All communication is cultural it draws on ways we have learned to speak and give nonverbal messages. We do not always communicate the same way from day to day, since factors like context, individual personality, and mood interact with the variety of cultural influences we have internalized that influence our choices. Communication is interactive, so an important influence on its effectiveness is our relationship with others. Do they hear and understand what we are trying to say? Are they listening well? Are we listening well in response? Do their responses show that they understand the words and the meanings behind the words we have chosen? Is the mood positive and receptive? Is there trust between them and us? Are there differences that relate to ineffective communication, divergent goals or interests, or fundamentally different ways of seeing the world? The answers to these questions will give us some clues about the effectiveness of our communication and the ease with which we may be able to move through conflict.
Behavioral constraint is another challenge as every culture has its own set of laws on proper behavior that adversely affects verbal and nonverbal communication. Such behavioral constraints include making eye contact where in some cultures it can be interpreted as a lack of respect especially when addressing the elderly, the proximity of how one stands to another when talking and also the tonal variation. All these differences in behavioral restrictions make cross cultural communication ineffective and difficult. Furthermore, in some cultures, there are the primary linguistic similarities between the languages which can result in difficulties in translation as this tends to increase the possibility of communicators assuming the similarity in meanings therefore misinterpreting the conveyed information.
Finally, stereotyping inhibits communication as they alter perception and result in pre-selected interpretations thus hindering the objective understanding of the communication. In conclusion, cross cultural communication is of importance as it allows us to appreciate the diversity in cultures and lead to social development and therefore it should be encouraged and practiced. The faced challenges can be curtailed by us learning and understanding the differences in cultural differences.
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