Understanding how language is used in different contexts is essential for the accurate interpretation of meaning. Words, and phrases are often built on the cultural experiences of the users and reflect things that are absent, rare, or pervasive within specific cultures and relate to the external environment – languages develop to suit the ideas and needs of their speakers. The classic example of this is attributed to the Inuit in northern Canada where some estimate that there are at least 50 different terms for snow*. This reflects conditions and the need to adapt to an environment in which snow is a common element.
*Note: The Inuktitut language is agglutinative, meaning that words contain a base on which affixes are added to clarify and/or modify the basic meaning – Each term, as such, is not a unique word in itself.
Exercise
Language also affects meaning and understanding in written communication, where you don’t have the benefit of listening for tone, or seeing the other person’s reactions, gestures, or facial expressions. Misunderstandings can also occur due to word choice or nuance of language, which can differ considerably across cultural settings.
Example:
Tony works in the New York office and Rajiv in the Mumbai office.
Tony wrote to Rajiv to make sure that the terms of the new contract had been sorted out. Rajiv wrote back to let Tony know that he would ‘revert back’ (a term meaning ‘to respond’ in India).
Tony was frustrated and a bit disappointed and wondered if the Mumbai team had actually done any work on the new contract. He interpreted ‘revert back’ as meaning that they were going back and re-establishing some of the original terms that Tony had worked so hard to change.
Rajiv just wanted to let Tony know that he would ‘get back to him’.
This simple difference in meaning for one word / phrase was enough to create a language-based cultural misunderstanding.