Cultural mistakes can happen when doing something as simple as setting an appointment. This follows on from by recent article on cultural confusion about the date of a deadline.
Here are five cultural differences in how we communicate times and dates that can lead to misunderstandings.
1. Fun With Half Hours
Some cultures use expressions where a “half hour” can mean 30 minutes before the hour referenced and not after the hour. This can lead to confusion when “half nine” means 8:30 and not 9:30.
This can happen when a non-native English speaker uses literal translations from their own language which uses such expressions. But there are even native English speakers in some parts of the world who use similar expressions.
This type of mistake usually happens when speaking as most people write out the numbers.
Takeaway: Always be clear in how you say the time.
2. At Ease With 24 Hour Clocks
Here in Europe most businesses refer to time using the 24 hour clock.
The trouble is that there are many areas of the world where people are not at ease with this. It takes them too long to calculate 16:00 as being 4pm. Confusion rarely happens with this, but it does make things easier for everyone and shows a bit more respect if you take the time to verify that everyone has the right time.
Takeaway: Pay extra special attention to all references to time when dealing with people who may not be familiar with the 24 hour clock.
3. Different Dates
You also need to pay attention when writing numerical dates. If you have an international audience it is much wiser to spell out the relevant month. Instead of writing either “01.12.2010″ or “12.01.2010″ use either “12 January 2010″ or “January 12, 2010″
Most of the online forms have now solved this problem. The confusion today is related to people not being aware of their global audience.
Takeaway: It is probably best to get into the habit of spelling the month when you can and then pay attention to clear instructions on all of the places where you have to use numerical dates.
4. Confusion With Next Tuesday
Another area of confusion is how some people refer to upcoming days of the week. If today is Monday December 28th and I refer to “This Friday” most people will understand Friday 1st January 2010.
The trouble is that not everyone would use the words “This Friday”. Some people would refer to Friday 1st January 2010 as “Next Friday”. It the next Friday to come.
Now I know there are grammar rule books that give the “proper’ way of saying this. But you still need to communicate with different people who do not use the same rule book.
Takeaway: Use a date and if you do not have a calendar handy, explain what you mean. ”Next Friday, in 4 days time” or “next Friday, at the end of next week”.
5. Acronyms For Time Zones
Navigating time zones for international meetings has become more complicated. Not only do countries change the acronyms for their own time zones, but I have also encountered companies who use different acronyms for far away regions.
This can work within a company, but you cannot expect those far away regions to understand your own acronyms. I won’t give any acronyms here because you should avoid them in all cross-cultural communication.
Speaking for time zones, if you are familiar with Greenwich Mean Time, did you notice that it now changes every summer? So London is no longer on Greenwich Mean Time all of the time. And did you notice how different countries use different start and end dates to change their summer time zones?
Setting appointments across international time zones has become such a minefield that I now like to state the nearest big city for all people concerned when I confirm times. This means there is no mistake with acronyms and the time for big cities can be found quickly online.
Takeaway: Create a time on an easy to read global online clock and share the link. Once you enter in your own time, let everyone check the time themselves.
Where Is Your Audience
Many people only think about the people they are interested in reaching. There are also many people online who are not used to communicating with international audiences. And let’s face it… you need to pay attention to many little details if you want to communicate with international audiences.
But let me leave you a good reasons why you should remember to pay attention to these little details the next time you set up appointment with people who do not live next door to you.
Building trust across cultures is much harder to do. You can lose it in a second… and you don’t always realize when you have lost trust.
People notice your cultural differences and these little mistakes stand out. Your trust building capacity takes a hit when someone feels frustrated at having to make the extra effort to get an appointment right, or when someone feels hurt at having missed an appointment due to a cultural blunder.
No matter how much you appoligize and how well they seem to take it, cultural mistakes like these always make all of the other cultural differences stand out. The perception of dealing with foreigners is strengthened. And this is not the best environment to conduct business.
It’s just not worth it. A little discipline at this early stage can go a long way in building good international relationships.
Now over to you…
- What other cultural differences have you noticed people making that lead to confusion when setting up appointments?
- How do you make sure your international meetings are well organized?
- Do you have a favorite online world clock?
More on Cross-Cultural Differences:
- A Comparison Of Words In Different Cultures
- Cultural Differences In Doing Things
- Culture Changes How Brains Work
- Different Countries = Different Rules
- Different Eye Tracking For Different Cultures
- Free Courses, Content And Culture Scams
- Music In Cultural Differences
- Why These Colors?
More In These Get International Clients Business Guides:
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