The Crucial Part And Factors That Influence Language Barrier

Language is the crucial part of the most significant functions of humanity – communication. Verbal as much as written communication is used to convey messages, establish relations, share knowledge, build trust. Any actor that participates in communication uses these practices to achieve their personal goals and businesses are no exception. Business communication is performed to benefit the organization, it incorporates marketing, corporate and customer communications, public relations and other. (Trenholm and Jensen, 2013) Language barriers as an obstacle of communication may form in cases of people speaking different languages, regional dialects, wording sophistication, varying proficiency of the same language, industry jargon or technical terms that the other party may not be familiar with or language disabilities of the speaker. All of which can severely hinder the possibility of business relationship building in the early stages. For example, a study by Neeley (2013) demonstrates how the difference in language proficiency can create distrust, fear of deception for the less capable speakers of the language. (Tenzer, Pudelko and Harzing, 2013) Language barriers are a disruptive element of successful cooperation that, unlike cultural diversity, can have no positive effects on the work process. (Welch and Welch, 2008) Forms of speech behavior, such as courteousness and formality, can be considered mandatory in certain communities, and if they are not followed by others in their business environment, it can significantly distort their willingness to cooperate and the relations would rapidly depreciate. (Harzing and Feely, 2008) The most problematic and visible issues from the language barriers appear in the initial phases of relationship building and it Is at that time, when they can do exceeding amounts of harm, possibly impairing honesty, respect, willingness to compromise. All of which scale the more two of the cultures differ.

To overcome the troubles derived from the language barrier business is faced with the choice among numerous solutions and decide on those that would suit is best, as each has advantages and disadvantages simultaneously. Some of these options are: to translate all relevant documents to the foreign language necessary, though this method is costly and time consuming it is one of the simpler methods to revert to; auxiliary languages such as Esperanto and later Ido can be used as a compromise for two contrasting languages if preparing ahead of time (Dyer, 1923); use of interpreters or translators could be an easy solution, but can’t be an option for day-to-day operations; language classes and communication training for employees is timely and depends on the learning capabilities of individuals, but besides communicational capabilities can also improve overall performance; use of non-verbal communication is not similar across the globe, but with prior research of the culture of the other party can aid significantly to convey the message well; selective recruitment can solve the language barrier problem only within the company; expatriate management can be a solution for corporations with subsidiaries that would serve as mediators between the holding company and the local environment; or the opposite of the previous – inpatriation, employing subsidiary personnel into the parent company, that helps successfully communicate to that subsidiary directly and, at the same time, increase cultural diversity (Feely and Harzing, 2002); machine translation would require development of purpose-made software, but can solve the issue for daily operations within established processes. Corporations such as Shell and Fiat can show great use of inpatriation, employing dozens of foreign subsidiary employees to their headquarters. Multinational corporations are interested in enhancing their relationship development for their management though training and development programs. (Marschan, Welch and Welch, 1996)