BUS613: Advanced International Business

Language barriers are frequent obstacles to successful cross-cultural negotiations, and different cultures have different ways of dealing with that hurdle, Kelm says. In his observations, professionals from China tend to be more self-conscious about conversing in a foreign language with native speakers. He says Brazilians are generally more open to speaking freely, without worrying about imperfections in their diction.

"We sometimes don't appreciate how hard that is when you have two people who are not totally fluent in whatever language they're speaking", Kelm says.

The best way to overcome language barriers in a professional setting is to keep communication as clear and direct as possible, Kelm suggests. Speak slowly and use visual aids, and avoid presenting a large amount of information at once because this can cause an overload, and important details could get lost in the shuffle.

"I've been in situations where I've known that people have an opinion or a sense of what they want to say, but the volume is too much", Kelm says. "You're hit with too much information too fast to actually process all that information and then contribute with comments out loud". The result of this avalanche can be that people listen more than participate because it's too much to listen, speak, and understand nuances and numbers all at once.

Follow-up correspondence can also be useful. It is common in China to arrange one-on-one meetings after a negotiation to smooth out any unfinished business. Kelm also says it can be helpful for both parties to send each other written summaries of what they got out of the meeting, along with feedback about how they thought it went. This can help everyone avoid misunderstandings and bring to light any issues that need to be corrected for the next meeting.