CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION Many questions need to be posed and answered before deciding upon suitable strategies for communicating with businesspeople from other cultural backgrounds. Read the table now on page

Written Communication  Written communication occurs through the use of letters, s, memorandums, reports, facsimiles, text messages and the internet.  The risk of miscommunication increases with written communication because of the lack of face-to-face interaction.  Most international communications are in English. However, if a business knows that the receiver would have great difficulty reading the correspondence or finding a translator, it is the sender ’ s responsibility to have the communication translated before it is sent.

Written Communication Coninuted  Every culture has its own style of preparing written communication. The way Australian businesses format and organise content, as well as the tone and approach used, sometimes differs from practices in other cultures. It is, therefore, advantageous to learn what is appropriate and acceptable to the recipient.  Read page 97 on what to take into account when composing written correspondence:

Different styles of written communication  Various cultures favour different styles of written communication. For example, Japanese writers are usually more formal and verbose than Australian and American writers, as well as being less direct and extremely polite. Therefore, when composing an or letter to a Japanese businessperson, Australians need to adopt a similar approach or tone as used by the Japanese.

Written Blunders  Pepsi ’ s slogan ‘ Come alive with Pepsi ’, translated in China to ‘ Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave ’.  A vitamin company released its popular product, Fundavit, into the Spanish market, boasting that this product satisfied fundamental vitamin requirements.  When they realised that the word ‘ Fundavit ’ in Spanish translated into ‘ the rear end of an attractive young female ’, the name was quickly modified.  The name of General Motors ’ Nova car translated to ‘ it does not go ’ in Latin America.  OTHERS CAN BE READ ON PAGE 98

Problems with translators  Read figure 4.2 on page 99

Activity pg 100  Q1, Q3, Q5