Hey everyone, and welcome back to the Easy English Podcast by
Understandable English. And today we are going to be
talking about quite an interesting and maybe more
professional topic, and that topic is working with
international colleagues. So within this topic, we are
going to look at a little bit about project communication,
cultural differences, and some of the differences with working
with British and American colleagues.
For example, this podcast is useful.
This episode is useful for general listening or if you want
to use English for work. If you are working with
international colleagues or want to work internationally with
your English in the future, then it might be a little bit
interesting for you with some of the points.
Before we get started, I just want to say that following some
messages and comments that I received, I have changed the
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link below. So the Patreon link below, but
let's get back to the episode. OK, so one thing which is so
important with professional English language, so using
English language in the workplace is how you
communicate. So the style and the way that
you do it. But before I talk about
communication styles, I really wanted to look at it in relation
to projects. If you're working on a project
or a task or really anything with a foreign colleague, so
someone from a different country and you're communicating
together in English, there are a few very important things which
I think that you can use for any country and they're very, very
effective for helping your work go smoothly.
These are not work specific or industry specific.
They are just from a position of using English.
The first really important thing is to be patient.
So you're not always going to understand each other.
And it's very important to understand that often, in many
cases, it is neither of your native languages.
It is a second language for both people.
And even in the case where it is only your second language, you
still need to be patient because perhaps the other person is also
trying to make sure that they understand you.
And if both people are patient or the whole group is, it will
go so much easier. The next point is to be direct
and open about sort of what you need about deadlines and about
everything that you're working on.
We will talk about some different communication styles
and those can be important when dealing with the UK or EU, but
in general for work, work across the world, when communicating
internationally, it's very important to be still quite
direct. But more importantly than being
direct, being clear, so clear about what you want, about what
you're asking for and about what you expect maybe from your
meeting or your discussion. This is key and most important
for international communication within business and the
professional sphere. This leads me on to
communication and different cultural styles of communication
within business. So when I talk about
communication, it refers or it means not only language but also
the style and how you do it. So there are direct and indirect
communication styles as well as low and high context cultures.
And I'll explain in a little bit what that actually means for
direct communication in business.
It is appreciated to get to the point where to cut the chase.
And what that means is to be very clear and direct about what
you think and feel. So yes is yes and no is no.
And this style is very common in the US, in Germany, Australia,
the Netherlands and Eastern Europe as well.
With indirect communication in business, it's appreciated that
communication is done in such a way that there won't be an
argument or conflict. Or in cultures where respect and
personal image is very important, indirect
communication is used as a way that people do not lose
reputation. So yes, maybe isn't always yes
and no isn't always no. And the main places that you
will find this style of communication is India, China,
Japan and maybe parts of Asia as well, other parts and in the
Middle East in some areas too and of course the UK.
So the UK uses quite a mixed style of communication, but
there are some strong aspects of indirect communication.
So working with direct business communication is very easy.
You just be direct, clear and concise.
But how do we deal with indirect?
So it's important to remember when you deal with indirect
cultures that you shouldn't should avoid like sharp
comments, so saying something very negative directly to
someone and also pay a lot of attention to non verbal
behaviours or actions. So for example, the body
language, maybe how someone says something, and this can be very
difficult. It's often easier to say this
than it is to actually do it. So let let me give you an
example. So for example, in English,
there is often a lot of sarcasm. So someone might say like, even
if something is bad, they might say, oh, that's really good.
But they say it in such a way that you can tell from how they
say it that it's a joke or that they don't actually think that.
And maybe on their face as well, you can see their expression
that they aren't very happy with it.
So these are some aspects to take into consideration when
working with foreign or international colleagues.
And that leads me to the next one, something which is quite
different across countries and culture, and that is time.
What do I mean by that? So it's how they see time.
So being early, being laid, that type of thing.
So just like with communication styles, if someone is very
direct to an indirect culture, they would see it as rude, so
rude or not very nice. The same with time.
In some countries and cultures, they are not so strict with
being early. For example, they might say
let's meet at 8:00 in the morning, 8:00 AM, and they turn
up to the meeting at 8:45 or 9:00.
And this is totally normal, it's fine.
Whereas in other countries, when they say let's meet at 8:00 AM,
they really mean that you should be there at 7:45 early, ready to
start at 8:00 AM. And how do you know?
So the only way with any of these things, these cultural
things, is to research about maybe the country that you're
working with and the culture that is in that country.
And that's the most important thing.
If you work with people from Germany, research about the
German work culture, about the culture of communication in
Germany, and do some reading. It's the best way to find out.
Or just ask a German, ask your colleagues.
It's, it's that simple. OK, So thank you very much for
listening to these this episode about working with international
or foreign colleagues in English.
These were just a few aspects or points that I have noticed from
working with people in English all around the world or from all
around the world. And I hope that they were
interesting. As always, thank you so much for
listening. If you want to support this
podcast, the Patreon link is down below.
And if not, that's fine. Check out the YouTube channel as
well where I post real life easy English vlogs for you to watch.
Thank you so much for listening. I hope you have a great day.
Goodbye.