Language Confusion

Whenever you travel to different regions and do not know the local language completely, you know for sure that there will be some incidents of misunderstanding with the natives there. It will be purely for the reason of lack of knowledge about the local language. These potential misunderstandings may take the forms of humorous anecdotes that you can share with your friends and families when you return to your native lands. And I am sure every traveler on this planet has had such experiences.

However, the lack of knowledge of the local language may become a pain if your prospects/clients, colleagues and employees, strategic partners, or other important stakeholders and constituencies fail to fully understand or even misunderstand you and your ideas. The fact is more important today, due to multicultural and global work environments. A dictionary may give you the meanings of some important terms but your ability to communicate effectively in the other language depends solely on your nuances of using the local words. Your slight change in the usage of words of different language may have a totally different thing then what you intend to communicate and create blunders for you, which in turn may have tangible negative consequences.

Sometimes when the two parties speak the same language, for example English, we often assume that the words of English will communicate the same meaning that is actually intended. However, experiences present a totally different picture. An example can denote the statement better. Just ask your management team, staff, and clients to define familiar terms such as leadership, value, planning, strategic, communication, and performance. You will be surprised to know that the responses vary greatly, not only in the literal sense, but in the interpretive sense also. It is the context and perspective that acts as a translation filter which in turn determines whether your intention has been communicated along with the facts.

Here are some of the tips that can help you ensure that the intended messages are received properly. First and foremost important thing is to understand the perspective of the audience. This will help you identify the important parts to be communicated with the level of details required. You can accordingly provide the required details along with the details of what you want the recipient to do with the material.

Next, you must understand the cultures of your external audience’s organizations. This will help you with the preferred styles and manner of their communication. You must also be familiar with the preferred vehicle of communication of your audience. This will ensure that there is a very less or no need to repeat the communication and will not require any clarifications. Next, you must clearly communicate what you mean, particularly when you use a specific term or a phrase. For example, when you tell others that the goal is “effective communication” or “sound financial performance”, you must also explain what you mean by using these terms. Finally, you must avoid using any jargon, abbreviations, and acronyms. Rather, you must speak and write simple language as the same acronyms and abbreviations can mean very different things to different groups.

Above points have been drafted from the point of view of a business person. But as a traveler, did you have any funny experience due to language confusion? I’m there must be atleast one or two. Just add a comment about your experience, we are eager to know. Here are images of funny translations on our Facebook photo album. Have a good laugh….