This document discusses cross-cultural communication and some of the challenges involved. It notes that culture, body language, and language differences can all impact cross-cultural communication. Specific issues discussed include differences in views of time, space, intimacy, and the expression of emotions across cultures. High- and low-context cultures are defined. The document also provides tips for effective cross-cultural communication such as using simple language and continually checking for understanding.

1. CROSS-CULTURE
COMMUNICATION
PRESENTED BY
Vibhor Agarwal
BBA 3rd b
1

2. INRODUCTION :
Cross-culture communication involves
understanding culture difference and
overcoming language problems.
Communicating across cultures effectively
improves your productivity and efficiency
and promotes harmonious work
environments.

3. ROLE OF CULTURE :
Culture is “the shared ways in which
groups of people understand and
interpret the world.
The customs, ideas, and social behavior of
a particular people or group.
Culture is a shared system of symbols,
beliefs, attitudes, values, expectations and
norms for behavior.

4. PROBLEMS OF CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES :
Two of dimensions that impact communications
are the cultural differences in :
Body Positions and Movements.
Views and practices concerning various factors of
human relationships(time, space, intimacy, odors,
frankness, values, emotions).
Body Positions and Movements:
Body positions and movements differ among
cultures and the differences can effect
communication.
Some of the movements have no definite
meaning even within a culture. But some have
clear meanings and they differ by culture.

5. COMMUNICATION WITH BODY PARTS :
'OK' to a Westerner, 'money' to a Japanese, 'zero'
to the French and ‘insulting’ to the Turks and
Brazilians.
This can mean 'two' to an American ,'Victory' to a
German and 'Up yours' in Britain.

6. COMMUNICATION WITH BODY PARTS :
EYE MOVEMENTS :
The meanings that movements of our eyes convey also
vary by culture.
In North America we are taught to maintain eye contact
in giving formal speech. But in Indonesia , it is considered
to be disrespectful.
SMILE :
In our culture, smiles are viewed positively in most
situations. But in some other cultures (notably African
cultures), a smile is regarded as a sign of weakness in
certain situations.

7. High and low context:
High-context is that “most of
the information is either in the
physical context or initialized
in the person, while very little
is in the coded, explicit,
transmitted part of the
message.”
low-context
communication is “the mass
of information is vested in the
explicit code”.

8. High and low context culture:
High context refers to societies or groups where people
have close connections over a long period of time. Many
aspects of cultural behavior are not made explicit(Clear)
because most members know what to do and what to
think from years of interaction with each other.
Low context refers to societies where people tend to
have many connections but of shorter duration or for
some specific reason. In these societies, cultural behavior
and beliefs may need to be spelled out explicitly so that
those coming into the cultural environment know how to
behave.

9. Higher Context Cultural Countries
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10. Lower Context Cultural Countries
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11. Views and Practices Concerning Factors of
Human Relations :
Differing attitudes toward various factors of human
relationships cause communication problems.
For illustrative purposes, we will review seven major
factors:
TIME : Views about time differ widely. Some cultures stress
punctuality and some do not.
SPACE : Space is viewed differently by different
culture. In some cultures, people want to be far
apart and in other cultures, they want to be
close.
ODORS : Some cultures view body odors as bad
and others view them as normal.

12. Views and Practices Concerning Factors of
Human Relations :
FRANKNESS : Low-context cultures are more frank
and explicit than high-context cultures.
INTIMACY OF RELATIONSHIPS : In many cultures,
strict social classes exist and class status
determines how intimately people are addressed
and treated in communication.
VALUES : Each culture has different values
concerning such matters as attitude towards
work, employee-employer relations and authority.
EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS : Social behavior
varies by culture, such as practices concerning
affection, laughter, and emotion.

13. PROBLEMS OF LANGUAGE :
The people on earth use more than 3,000
languages.
Communication problems are caused by the
existence of many languages.
LACK OF LANGUAGE EQUIVALENCY :
Differences among languages make equivalent
translations difficult.
Grammar and syntax differences add to the
difficulty.
The problem of multiple word meanings .Like
English, other languages have more than one
meaning for many words.

14. LACK OF LANGUAGE EQUIVALENCY :
Even words with the same meaning can differ in
usage by culture.
Overcome such language problems by knowing
languages well and by questioning.

15. A General Suggestion For
Communicating Cross Cultures
Use simple, basic English.
Continually check the accuracy of the
communication.

16. THANK YOU