Among all the challenges in a
multicultural environment undoubtedly the most difficult one to handle is the
communication skill as it is how we express ourselves, share information,
develop relationships, establish trusts and above all build a multicultural
environment even with the establishment of a Creole language. Even the native
users of a language have trouble with the proper understanding of certain
expressions- either verbal or non-verbal, accents, or dialects of sub-cultural
groups in a country.
Apparently, to its basic level communication is quite easy with a limited knowledge of a different language; however a successful communication in a working environment requires a high level of expertise. For example, English, the most widely spoken language, can put a native user of this language in difficulties while talking to a person from another English speaking nation as the accents, word usage, and dialects varied to a great extent in the UK English, US English or in Australian English. So, the verbal skill involves your ability to understand different accents, to use it in an internationally recognizable pronunciation and to master the word-craft-ship in the better correlation with the signifier and signified.
For an effective communication even
the underlying or implied meaning of a statement has to be known along with the
linguistic one as in almost every culture idiomatic expressions are very common
to be used widely. Additionally the cultural-bound terms may have the chance to
bewilder you even if you are a native user of a language as these sorts of
terms are identical to a particular location in a country. For instance, as the
concept of a ‘knock, knock joke’ may not be understood by someone carrying
another cultural traits. Some other culture-bound words as picked up by Chad
Lewis are ‘pie chart’, ‘high five’, ‘get out of jail free card’, ‘touchdown’,
‘piggy bank etc. which are commonly used in the United States but may be hard
to understand to people from different states.
Non-Verbal Communication Skills in a multicultural Environment
Another challenge of the communication in a diverse setting lies in the fact
that the secondary channel to convey an expression may be interpreted just
opposite to people with other cultural identity. So learning the body language,
personal space or distance in a conversation, and intonation being practiced in
a particular community can be very crucial to have learned to develop your
communication skill.
In communication, kinesics that refers to the usage of body language,
gestures, eye-contacts etc. can be another issue to pose challenges in a
diverse culture. In some places eye-contact is treated as a sign of paying
attention or showing interest, but still there are communities that would
rather readily take it as a sign of aggression. Again, head wobbling being used
in India as a body language to answer a question can lead to misinterpretation
to some other cultural context. One more example can be cited in this regard is
a physical movement like giving a quick pat on the back to show support or
encouragement to a colleague can put you in an awkward situation as there are
places where touching of any kind especially between the opposite sexes is
strictly prohibited.
Intonation conveying a non-verbal message can be another communication
challenge for a diverse group as the meaning associated with it is not
universal. For instance in the sentence, ‘you are going to party’, the accent
on the word, ‘party’ would indicate a question for one group while some other
groups may take it as an expression of anger or irritation.
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