6. Mindful intercultural verbal communication
Prominence
How to communicate mindfully across cultures Cross-cultural situations pose challenges for effective mindful communication. Taking the cultural background of the conversation partner into consideration helps communication to flow smoothly. Verbal and non-verbal features and cues go hand in hand and should go in the same direction.
Does your communication partner come from highcontext or low-context background? HIGH CONTEXT indirect and implicit messages lots of background information building a relationship before talking business high use of non-verbal communication
LOW CONTEXT direct, simple and clear messages going straight to the point schedules are more important than relationships high use of written communication
How do you communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds? What kind of questions do you ask (open-ended or yes/no questions; ambigous questions)? Do you check if your communication partner has checked you have said? Do you use the correct level of formality? Do you articulate clearly and carefully? Do you speak slowly enough? Do you use very direct questions? Do you use words (dialect, slang, jargon) that are difficult to understand? Do you pay attention to your tone of voice, intonation and loudness? Do you follow non-verbal cues?
Considerations in intercultural verbal communication Directness Politeness Humour, jokes Formality Clarity Choice of words: slang, dialect, acronyms, idioms