“…the essence of culture is not what is visible on the surface. It is the shared ways groups of people understand and interpret the world. These differing interpretations that cultures give to their environment are critical influences on interactions between working and managing across cultures.”
L. Hoecklin: Managing cultural differences: Strategies for competitive advantage
Communicating across cultures is challenging. Each culture has set rules which by the members of that culture are taken for granted. Due to the fact that cultural imprinting for us, the people all over the world, begins at very early each, we tend not be aware of our own cultural biases. As a consequence, we tend to “force” our cultural values, to the other people.
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So, those people who don't have the same native language as you will have enough time to interpret what you are saying. Take into consideration the fact that while people in the high context culture, may speak faster and louder, in the low context culture this type of communication may be even offensive. So, the middle ground is preferred. Step two, speak clearly and concisely. Make eye contact and articulate plainly. Avoid using ambiguous or dual-meaning words. When speaking to a non-native speaker of your language use simple and easily understood expressions. Step three, keep it simple. Think in terms of your audience, and speak to their understanding. Don't make long speeches you may lose the attention of your audience. Step four, maintain respect and courtesy for people who come from different cultures. When you respect the people you communicate with, this helps reduce the stress they feel, by doing so, and you give them time while they are trying to understand what you are saying. In addition, you show your multi-cultural group of friends that you respect them. Step five, Smile and be open. Your body language communicates your acceptance or non-acceptance and respect. Be careful, the high and low culture context are different, so, try to avoid large gestures with your hands, as this can be intimidating to people who might misunderstand your meaning. Keeping your arms crossed often makes people think you are not open to what they have to say. Step six, humor. However, what is funny in one culture might not be in another. Humor might be misunderstood and misinterpreted. So, when in doubt, avoid using humor when communicating with people from different cultures. Step seven, adopt a formal communication approach until you develop a rapport with your group. But, a casual, informal approach can be upsetting to people from different cultures,