enlist few points to avoid linguistic barriers to communication
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Answer:
Language barriers are a common challenge here at Nulab, as they are with many international companies. With Nulab offices in Japan and the US, we are often working on new and better ways to understand one another, bridge communication gaps, and improve company-wide collaboration. More than half of us speak Japanese, some only speak English, and a growing majority are learning to speak both. In light of globalization, we’re bound to see more and more companies start to face these same challenges.
Types of Language Barriers
We’ve already given you the most obvious example of a language barrier: people speaking languages native to different regions. But there are more subtle types of language barriers. For example, your industry or skill set may involve a lot of jargon or technical language. When you’re speaking to people outside your industry, or even outside your department, a lot can get lost in translation.
At Nulab, our development team makes up a huge portion of our company. When speaking to other departments, it’s important that each developer can communicate information in terms everyone can understand to ensure we’re all aligned on our companies goals. If marketing doesn’t understand what Dev is doing, and Dev has no idea what the executive team is doing, we’re all in deep trouble.
Another example of a language barrier is dialects. People can technically be speaking the same language, but dialectical differences can create misunderstandings and gaps in communication. India, for example, uses over 22 major languages, written in 13 different scripts, with over 720 dialects. That leaves a lot of room for linguistic mix-ups!
A final example you should be aware of is language disabilities. Many people work with physical impediments to language such as stuttering, dysphonia, and hearing loss. These have no bearing on someone’s ability to understand and do their job, but it can make communication more cumbersome.
With so many ways language can impede our ability to collaborate, it’s crucial to have strategies for connecting everyone. We have seven tips to get you started.