The modern business world demands that people from all corners of the world communicate with each other. A manager in the US may have staff in Germany, India, and China; the importer in France may have partners in Türkiye, Italy and Japan. More and more people now communicate across intercultural lines.
As anyone who works internationally can tell you, intercultural communication is not always easy. Intercultural communication in this context refers to people, mainly but not exclusively from the business world, working with other people of different nationalities, religions, beliefs and cultures. When different cultures come together in a business environment, their differences can often cause confusion, misunderstandings, mistakes, and the like. These cross-cultural differences can be anything from contrasting approaches to communication, etiquette, meeting styles, or body language.
One area of intercultural communication that is common to most people working internationally is that of email. The Internet allows us to send documents, requests, and information to colleagues, customers, and users around the world. However, despite the unquestionable benefits that communicating by email brings us, there is a downside, especially in the context of intercultural business communication.
When we look at cross-cultural email issues, we need to look at it from two angles: 1) the language issue and 2) the culture issue.
language
English is undoubtedly the lingua franca of the modern business world. Whether we are in Berlin or Bangkok, most business emails will be in English. Although most people accept it as the international language, most do not have the proficiency of a native speaker. This creates communication problems and misunderstandings.
Those who have English as a second language will, of course, have a tendency to misspell words, make up new words, use poor grammar, and generally be unclear. Reading such an email can be a struggle and if one word is out of place, the entire meaning can be misinterpreted.
It is important for those who communicate across cultures to note that this is to be expected. The best way to approach these types of emails is to look beyond the form to the intent. If that is not possible, a simple email should be sent asking for clarification on the points or even send closed questions that can only have a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.
Culture
Intercultural communication can be tricky in a face-to-face setting. However, people instinctively navigate situations by reacting to body language, gestures, facial expressions, etc. With email communication, people don’t have this luxury. As a result, emails have great potential to get lost in translation across cultural boundaries.
The actual format of an email may differ between cultures. In some formal cultures, one is expected to begin by addressing someone with her first name (and possibly last name) followed by her email address. Others may not really care and jump straight to the content of the email. Either way, one person may find email too formal while the other sees it as too casual or even forceful.
The content of an email also depends on the culture. Some cultures may accept the use of slang, idioms, puns, joke phrases, or profanity in an email, while in others it’s a real no-no. Some may find it acceptable to answer a question with a simple “no” or “yes”, while others would expect a more detailed answer.
The meaning of an email will also be affected by culture. What a sentence means in Dublin may not mean the same thing in Delhi. If you send an email to a culture whose communication style is indirect (such as India or Japan), it is possible to get responses to requests that say neither ‘yes’ nor ‘no’. If one doesn’t appreciate the fact that the writer is actually hiding his true feelings between the lines, there can be confusion.
Conclusion
Email is becoming more and more common as a form of communication in business. However, as we have seen, when this takes place in an intercultural context there is much room for misunderstanding both linguistically and culturally. People should take the necessary steps to investigate these areas and always keep an open mind to minimize the chances of cross-cultural miscommunication. Companies with large numbers of international staff should look to implement codes of conduct around emails, as well as invest in cross-cultural training for their staff.
