Email and Intercultural Communication

The modern business world demands that people from all corners of the earth communicate with one another. A manager in the USA may have staff in Germany, India and China; the importer in France may have associates in Turkey, Italy and Kuwait. More and more people are now communicating across intercultural lines.

As anyone who works internationally can tell you, intercultural communication is not always a smooth ride. Intercultural communication in this context refers to people, primarily but not exclusively from the business world, working with others from different nationalities, religions, faiths and cultures. When different cultures come together in a business setting their differences can often cause confusion, misunderstandings, mistakes and the like. These intercultural differences can be anything from contrasting approaches to communication, etiquette, meeting styles or body language.

One area of intercultural communication that is common to most people working internationally is that of the email. The internet allows us to send documents, requests and information to colleagues, customers and clients across the globe. However, despite the unquestionable benefits communicating by email gives us there is a down side, especially in the context of intercultural business communication.

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