The global nature of today’s business environment requires a whole new set of communication skills for effective intercultural business communication. Ineffective intercultural communication can cost companies money and cause hard feelings among staff, but a few simple techniques can fine tune communication skills for the global audience. Assess the language knowledge of your audience, if possible, and plan accordingly. People who don’t speak the language are going to need interpreters. Mid-level to fluent level speakers should be okay so long as you follow the rest of the steps below. Use simple words and avoid jargon as much as possible for optimal intercultural business communication. Big words require more translation and usually involve a complex sentence structure, which can confuse non-native speakers. Intercultural communication isn’t about using all the big MBA words, it’s about being understood, so keep it simple. Repeat key concepts using different words to allow for differe
