Up to this point we’ve covered some of the basic methods to help you prepare for cross-cultural interactions and difficult questions, but here is where all that preparation and your new knowledge comes into play.
By getting out there, talking to people, and practicing the mindset and tactics for effective cross-cultural communication, you’ll get more comfortable—even when it’s necessary to disengage.
Take a minute and look at each of these people.
What’s your initial reaction to each of them?
Where do you think each reaction comes from?
Prior to any direct communication, people make judgments that are formulated from their first impressions. This happens everywhere and even though it may not be very accurate, a first impression can be lasting.
From the moment you step out the front door, what you’re wearing and how you act and react to things broadcasts information to the people around you.
So when you’re out and about the people you encounter will be making judgments about you based on how you appear to them. Everyone’s judgements are different.
How you carry yourself and what you wear can affect others’ assumptions about you as well as how they approach you.
Keep in mind that, to people from other cultures, you may be easily identified as American by the way you look, dress, walk, and act in public. The language that you speak and your accent could also be a giveaway.
A number of factors could influence what it is they see and assume. This will depend on the individual, their culture in general, and the current state of relations between your two countries.
A wide range of opinions about the United States and Americans exists at any given moment and those opinions may get placed upon you simply because of how you are seen.
Whether you embrace it or not, you will be seen as an unofficial representative of the United States. As an informal ambassador for your country, you want to leave a good impression.
As you prepare to answer difficult questions from people addressing you as an individual and a representative of the United States, you can follow a three step process: observe, interact, and adjust. These steps will prove helpful in building your skills and confidence, and in providing you with a range of options for how to respond.
In the scenarios that follow, we’ll give you an example of a common situation in which you could encounter a difficult question and break it down into the three steps. You’ll be asked to make decisions along the way. Normally you will not have the luxury of endless time to review your options, but you do have that luxury here.
Keep in mind what you’ve learned about cross-cultural communication and the attitudes you should be trying to foster as you make your selections.
When you observe someone, your initial impressions quickly provide a lot of information. Sometimes you will know immediately if choosing to engage was a good decision, and other times it will take some back and forth conversation in order to get a better sense of the other person.
As you review the scenario in the slideshow, select the hotspots to follow the interaction.
Try to keep yourself open to engaging with new people, but know that it’s okay to avoid communicating if it’s something you don’t want to do, regardless of how well-meaning the other person is or seems to be. Sometimes we have bad days, and if you’re not careful, your bad day could be reflected when you try to communicate.
It’s okay to take a break. In some cases, politely moving on from a conversation may help you avoid making a bad impression or engaging in conflict.
After you’ve observed the setting and decided that you’re willing to engage, you’ll have to rely on your understanding of the cultural and communication norms as well as your working knowledge of the language, if it’s different from your native tongue. For this scenario we’ll assume that you’ll be speaking English with Angela.
As you review the scenario in the slideshow, select the hotspots to follow the interaction.
When responding to difficult questions, whether with someone you know or someone you just met, you always have options.
You may decide to fully engage and present your personal opinion or experience, redirect the conversation, answer using humor, choose to deflect or redirect the conversation, or disengage entirely.
As you interact and respond to difficult questions, you will need a toolkit of techniques to respond to these questions without offending the person you’re speaking to or misrepresenting the United States. Here are a few techniques that you should be prepared to use.
Whether or not you respond at all as well as how you respond will depend on your mood, the demeanor of the person you are communicating with, the topic of conversation, the context, and the environment.
If someone raises an issue that affects you emotionally, do your best to avoid taking personal offense. If you can keep your distance and maintain objectivity, you will likely be able to defuse the situation.
You might have already done some adjusting of your communication preferences when choosing to engage in conversation. But once you start talking, you gather more clues, then you assess whether you need to adjust further.
As you review the scenario in the slideshow, select the hotspots to follow the interaction.
Often times people are genuinely curious and want to know more about you and American culture. Their personal background and cultural context will influence how they approach things, as will yours. Certain topics might be difficult to address.
How much you want to divulge, if anything at all, will depend entirely on your read of the situation and your level of comfort.
Here are some helpful tips to consider: