It’s no secret that today’s workplace is rapidly becoming vast, as the traveling environment expands to include various geographic locations and span numerous cultures. What can be difficult, however, is understanding how to communicate effectively with individuals who speak another language, or who rely on different means to reach a common goal.
Tourism is the most superficial way of an intercultural encounter and one of the biggest industrial sectors in the world. From time to time, people may spend two weeks in Turkey, Dubai, or on Bali. When going abroad people need to be aware of different behavioral rules and patterns. Both tourists and employees need to face their upcoming intercultural communication challenges. People with different cultural backgrounds not only speak different languages, they think and act differently.
Intercultural Communication—The New Norm
The Internet and modern technology have opened up new places that allow us to promote our traveling businesses to new geographic locations and cultures. And given that it can now be as easy to work with people remotely as it is to work face-to-face, intercultural communication is increasingly the new norm.
For those of us who are native English-speakers, it is fortunate that English seems to be the language that people use if they want to reach the widest possible audience. However, even for native English speakers, intercultural communication can be an issue: Just witness the mutual incomprehension that can sometimes arise between people from different English-speaking countries.
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