Language - misunderstandings are common among people who speak the same language, so it's not surprising that people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds face communication barriers.
Although I have been studying English for four years, I still suffering from cultural barriers between my native language and the English one.
I read a lot, watch movies, I write and analyses, and I try even to think the way English native think, But still not enough.
A couple of weeks ago I had lost a friend due to these cultural barriers, I’m from the East, you know, and she is from the West, and we were chatting,,.
Then It happened that I wrote some words in Arabic, although she is not so bad in Arabic, she understood them in here English cultural mind, she got mad and lost it all.
So what do you think – as native English speaker- is the best way to overcome Cultural Barriers?
I think the only way to overcome this is if BOTH parties are open minded and aware that mistakes and misscomunnications are part of the process. If your westener friend got mad at you by the first sign of a weird moment, than he should keep talking with his own people.
Don't worry, not all people are ready for this. Keep talking and pushing to make friends. The right people will click eventually.
Oh Lima, that's a tough one!
I've thought about this question a lot recently. It's really much easier if both people are trying to communicate with the other in a foreign language than only one person is a native speaker and the other not and it's not reciprocal. I have found that with people here that I exchange with often there is a great deal of latitude give, a lot of space and understanding that something might be cultural because both people have the experience of making large faux pas when trying to speak a foreign language. If you never have learned another language, you don't understand how cultural language is and how easy it is to have misunderstandings. I think hanging out here at Italki has brought home how easy it is to make these kinds of mistakes to me so I am more likely these days to FIRST assume that there is a cultural misunderstanding before taken personal offense. If someone that doesn't speak a foreign language misunderstands, I guess then you have to work doubly hard to explain how what happened was a cultural misunderstanding and hope they will relax and try to understand you. If you apologize and explain what happened as best you can and they are not willing to forgive you, then perhaps it's better not to have such an unforgiving and hard friend or least to understand that they are that way sooner rather than later.
@ Merlyn
If I do all the things I said above, and if the other person does not, then the relationship is not mutual (equal/fair) and it's time to say bye bye, i.e., the relationship is not balanced and the cultural barrier can not be overcome, so it's useless to continue trying.
Well Richard what if you tell someone saying a certain thing is rude in your culture and they keep saying it. Or you explain something and they don't believe you. Or you are expected to do everything according to their culture, but they dont want to do anything according to your culture (this is especially important for people who wish to travel to the country where the language they are learning is spoken) In my opinion that is rude. Especially when people are volunteering their free time.
Patience and compassion are universal virtues.
The solution to cultural differences is simple.
If you wish to speak/communicate with people from a different culture:
- learn something about their culture before you begin
- accept the fact that there are cultural differences (no one's right and no one's wrong)
- respect the differences
- if there is a problem, speak about it, explain the problem, and
- assume that the other person meant no harm.
