Attitude Affects Effective Cross-cultural Communication

Here's a clip from You Tube that summarizes the point I mentioned in my previous blogs. Hope you'll enjoy it.



I apologize for the cuss words. It is not my cup of tea, because I don't cuss at all. However, I decided to show the clip to bring home the message of my previous blogs. So now, we understand each other.

This clip from You Tube does not only tells us why we need to have clear diction and cultural knowledge, we also have to take very special consideration on the psychological aspect of communication across culture.

Psycholinguists and cognitive anthropologists point out that the way a person organizes his thoughts reflects on what he thinks about the world. A narrow-minded or conceited person would view the world through a small mirror, that how he/she would perceive the world and how he/she would put meaning into what he/she would see and hear would often times unwelcoming to others.

Definitely, such cognitive process would affect his/her attitude towards somebody and, ultimately, would translate to the tone of his/her voice. We don't need to read a book to be aware of this. We all have been victimized with this.

Probably those non-native English speakers, who now are employees of call centers, could attest that they have interacted with clients who cuss and use ethnophaulism. Ethnophaulism could either be name-calling or slur of ones nationality, explicit group devaluation, or disparaging nicknames. Others would slammed the phone at them. Actions like these are not only products of frustration and disgust. They also are a product of anger. Globalization have taken away some opportunities for their children, relatives, and friends to find jobs. Globalization has been giving them difficulty to immediately get their thoughts across, because those persons at the other end of the phones are having problem communicating with them. Instead of the "world getting smaller everyday", in terms of understanding and goodwill, the world has created a chasm of indifference.

Cases of anger and indifference always happen. The way to offset these could be the following: Swallow your pride and ignore those negative responses. Remember that your client has a different cultural and psychological make-up. Also, remember the maxim that a client is "always" right. So, don't hurl fire with fire. You'd get fired if you'd do that. Be patient. Don't take the negativity to heart. You'd get over it. If the client pauses, butt in by expressing an apology using your sweetest tone and clearer diction. Say the sentence normally; don't slow it down. Slowing the sentence down would aggravate your client all the more, because slowing down would mean that you are treating him like a stupid person. And I cannot reiterate this enough: Practice and more practice. Learn the culture and the language very well.

For those who are still preparing for a job, begin to double your effort to learn. Be serious with your studies. Realize that it is not only those who are preparing for a teaching job that need to communicate effectively. Everyone who would like to get a job needs to have a good command of the English language. It is your key to a successful job hunting and a joyous life.