Imagine you’re at a market stall in the U.S. and you want to buy some eggs, the big ones.
“Can I get six of the large eggs, please?”
And you are given six of the small ones. Why? Because „small“ hardly exists in American usage. Small is translated as “large”, the medium size is “extra-large” and large means “giant”.
You should have asked for the giant ones to get the large ones for you.
Maybe you’ve been to a Starbucks café and grabbed a small cup of coffee. Small does not mean “small” there, but “tall”.
Or take the expression “Great Job”.
To German ears, that sounds like a top performance, a real recognition and a compliment. What is probably meant is standard praise for a satisfactorily executed work. Nothing more and nothing less. According to the motto “Praise colleagues and subordinates for normal accomplishments”.
“Interesting” is also such an ambiguous term.
When I heard „Interesting!“ from my American boss after one of my suggestions, it was a warning signal. It meant something like “what nonsense, I have a completely different opinion”. In England, I also noticed this interpretation of the word. A polite refusal.
“I’ll see what I can do” is the answer of an employee in Spain, for example, to my question as to whether this could be done quickly. That can mean many things. Most likely: “Unfortunately no, I don’t have time for it today”. So an indirect NO.
👉 These small misunderstandings can and will lead to considerable irritation in the business context if you don’t recognize these unwritten rules. That is why the cultural classification, the cultural mapping of a certain communication behavior, so to speak, is so important.
👉 Not because it will always be that way. No, but to be prepared, if it turns out to be so.
Erin Meyer (“The Culture Gap”), Richard D. Lewis (“When Cultures Collide”) and Geert Hofstede (“Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values”) have done pioneering work in this regard.
➡️ And with you? What example of a cultural misunderstanding have you experienced?
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I am Bernd Scharbert and I support leaders with my 4 Guiding Principles for intercultural leadership. If you are interested, feel free to follow me at LinkedIn, #prepare4landing or contact me directly.
