Communication and Barrier

Language and cross-cultural Communication Barriers

Language and cultural differences are the most common barrier in-group communication. Language barrier is “a inability to converse in a language that is known by both the sender and receiver” (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/barriers-to-effective-communication.html). When a group is formed by members who have different age, education, profession and cultural background, a language used by member may perceive as a jargon by another. For instance, a health profession uses medical terminology in his or her writing to a group that consists of members with no medical background. The problem with jargon is it can make words confusing and thus breakdowns communication among group members. Offensive language is another obstacle to effective communication. Offensive terms, which refer to stereotypes, discrimination or labeling talk, will enhance the chance of miscommunication and frustration. Thus, language barriers such as jargon and offensive language cause lack of open discussion and poor group communication.

Cultural barriers also can cause poor communication. When members with different races, religions and nationalities form a group, cross-cultural communication barrier may exit. Ones’ of the specific problems caused cultural difference are semantics and connotation. Semantic refers to a word that means different things to different people while connotation is an impression associated with a word. For example, a word “dung” means “manure” in English but in Vietnamese, it means “beautiful girl” or “handsome man”. On the other hand, the word “pig” specifies to a kind of farm animal but its connotation in Vietnamese is an insulting.

Another barrier of cultural differences is perception. People from different culture perceive things differently. A survey was done to 128 American workers and to 203 Japanese workers regarding their perception of effective leadership. Result was that “Americans perceive...