Strategies For Successful International Communication: Using Cultural Conventions to Inform Your Documents

Abstract

If we are to successfully communicate with people in other countries, we need to be aware of their cultural customs and of how these customs are reflected in the linguistic and rhetorical conventions of their language. Without this knowledge, we are apt to be perceived as rude and our technical documents misunderstood. This paper looks at differences in the vocabulary, sentence structure, and conventions of various cultures, especially the Asian culture, and suggests strategies for effectively engaging in written discourse with people from these cultures. Corresponding with engineers and managers in Beijing or Hangzhou can be a ticklish business unless you understand some of the cultural traditions of China. These traditions are implicit in the rhetorical conventions used in oral and written discourse. They, therefore, play an important role in the interpretation given to written documents. A country’s culture is reflected in the linguistic and rhetorical aspects of its language. In America “business is business,” but in China business and pleasure not only mix but pleasure may determine whether or not business will occur. The Chinese culture places apriority on harmony and requires that a relationship of mutual trust be established prior to conducting business. This cultural tradition carries over to business correspondence. A letter, even a business letter, should begin with inquiries into the reader’s health, the state of the family, etc. To deal successfully with the Chinese, our correspondence needs to imply that we conduct business in the same civil, harmonious manner as the Chinese do. If we are to effectively communicate with people of another culture, we need to be aware of the customs which inform the linguistic rules and rhetorical conventions of that culture’s discourse. Without this familiarity, we may include inappropriate information or use an inapppriate tone as well as fail to provide necessary content (Sims and Guice, 1990). This paper looks at differences in the semantics, syntax, and conventions of various cultures, especially the Asian culture, and suggests strategies for effectively engaging in technical discourse with people from these cultures. Historical Perspective