Филолгические науки/7. Язык, речь, речевая коммуникация

Mikhelson S.V.

Krasnoyarsk state agrarian university, Russia

Language, culture, business communication

In an increasingly global world economy, people of differing language groups must interact.

In our globalised world, the amount of cross-national communication increases drastically and in recent years many researchers have emphasized the importance of awareness of different cultural norms as globalization has brought about a growing trend to communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds. [3]

In today’s global business environment, more and more of us are required to understand people who come from countries and cultures different from our own. International businesses are facing a new dilemma whereby cross-cultural communication is introduced due to the major reforms brought about through internationalization, merging and joint ventures. This would make culture an important aspect when it comes to business communication.

Cultural differences, while difficult to observe and measure, are obviously very important. Failure to appreciate and account for them can lead to embarrassing blunders, strain relationships, and drag down business performance. [4]

At present every aspect of our social, scientific and mental life is subdued to accelerated development.

Differences in culture are reflected in business decisions. Cultural differences cause communication problems in every business interaction.

First of all it is very important to say a few words about culture.

Culture is a set of attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and customs. Members of a community teach one another these learned cultural cues so that it becomes an ingrained, accepted part of their society. Culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another and also culture is called software of mind. Culture is about human expression. It involves the behavior, beliefs and practices of individuals and their communities. Culture takes many forms and can be expressed in many different ways such as art, music, sport, entertainment, religion, ceremonies, and of course through our verbal and non-verbal communication.

The analogy of an iceberg is useful to conceptualize culture as consisting of different layers. [1] [6] Certain aspects of a culture are more visible, just like the tip of an iceberg. This manifest culture includes observed elements such as behaviors, language, music and food. A deeper understanding of a culture only develops by looking at the submerged tip of the iceberg. This deeper layer consists of expressed values that reflect how cultural members explain the manifest culture. Finally, the very bottom of the iceberg consists of basic and taken-for-granted assumptions which form the foundations of each culture. It is these basic assumptions that provide the ultimate meaning to the expressed values and behaviors. Dealing with national cultural differences therefore requires not only knowledge about adequate behaviors but, more importantly, an understanding of deeper-level assumptions and values that explain why certain behaviors are more appropriate than others. Language is another observable aspect of culture, which according to some researchers offers a window into deeper beliefs and thought processes. [2]

Culture is expressed through language.

Language is the key to the heart of a culture. The relationship between language and culture is as old as mankind. Through the centuries, people and their living practices have evolved, resulting in wide-reaching changes in societal culture.

Without culture, we can not understand the lives and motivations of others and connect with their concerns and interests. Culture is inherent in our being and a powerful human tool to develop our society, add to our knowledge, and establish the relationships between people.

Culture's effect on language makes it so that a person that speaks the same language but a different dialect can tell where you are from and what values you might hold. Language is a way of expressing culture and connecting other people. Without culture language could not exist, but without language, culture would be difficult to express.

Language is the means of communication. The most common way of expressing an idea for people is to say it out loud. Language enables people to understand each other. At the same moment language can be a major barrier to understanding because there are thousands of different languages on our planet. From the earliest time, with the development of trade and exchange of ideas and techniques people saw the necessity of learning foreign languages.

Culture affects all areas of business communications, including contract negotiations, production operations, and product sourcing, marketing campaigns and human resources decisions.

A large part of international business success depends how well businesses appreciate cultural differences, adapt their business to accommodate these differences and learn to carry out their business objectives within this environment. This is why it’s important to be aware of possible differences you can encounter and how these can impact your international business.

But it’s not always easy for professionals to put aside their own cultural assumptions and barriers to cross-cultural communication within the work environment.

Sometimes cultural differences affect people's ability to communicate. In a business setting, this is especially bad because one little misunderstanding could potentially wipe out a whole business deal.

The business environment has increasingly expanded outside single nations or regions of the world to encompass many differing countries. [5]

The study of languages other than one’s own can not only serve to help us understand what we as human beings have in common, but also assist us in understanding the diversity which underlies not only our languages, but also our ways of constructing and organizing knowledge, and the many different realities in which we all live and interact. Such understanding has profound implications with respect to developing a critical awareness of social relationships. Understanding social relationships and the way other cultures work is the groundwork of successful globalization business efforts.

References

1. Edgar H. Schein Organizational Culture and Leadership.- San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992

2. Joel West and John L. Graham, A Linguistic-based Measure of Cultural Distance and Its Relationship to Managerial Values.- Management International Review, vol. 44, no. 3, 2004, pp. 239-260.

3. Livia Ablonczy-Mihalyka Business Communication between People with Different Cultural Backgrounds. - Conference of the International Journal of Arts and Sciences, 1(19): 121 – 129, 2009

4. Pankaj Ghemawat and Sebastian Reiche The Globalization of Business Enterprise (GLOBE).- IESE Business School, 2011

5. Sims R. L. Collective versus Individualist National Cultures. Comparing Taiwan and U.S. Employee Attitudes Toward Unethical Business Practices. - Business & Society. 2009. vol. 48.

6. Vijay Sathe Culture and Related Corporate Realities.- Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1985