Barriers to intercultural communication

During the last few decades intercultural contacts have increased enormously as a result of the
globalization process. International trade relations have become so close that communication
between people from diverse language and cultural backgrounds is omnipresent in our modern world.
At the same time advances in transportation and communication technology as well as the rise of
English as a global language have made international communication much easier.  It is often said
that the world has become a “global village” – a term which had already been coined in the 1960s by
the Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan. This metaphor evokes an image that different parts of
the world form one community by the fact that interaction is facilitated greatly through the use of
electronic media in our digital age. Globalization also means that people almost inevitably have more
cross-cultural encounters in their everyday life nowadays. However, to communicate successfully,
we also have to be aware of potential communication barriers which may prevent us from receiving
and understanding the messages people from other cultures use to convey their information and
thoughts.

Above all, problems and misunderstandings in intercultural communication may arise if people are
unaware of differences in communicative or social behaviour and automatically assume that the
conventions and norms in their home culture are similar or even identical (cf. LaRay M. Barna 1997;
Jandt 2009: 82).

We may distinguish between four different types of communication barriers which might cause
problems in understanding messages: language barriers, nonverbal communication barriers,
conceptual barriers and attitudinal barriers. 

Language barriers

Language barriers exist in very different forms. The following list includes some basic  potential
problems related to linguistic obstacles:

-          Insufficient language competence: Not being able to speak a foreign language is the most
obvious barrier to intercultural communication which increases the likelihood that misunderstandings
will occur. Lack of language skills may in some cases even lead to language anxiety when
communicating with native speakers or with other non-native speaker who appear to be more
competent in the second language.

-          Lack of familiarity with non-standard language varieties: Learners are often familiar with
the standard variety of the language, but not necessarily with regional dialects and accents or with
social dialects, jargon or slang expressions.

-          Lexical or semantic problems:  As anyone knows who has learnt a foreign language, there is
not necessarily a one-to-one correspondence between the meaning of words or phrases in the first and
the second language. In some cases, objects or phenomena that do not exist in one culture are
difficult to translate into the language of another culture – in other cases, words, phrases or idioms in
one language simply do not correspond precisely in meaning to words in the other language or may
have different connotations (e.g. words like “liberal” or “democracy”).

-          Pragmatic problems: Sometimes speech acts (e.g. saying hello, saying goodbye,
complaining) are realized in different ways in the other culture and require different linguistic
devices; politeness routines typically also vary greatly across languages.
-          Discourse problems: Differences in turn-taking behaviour may occur (e.g. if and when it is
appropriate to interrupt a speaker) as well as culture-specific deviations in structuring texts.

Differences may also result from the importance attached to the context in which communication
takes place and from the question how much information is needed to interpret a message. In low-
context cultures (e.g. US, Switzerland, Germany), messages tend to be direct and explicit and can
often be interpreted just through the words alone whereas in high-context cultures (e.g. Japan) the
receiver of the message is expected  to rely much more on the context (e.g. the implied meaning,
gestures, tone of voice or facial expressions) to interpret the meaning correctly (cf. Hall 1976). For
example, in low-context cultures, it is usually considered to be appropriate to say explicitly ‘no’
when you actually mean ‘no’. In high-context cultures, such as Japan, there may be other – less direct
– forms to express this meaning since a direct ‘no’ is often perceived to be very blunt and potentially
face-threatening. Instead, the message must be deduced by the listener from the context, possibly
with the help of some additional nonverbal or paraverbal cues. In general, there seems to be a
stronger orientation towards content in low-context cultures while the focus in high-context is often
on establishing and maintaining good relationships.  

Nonverbal communication barriers

Since messages are also conveyed through gestures, eye contact, touch or proximity, the field of
nonverbal communication can also be a barrier to communication since the meanings attached to
facial expressions or body movements might be misinterpreted. In some cultures, a handshake is the
usual form of greeting while in other cultures a bow or an embrace might be more appropriate.
People from southern Europe tend to use more eye contact than, for example, British people which
potentially may cause some discomfort on both sides in interactions. In some regions, e.g. in
southern Europe or in Latin America people may also stand closer to one another when talking
which again might be uncomfortable for people (e.g. from northern Europe or North America)
who are used to having more space around them. Also the frequency of touch or smiling can vary
greatly across cultures. Even silence can express different things: While some cultures see silence as
a sign of respect, in other cultures it might be perceived more as an expression of shyness or lack of
interest.

Conceptual barriers

It is a well-known fact that cultures have different concepts of time and space. For example, a
culture's view of time may also influence its view of concepts such as punctuality. In many western
cultures it is often regarded as essential that certain deadlines are met, while in other cultures it
might be more important that good results are achieved in the long term.

Different cultural schemata and scripts can also be potential barriers to communication if the patterns
are too different and a specific event occurs in an unforeseen way. Attending a funeral or a wedding
or going to a restaurant always requires cultural knowledge about the specific sequence of events and
codes of conduct.

Attitudinal barriers

Negative attitudes towards cultures are perhaps the greatest barrier to successful communication.
This would include the development of negative stereotypes and prejudice as well as ethnocentrism.

Ethnocentrism refers to the belief that one’s own culture is the centre of everything and that other
cultures are valued on the basis of one’s own cultural preconceptions. This may result in a sense of
supposed superiority which can lead people to misperceive other cultures and make communication
more difficult or even impossible. 

Above all, we should be aware that other cultures may have different interpretations of specific forms
of verbal and non-verbal communication and that our principles of communication are not
necessarily universal. What is acceptable in one culture may be regarded as offensive in another.
What is clear to us may not be clear to others. Although we often have a relatively good
understanding of our own culture, we tend to assume that our culture is the ‘norm’ and other cultures
are seen as deviant from this norm or in extreme cases even as ‘inferior’.

In general, globalisation forces us to deal with other cultures. Intercultural encounters offer many
opportunities and advantages, but in some cases may also increase the risk of communication
problems and negative attitudes towards certain cultures. Knowing the barriers to intercultural
communication, however, is the first step to overcoming these problems and to fostering a greater
respect and tolerance for other cultures.