Barriers to Intercultural Communication and How to Remove Them

This article discusses the barriers to intercultural communication in the business environment and provides strategies for overcoming them. It explores the relationship between language and culture and the impact of cultural diversity in the workplace. The article also highlights the contributions of research on cultural differences in enhancing productivity and fostering innovation.

Barriers to intercultural communication and how these barriers can be removed from the
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BARRIERS TO INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND HOW THESE BARRIERS CAN BE
REMOVED FROM THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
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In most cases, intercultural communication form part of contacts of different individuals
from range of cultures. Communication refers to the exchange of information that occur
between more than a single person or culture (Baraldi and Luppi 2015). Eginli (2016) argue that
some of the causes of cultural barriers in communication comprise of language, beliefs and
traits, stereotypes and prejudices, and religious belief. Moreover, other causes of cultural
barriers in communication include language diversities, discrimination, language of the body,
level of background, and unconstructive stereotypes.
Outline the three levels of culture
Culture has huge impact on operations as well as communication process of different
individuals around the global society. Fox (2016) divided organizational culture into three
diverse levels. These levels comprised of artifacts, espoused values, together with fundamental
values along with assumptions. Artifacts as a level refer to the aspects that can be easily
discerned yet are tough to understand concerning the communication. Espoused values
beneath artifacts as it remain to be conscious strategies, targets, and philosophies. According to
Lee (2015), basic assumption together with values as the level of culture in intercultural
communication forms the core or essence of culture by represented by fundamental underlying
assumptions and values that are tough to discern because they exist at the entire unconscious
range.
Relationship between language and culture
Language together with culture is intertwined. A specific language usually points out to
a particular group of individuals. When an individual interacts with a different language, it
means that they are always interacting with the custom that speaks the language. Therefore, it
is tough to understand an individual’s culture without directly examining its language (Zackary
2018). Language in most cultures is used not only as of the device for exchange of data,
although it remains to be the figurative scheme with authority to develop and shape figurative
actualities. Such realities comprise of vales, perceptional, and identities through discourse.
Culture can unambiguously change the language by introducing the advanced cultural elements

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that requires to be named. Besides, it has been viewed that language is greater when compared
to external phrase along with the interaction of internal belief formulated separately of their
articulation (Chen 2013). In illustrating insufficiency of such indigenous language, major focus
has to be put on techniques in which individuals’ indigenous language is ultimately as well as all
types of details that relate to rest of an individual’s community alongside to smaller groups
within that society. Therefore relations of culture alongside language are the manner they
share human values, different realities, together with behaviors of the social settings. Language
is expressed, embodied, and symbolized within the cultural reality. As stated in the research
conducted by Baraldi and Luppi (2015), culture together with language is mutually
indispensable. Language in most places has been created only in a societal situation.
Nevertheless, such idea might have been prepared along with the culture of human in any
outline even distantly similar to what is recognized presently or is documented in history could
be preserved only amongst individuals using and considering the language that is commonly
used.
Barriers to intercultural communication
From different studies in the field of intercultural communication, several barriers that
an individual faces with such type of communication had been identified. Some of the identified
barriers within intercultural communication comprise of ethnocentrism, anxiety, the
postulation of similarity, prejudice, impediment in language, alongside intellectual relativism.
Moreover, a study conducted by Baraldi and Luppi (2015)explained some of the barriers within
intercultural communication to be language differences, the language of the body, level of
background, the significance of time, unconstructive stereotypes together with discrimination,
views along with sentiments.
Anxiety is always referred to the state a human situation where the individual feeling of
nervousness as well as unease. Anxiety always happens when the individual commonly comes
across their initial cross-cultural communication (Eginli 2016). The sense of not being aware or
understanding what to anticipate from the complements together within the insufficient
understanding of techniques to communicate with them typically instigates a huge pact of

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anxiety among people. On the other hand, ethnocentrism refers to the perception that the
individual posses for another person’s culture along with heritage as being inferior to their
heritage and culture (Chen 2013). When such an individual communicates with the individual of
a different customs or legacy, they tend to refuse to recognize views of that individual or they
assess particular state from their viewpoint. Therefore, ethnocentrism relates to an instance of
racism in society. Additionally, prejudice is another notable as well as an essential barrier to
intercultural communication (Fox 2016). Prejudice also refers to irrational decisions approved
on particular set of persons. It leads to adverse insight being developed by persons based on
differences in race of human, ethnicity, language, religious beliefs, or cast.
Research of cultural differences in the workplace and its contribution to the understanding of
cultural diversity in the workplace
The survey on the cultural judgment in the workplace has remained to be an essential
issue among operations of several organizations for several decades. The current era of
technological advancement and globalization has made research on cultural diversity to be
important to allow companies to make an effort to succeed in cultural diversity in the world
(Tompos and Ablonczy-Mihályka 2018). The outcome of perspectives o cultural difference
research has huge importance as it can inspire creativity along with driving innovation. Some of
the contributions of research of cultural difference in the workplace lead to an increased rate of
productivity, enhancing creativity and increasing profits (Martin 2014). Other contributions
comprise of improved employee engagement, reducing cases of employee turnover, improving
the reputation of organization, enhancing cultural insights, and formation of a wide range of
skills. Besides, research on cultural diversity has ensured that every worker respects one
another and get along in the place of work.

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List of References
Baraldi, C. and Luppi, L. (2015). Ways of overcoming linguistic barriers in healthcare
intercultural communication. Language and Intercultural Communication, 15(4), pp.581-599.
Chen, J. (2013). Discussion on the Relationship between Language and Culture. Theory and
Practice in Language Studies, 3(6).
Eginli, A. (2016). From The Intercultural Communication Barriers To The Intercultural
Adaptation: Intercultural Communication Experiences. IJASOS- International E-journal of
Advances in Social Sciences, 2(4), p.32.
Fox, M. (2016). Political Culture and Risk Analysis: An Outline of Somalia, Tunisia, and Libya.
MCU Journal, 7(2), pp.36-57.
Lee, A. (2015). Levels of Culture as Levels of Social Generalization. American Sociological
Review, 10(4), p.485.
Martin, G. (2014). The Effects Of Cultural Diversity In The Workplace. Journal of Diversity
Management (JDM), 9(2), p.89.
Tompos, A. and Ablonczy-Mihályka, L. (2018). The Sustainability Of Cultural Diversity In The
Workplace: Cultural Values And Intercultural Mindset. European Journal of Sustainable
Development, 7(1).
Zackary Jenio, F. (2018). W is for Wasta: A Grounded Theory for the Relationship Between
Language and Culture. Arabic Language, Literature & Culture, 3(1), p.1.