Introduction
Culture and communication have a symbiotic relationship where they influence one another. Culture is defined as the characteristics and knowledge that are unique to a particular group of people and includes things such as music, language, food, and religion, among others. The advanced definition of culture describes it as a form of shared patterns of behaviors acquired through socialization. Communication on the other hand, is the process through which information is exchanged from one individual to another. To effectively communicate, one must know and understand one aspect of culture called language. Thus, culture and communication have a reciprocal influence on one another where the way an individual communicates is influenced by the culture in which they are socialized and culture can be changed by language.
Relationship between Culture and Language
Culture implicitly teaches individuals how to behave in specific situations and how to interpret others’ actions and behavior in particular situations. Since the very beginning of human civilization, communication has been a core part of any culture as it is through communication that individuals learn about their culture (Szkudlarek, et al., 2020). In addition, as the culture of a particular group advances, the communication patterns of individuals in the culture change. Culture represents a group of people with largely the same values, rituals, and worldviews. They are a homogenous lot that sustains their cultural practices through regular communication. Therefore, culture and language are unique and different for each group and require one another to advance or change.
Culture as a Barrier to Communication
At its core, culture is socially transmitted and unique to a particular social group that could also share the same nationality, religion, and ethnicity. It is handed down from one generation to another and contains multiple sub-cultures that together make up what is considered culture. Organizations normally strive to have cultural diversity to improve efficiency and problem-solving capacity. However, cultural diversity can inhibit effective communication as people from different cultures communicate in different languages, and have different symbols and signs. Different cultures interpret certain behaviors, symbols, and gestures. Culture is also credited with giving rise to ethnocentricism, prejudices, and opinions (Dingley, & Catterall, 2020). Culture is a fundamental factor that influences people to think and behave which can sometimes act as a barrier to effective communication. For example, individualistic cultures often collide with collective cultures because they do not see or interpret situations similarly. For multinational organizations, it is important to recognize cultural differences and adjust the organization’s communication strategy to ensure what is communicated is understood and interpreted correctly.
The way people speak is determined by the culture in which they were brought up and culture is to a large extent determined by the way people speak. For example, people in the US communicate freely without beating around the bush. In China where indirect communication is the norm, people may be offended by the direct approach of the Americans (Holliday, 2020). Billions of people worldwide can only communicate in their native language. This creates a cultural barrier that inhibits effective communication between people from different cultures. To overcome cultural barriers, countries around the world promote the idea of being multilingual or bilingual and have made one or more foreign languages an official language. For example, most former colonies of the British Empire in Africa and Asia teach English as a second language. However, even then, cultural barriers may still inhibit effective communication because people in Britain and its former colonies do not share the same signs and symbols.
Signs and symbols or what is normally referred to as non-verbal communication is unique to each culture. The variation of signs and symbols across different cultures inhibits effective communication. For example, a thumps up symbol is interpreted as a sign of encouragement or approval but it is considered offensive in Bangladesh. In the US, showing the symbol of the letter “V” by show of hands is considered a sign of peace. However, many cultures find this symbol insulting. Thus, cultures set meanings of different symbols and these meanings may not always be the same (Verluyten, 2020). Thus, other than verbal communication, non-verbal communication is inhibited by cultural differences between the people communicating. For an organization, realizing these realities can help it avoid conflict in the workplace and promote higher productivity through effective communication. Therefore, while thinking about communication, it must be thought of in a cultural context, and cultural issues that may inhibit it should be ironed out.
Culture and Business Communication
Cultural meaning renders the usage of some gestures, signs, and symbols right and others wrong. For every culture, there are rules that members take for granted and which have significant importance in the context of intercultural communication. Most people are unaware of their cultural bias because culture is imprinted from a very young age and while some aspects of culture are taught explicitly, they manifest and are absorbed unconsciously. Generally, people from the same culture respond the same when engaged in verbal and nonverbal communication with people from other cultures (Airhihenbuwa, et al., 2020). However, this generalization may overlook the differences that exist in sub-cultures. Even then, delving into subcultures could complicate the process of ironing out intercultural differences in communication. Every aspect of intercultural communication, including but not limited, to the choice of a medium is influenced by taking into account cultural realities. In many industrialized nations, electronic and written messages are preferred over oral or face-to-face communication.
In some cultures, the forming of a relationship between business partners through face-to-face communication is preferable to any electronic means of communication. Thus, western business leaders should take care not to fall into the trap of not maintaining personal relationships with the people they do business with (Ismayilova, 2020). Another aspect of business communication in the cultural context regards the importance that different cultures attach to time. For western business leaders, a scheduled call for a particular time should start and end at the scheduled time. However, time is not taken that seriously in some cultures and a scheduled call may last longer than the initial call was intended or start later than intended. Thus, in a business context, cultural realities should always be considered.
Conclusion
Cultures and communication have a symbiotic relationship where culture is influenced by language and language are influenced by culture. Communication is smooth when people from the same culture are communicating but culture inhibits intercultural communication. These barriers exist because people from different cultures communicate in different languages and attach different meanings to symbols and signs. For an organization, understanding and considering intercultural differences in all communication is key to effective communication, motivated staff, greater cooperation and teamwork, and increased productivity. Thus, culture is an important aspect of communication and especially business communication and effective managers must always consider it before deciding what to communicate and the means to use in communication.
References
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Dingley, J., & Catterall, P. (2020). Language, religion and ethnonational identity: the role of knowledge, culture, and communication. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 43(2), 410-429.
Holliday, A. (2020). Culture, communication, context, and power. The Routledge handbook of language and intercultural communication, 39-54.
Ismayilova, E. M. (2020). About the” language barrier” in the process of teaching a foreign language.
Szkudlarek, B., Osland, J. S., Nardon, L., & Zander, L. (2020). Communication and culture in international business–Moving the field forward. Journal of World Business, 55(6), 101126.
Verluyten, S. P. (2020). Cultural biases in intercultural business communication courses and how to avoid them. In Exploring the Rhetoric of International Professional Communication (pp. 191-209). Routledge.