Avoid Using American Slang, American Idioms, Acronyms, American Sports Trivia, and American Humor
Practice universal English language. Avoid the use of any terms or idioms, jargon, buzzwords, military or sports analogies, colloquialisms, acronyms, or euphemisms that might be confusing to someone who is not from your region of the world. Also, shy away from sarcasm or innuendo. You will probably be the only one who understands your meaning. Using these confusing terms only create barriers to effective communication
Sports metaphors and analogies are very commonly used in the US. You will completely lose your audience if you pepper your language with these idioms in other countries.
Think locally. Try to find a few topics that are important in the local popular culture. Remember, most people in the world have little or no interest in the World Series or the Super Bowl. (Think about what it means for us to call it the World Series-- when only we are involved) remember, what we call “soccer” is football everywhere else. And it's the most popular sport on the planet. Next year, watch the World Cup!
Humor is the last aspect of culture to translate across cultures. In fact, humor is so culture specific that some humor is only understood by certain individuals in a subcultures, even inside the US. For example, unless you are a biker, you probably would not understand biker humor. Often when Americans attempt to use humor, especially when they tell jokes from the podium, foreigners in the audience will laugh along yet have no clue of the meeting of the message. Typically, they are instructed to laugh when everyone else laughs-- in order to save face.
Avoid using humor that is uniquely American. Steer clear from making fun of other groups-especially as it relates to characteristics they have no control over such as ethnicity, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Take the lead from your host when engaging in humor.
Finally, learn the metric system.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment