1. Application Paper #2
Communicating Better with People of Other Cultures
Alex Pingree
COM 122 Section 09
11/17/2015

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My communication goal for this semester is to communicate more effectively with
people of different cultures. This is because I realize that there are people from many different
cultures here in Utah. Also, there are students here at the LDS Business College from many
different cultures and I would like to better communicate with these students because I feel that
they are becoming my friends. This will also help me in the workplace because employers are
looking for people that can communicate effectively with everyone. A question that I have
pertaining to this goal is how does one better communicate with someone from a different
country and what can I personally do to make new friends with those around me who are from
different places? The sources I will be using for this paper come from a talk from the LDSBC
library from Elder Ashton in 1976. The other article is called “How to Communicate Well with
People from Other Cultures” and I found it on Wikipedia on 11-16-2015.
The article from Elder Ashton is titled, “Family Communications”. I know that this title
does not sound like it could be related to communications with other cultures but, in fact, the
article provides seven relevant suggestions about how to communicate better with people in
general. The seven suggestions that are identified not only apply to family members but can also
be extremely useful when communicating with anyone. The seven suggestions are be willing to
sacrifice, be willing to set the stage, be willing to listen, be willing to vocalize, be willing to
avoid judgement, be willing to maintain confidences, and be willing to be patient.
There are three of these suggestions that I think are most relevant to communicating with
people from different cultures. The first one is being willing to listen. By this I mean to listen

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with the intent to understand what the other person is trying to say. This is important with people
of other cultures because with increased listening skills you can probably avoid many
misunderstandings. For example, when I talk to Yoshi, I find I have to listen more carefully
because of the accent that he has. It is harder for me to fully understand him if I am trying to
multitask. So listening intently is very important in keeping a friendship with Yoshi because
when I listen to him I am showing that I care. When talking to Yoshi (or others from another
country) I will listen carefully with the intent of understanding and I will refrain from doing
anything else that would limit my ability to do so. The second suggestion that applies is being
willing to avoid judgement. This is important when talking to people from other cultures because
refraining from judgement allows us to be more open minded. For example, because of the
recent events in Paris, the majority of Muslims now have fallen out of good standing in the
opinion of most the world. Now this is probably unfair to the majority of Muslims who are not
radicals but because of the minority that are, the Muslim religion has become unfavorable to
most of the world. So this ties back into my point in that it is good to avoid judgement because
while a select few of a culture may be offensive, etc., the majority should not be judged
according to the actions of the minority. I will avoid judging a group of people based on the
actions of a few. The third suggestion is being willing to practice patience. This is really
important when talking to others from a different culture because sometimes it is hard to
understand their accents and also because some of the things that they talk about may not apply
to you in your culture. So patience is critical because it shows that you are willing to take the
time to try to understand their point of view even if you have no idea what they are talking about

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(like talking about snow in Samoa because there is no word for snow in Samoan!). I will commit
to being more patient and trying to understand the other person’s point of view.
The Wikipedia article provides some helpful tips to help people from different cultures
communicate with each other in a more effective manner. Two suggestions seem appropriate for
me. The first suggestion is to learn about the culture of the person you are communicating with
beforehand so you have a basic understanding of their background. I can apply this to myself by
studying up on the cultures of Japan, Australia, Switzerland, and Ecuador. I will look up what is
socially acceptable in those countries in terms of whether or not there are social hierarchies,
issues with gender roles, use of expressive hand gestures, what forms of touching are acceptable,
and politeness/properness. The second suggestion is to avoid using slang or jargon. This is
important so that there are no misunderstandings of what is being said. For example, in America
if you tell someone to “break a leg” it means “good luck” or “do your best”. But if you say that
to a person that is not familiar with that slang then he/she might ask themselves, “Why does Alex
want me to break a bone, how rude?” I will try to avoid using slang words until I am sure the
other person understands the meaning of the slang. To do this I think if I use slang then I will
plain out ask them if they understand it or not.
All of these suggestions apply to a workplace setting. At work it is important to listen to
your coworkers and your manager so you can understand work expectations. It is important to
avoid judging the people you work with so that you can maintain a healthy work environment. It
is important to have patience at work because having patience can lead to higher production. It is

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important in a work environment to study and learn the jargon of the company because knowing
it can help with knowing the processes that are going on around you. Knowing about the cultures
of the people you work with is important so that you can communicate with them in a way that
they would most understand. In conclusion, I believe that understanding different cultures will
enable one to effectively communicate and work with anyone and everyone who is placed with
you in a job environment.

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References
Ashton, Marvin J. (1976). Family communications. Retrieved 11/16/15 from
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1976/04/family-communications?lang=eng
Cotton, G. (n.d.). The Importance of Cross-Cultural Business Communications. Retrieved
November 16, 2015, from https://www.eonetwork.org/octane-magazine/special-
features/theimportanceofcross-culturalbusinesscommunications
Levine, D., & Adelman, M. (1993). Nonverbal Communication: Speaking Without Words. In
Beyond language: Cross-cultural communication (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
Prentice Hall Regents.
Moran, G. (2013, April 10).How to AvoidCultural MisstepsWhenDoingBusinessWithOtherCountries.
RetrievedNovember16,2015, fromhttp://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226286