Understanding Cultural Barriers to Effective

Intercultural Communications

Intercultural Communication: Intercultural communication occurs when

people from different cultures gather and communicate knowledge in a way that
is acceptable to everyone in the group.
Intercultural communication happens on a daily basis. Cultures differ beyond
nationality. Culture could be related to a given religion, company, taste in music,
gender, or education level.
Importance: As the world becomes smaller, intercultural communication
provides the ability to deal across cultures, which is becoming increasingly
crucial. Getting smaller does not imply that the globe is getting more
homogeneous; rather, it means having more and more contact with people from
diverse cultures.
Meaning: Communication between people from two distinct cultures is referred
to as intercultural communication. Intercultural communication abilities are
those needed to speak with persons from other cultures and social groupings, or
to share information. ... Understanding that different cultures have diverse
norms, standards, social mores, and even cognitive patterns is also necessary for
intercultural communication. Many of the most essential advantages of learning
intercultural communication is that it makes us more knowledgeable of our own
cultural identity and history. The requirement of identity aids us in gaining
insights about our own culture as well as our intercultural experiences. Through
its fundamental natures, all cultures are ethnocentric.
Purpose: Intercultural communication's main goal is to improve understanding
of culturally constructed interaction occurrences.
 One way to fully understand the Cultural Barriers to Effective
Communication, one should know what are these cultural barriers ad what
is a cultural barrier itself.

Cultural Barriers:
A Communication barriers are most common when two people from different
cultural backgrounds communicate. In our daily lives, we come across cultural
boundaries. Cultural barriers are those factors that can delay or prevent
communication, task completion, and interpersonal connections.

Cultural barriers is when people of different cultures are unable to understand

each other’s customs, resulting in inconveniences and difficulties.
An example would be a Chinese living in Canada. The most significant cultural
barrier would be language — if the Chinese doesn’t know how to speak English or
French, it’d be almost impossible to communicate with anyone.
This means that they’d have a hard time doing even the simplest of things, such
as ordering food at a restaurant or talking to friends. They may also be unable to
communicate with colleagues at work, leading to trouble and misunderstanding.
Another cultural barrier would be the customs and practices of a person’s culture.
In Greece, you nod your head to say “no” and shake your head to say “yes”. A
Greek person living in almost anywhere else may run into some major
misunderstandings. Most people, when thinking about cultural barriers,
immediately think of language. Language, of course, is a huge barrier to
communication across cultures. However, an even bigger barrier to cultural
understanding of individuals who share the same language is miscommunication.
Dale Carnegie once said that 90 percent of management problems are caused by
miscommunication. (NYC TEACHER DEAME HUA)
Things to stay away from in Intercultural Communication
I. Taking advantage of customs.
II. Slang, idioms, and other local expressions
III. Lack of understanding and empathy for different cultures and customs.
IV. Failure to take language difficulties into account.

Beginnings of Cultural Barriers: What Causes Them?

There are a variety of reasons why cultural obstacles arise. These may
occur as a result of inefficiently implementing internal and external
communications. When these barriers take on a significant form, they
hurt not only the implementation of communication procedures but
also the proper functioning of different industry areas.

A lot of studies in the topic of intercultural communication have been

conducted, with a number of professionals examining how people
from various backgrounds engage with one another and do their daily
activities. The issue also looks into the hurdles that people have while
communicating with people from different cultures and backgrounds.
This presentation will focus on the various challenges to intercultural
communication that one may encounter.
The Six Barriers of Communication:

Anxiety
Anxiety is typically characterized as a state of mind in which a person
experiences a sense of unease and apprehension. It's even been linked to
the sensation of having an irrational fear. When a person encounters his or
her first cross-cultural interaction, anxiety is common.

Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is the belief that another person's culture and heritage are
inferior to one's own culture and heritage (Coopman and Lull). The
perception entails a vast variety of assumptions about the culture being
ethically correct and rational in every way possible.

Stereotype and Prejudice

Stereotypes are any negative image or preconceived notions on a
particular community and identity. These are created through mass
media and their content agenda. For example,the status of
transgender is considered in the different level of standard in various
cultures. Same like the role and respect for women also varies from
culture to culture. In social psychological viewpoint, positive
stereotypes are also considered as the cultural barrier. It is
representation of a particular group of people or culture in a positive
way. This may be different from reality. The positive stereotypes
create frames of reference in the mind of people in cultural context.
For example, it is considered as people in Italy are having a great
interest in art. This might be true in some sense since Italy was gone
through various art movements. But if a foreigner visits Italy and
interact the Italians with that mindset, he may find it difficult to
encounter the reality.

Another noticeable and significant impediment to terms of inter

communication is prejudice. Prejudice is the term used to describe illogical
judgments made against specific groups or individuals. It is a primary
negative perception formed by people based on their race, ethnicity,
religion, caste, or language. When people from different cultures and
conventions mix with people from other cultures, they are bound to
experience prejudice.

Language Disparity or Differences

Language is a communication exchange gate. It refers to a source that
allows two exchange groups to share values, ideas, and views. But when the
said exchange groups are cross-cultural or are different from each other,
language can be a big obstacle to communication. The reason is that It is
due to linguistic variations between exchange groups, and there could be a
communication gap.

Well, Language is considered the most crucial barrier in intercultural

communication. Since verbal communication is important in every
context, the understandings of the meaning of words are also
important. The language barrier occurs not only because of
differences in language but also in the forms of a variety of dialects.
An example would be a Chinese living in Framce. if the Chinese doesn’t
know how to speak English or French, it’d be almost impossible to
communicate with anyone. This means that they’d have a hard time doing
even the simplest of things, such as ordering food at a restaurant or talking
to friends. They may also be unable to communicate with colleagues at
work, leading to trouble and misunderstanding. If one communicator is
not aware of the exact meaning, it will create misunderstanding and
could lead to a conflict of ideas.
 Another example is the word salvage. It has two different meanings.
Outside the Philippines, the world salvage means to- rescue from lost
or the act of saving something, meanwhile here in the country it
means to execute or kill someone. So there would be a
misunderstanding when it happens, and that is where tension occurs.

In, addition words don’t necessarily translate from one language to

another in a clean one-on-one correspondence. The same English
words may have different translations to people from different
cultures. That is why When a large number of words, symbols, or
signals have multiple meanings, and a sender and receiver try to
communicate in a language that they do not fully comprehend,
language barriers occur.
The causes of language barriers are
- Difference in language and dialects
- Use of Jargons and Slang
- Word Choice
- Literacy and Linguistic Ability
- Grammar and spelling

Assumption of similarity

The second barrier is assuming similarity instead of difference

People frequently assume that two cultures are not just similar in
nature, but also that they are not. When dealing with people from
other cultures, one must avoid making assumptions about the culture
of their counterparts. To be on the right track, one should consider
that the two cultures have no cultural distinctions. The best way is to
show oneself as one would in their daily life and to conduct out things
in a consistent manner.
.In 1997, a Danish woman left her 14-month-old baby girl in a stroller
outside a Manhattan restaurant while she was inside. Other diners at
the restaurant became concerned and called New York City Police. The
woman was charged with endangering a child and was jailed for two
nights. Her child was placed in foster care. The woman and the Danish
consulate explained that leaving children unattended outside cafés is
common in Denmark. Pictures were wired to the police showing
numerous strollers parked outside cafés while parents were eating
inside. The Danish woman had assumed that Copenhagen is similar to
New York, that what is commonly done in Copenhagen is also
commonly done in New York.

When you assume similarity between cultures you can be caught

unaware of important differences. When you have no information
about a new culture, it might make sense to assume there are no
differences, to behave as you would in your home culture. But each
culture is different and unique to some degree. Boucher (1974), for
example, has shown how cultures differ as to whom it is appropriate to
display emotions. If you assume that display of emotions is similar to
your culture, you might see people in some circumstances as lacking
emotion and others in other circumstances as displaying emotions
inappropriately.

The inverse can be a barrier as well. Assuming difference instead of

similarity can lead to your not recognizing important things that
cultures share in common. It’s better to assume nothing. It’s better to
ask, “What are the customs?” rather than assuming they’re the same—
or different— everywhere.
Non-Verbal Misinterpretations

The fifth barrier is a nonverbal misinterpretation. People interpret

nonverbal signs and symbols through the frame of reference of their
own culture. This can lead to misunderstanding when the signs or
symbols are interpreted differently from the initial meaning.
Non-verbal communication by means of facial expressions, eye
behavior, gestures, posture. Body language expresses
emotions, feelings, and attitudes, sometimes even
contradicting the messages conveyed by spoken language.
Some nonverbal expressions are understood by people in all
cultures; other expressions are particular to specific cultures.

Non-verbal communication or gestures are not the same in all cultures,

misinterpretation is expected to take place when two or more people
from different cultures interact. Consequently, a person can hurt
somebody's feelings without intending to do so just because they have
different cultural backgrounds.
Nods can be a good example to illustrate this. In the Moroccan culture,
nodding means yes or OK; however, in Greece, Iran, and Turkey, you
nod your head to say “no” and shake your head to say “yes”.
Another example is Filipinos or Asians ain general are more
conservative as compared to Westerners. A typical Chinese worker was
never for once been exposed to a western culture may find it
outrageous for a new western boss to hug and kiss her on the cheek
upon their first meeting. She will perceive that this app is too
intimidating and will naturally think that her boss wants to take a
vantage of her just putting her in an uncomfortable spot.
Overcoming Cultural Barrier

All these obstacles are substantial and must be overcome for

intercultural communication to become effective. Individuals must
achieve a fundamental comprehension of one other's cultures and
thoughts as a solution for intercultural communicators. This will
lessen the impact of interfering cultural barriers that may arise during
cross-cultural interactions.
It is important to avoid or overcome any kind of barrier for any
successful and effective communication. Especially in context of cross-
cultural communication, it is important to avoid all types of cultural
barriers. It will create tension between different cultural contexts. The
reasons for wars between two countries, business revelry are may be
due to cultural barriers between communications.

As a result, identifying the reasons for miscommunication and putting

in place the necessary procedures to address them is important. The
following are the points which we need to keep in mind to avoid
cultural barriers in communication:

1. Do not use a frame of reference.

2. Make use of sign language and mutual language.
3. When in doubt, ask questions.
4. Make room for mutual respect.
 5. New ideas are welcomed.
6. Accepting and adapting to a variety of cultural influences
7. Recognize the communication context
8. Avoid making assumptions based on stereotypes.
9. Encourage a favorable attitude toward cultural differences.
10. Get to know various civilizations and their customs.

Finally, it can be concluded that when individuals raise awareness of

reasons and effectively implement measures, they can develop
effective communication and improve their overall social conditions.