I have definitely experienced several communication differences in my international and hybrid work setting. During my time as an social media intern at The Jam, I have had to overcome some language barriers especially when posting content in another country. I usually solve this challenge by asking lots of questions and double checking captions before I post. As I’ve mentioned before I’ve also been navigating the cultural differences in communication through remote work. Which means I’ve been adjusting to short responses, and vague feedback over Whatsapp. I have also had to AI translate all of my captions to Czech, which I usually send to my supervisor to look over before posting. There have been a couple incidents where my text wasn’t grammatically correct, and luckily my supervisor corrected them. As you can see they tend to practice high-context communication with implied meanings. Their form of blunt and indirect dialogue was definitely intimidating at first. However I eventually modified my communication tactics to fit theirs, and make sure I was acquiring all the information I needed to complete my assignments.
When evaluating the two countries I have now worked in I would definitely say the US has a more direct low-context communication style. As opposed to companies in the Czech Republic that practice a more indirect high-context communication style. The jobs I’ve held in the US have always been clear with instructions and detailed feedback. For example my training when becoming a server was very detailed and I even shadowed someone for a week. Then I was able to ask questions and they would give me positive or negative input based on my performance. Whereas in Prague, they never truly gave me training. I had to figure it out on my own, by researching and process of elimination. Honestly, it forced me to step outside my comfort zone and become more confident with my communication skills. I have also practiced leadership skills because I have been creating and submitting design ideas on my own. The adjustment period began when I stopped overanalyzing tone and began learning to interpret messages through context.
One of the biggest language barriers I’ve experienced is interacting with customers who don’t speak English. Luckily all of my coworkers speak English, however not speaking Czech has become a struggle in other areas of my job. For example, I’ve had content ideas where I need to interview customers but this can be a challenge when we can’t understand each other. Also when asking permission to take photos of customers I have had a couple people speak Czech to me and shake their head. Luckily in those cases I can use context clues to understand that they aren’t comfortable having their picture taken. Direct messaging was a struggle at first as well, because people text in all sorts of languages. Therefore, Id have to first decipher what language they’re using and AI translate my response. It also became an issue that I wasn’t aware of booking dates and schedules because unfortunately I don’t have access to that information. So I had to update my supervisor on messages in order to give accurate responses. Overall these situations helped me grow more confident with cross-cultural interactions.
When it comes to creating content in a new cultural environment, there have definitely been challenges. Making a tiktok account for them has especially been difficult, since I don’t fully understand local humor and trends. I also don’t know what influencers and musicians are popular in Prague so its hard to know what accounts to follow. I’ve been following several restaurant accounts from our instagram and people that like our posts. I have also been interacting with different accounts based in Prague by commenting on their videos in Czech. Another strategy I researched is consistent posting. I have tried to post content on the tiktok at least every other day, in order to build a following. I have been significantly increasing likes on videos but followers have been my biggest struggle. I know that talking in tiktok videos is a good strategy because it helps viewers build a connection with you. However, that is also a complication because of the language barrier, and it’s hard to convince my coworkers to be filmed. It’s hard for me to learn Czech trends because the videos on their Tiktok are obviously in a different language. Therefore, I’ve been using a lot of US trends and editing styles in hopes that they bring in views. For the most part I have been running that account on my own with no feedback. Focusing on studying the views and interactions to figure out what works and doesn’t. Though there has been communication struggles, most of these complications have taught me initiative and problem solving!