The hidden language barrier

The goal of communication is to convey a message between a sender and a receiver. Communication is successful if the message is understood by the receiver in the way the sender meant it to be understood. Our individual background, knowledge, experience and culture greatly influences the process of sending and receiving, the act of decoding and encoding. If we take communication across borders, things get tricky.

When I used to work in Cambodia, I was consciously aware of the language barrier, which literally built a wall between the Khmer people and me and vice versa. Not speaking Khmer beyond polite greeting formalities, I was able to gauge the limits of conveying or receiving a message. My Cambodia experience was a classic demonstration of an obvious language barrier.

Fast forward to the Philippines. English and Tagalog are official languages besides 171 other spoken local languages. Most Filipinos speak an accent free American-influenced English, especially in the cities. This is one of the reasons for the call centre industry to boom, and my own Tagalog skills to still hover around a taxicab chitchat level.

However, speaking the same language does not automatically mean to communicate or to be understood. This takes the language barrier from a linguistic level to conceptual level. Within the past almost 4 years, I have learned my fair share of dealing with what I call a “hidden language barrier”.

The widespread use of the English language in the Philippines often lures me into believing that the message I try to convey in English is understood the way I intend. Needless to say, the first months living in the Philippines were marked by frustrating communication errors. No matter what I said, it seemed I could not make myself understood. It puzzled me because obviously we spoke the same language. Just when I was about to make peace with this status quo it dawned on me. It was not the Filipinos who did not understand me. I was the one who did not use the right “language” to deliver my message properly.

What sounds oh so logically in retrospect, was a long process of realization. The next challenge was to adjust my messages to the Filipino context.

This meant, in the first place, to get rid of all my assumptions and expectations I would place into a statement. I would not expect my counterpart to “read my mind”; meaning to assume he or she would share the same background or experiences I draw from, when talking about a given subject.

Secondly, I tried to stay away from sarcasm (which works well with certain friends back home and here, but not in general), jokes (which might not be considered funny around here) and cultural references that are hard to follow. All this, being culturally sensitive, seems very logical. However, it is hard to be sensitive if the pitfalls camouflage well in a universal language and Western habits.

Last but not least, I adjusted to the hardly ever direct communication, especially when it comes to yes/no questions.

Now that I am past the frustration and know how to communicate properly the doors for interesting conversations open left and right. Language is just as much a part of our culture as a society’s history and customs. It is well worth studying it, too!