Category: Intercultural Communication

Why is intercultural competence necessary? As you may know, Language Partners and BBi Communication merged at the start of this year. We are now an organisation that not only offers Intercultural competence training, ut also has offices in four countries and colleagues from many more. Because of this, we felt...

As more and more companies do business in international markets, they often encounter unforeseen challenges that can lead to hilarious and, at times, cringe-worthy blunders. It is imperative to triple check your work, making sure you’re taking the necessary cultural perspectives into account. From mistranslations to cultural insensitivities, these unintentional...

Are you prepared for the future of international business? As automation and changing demographics impact labor pools and access to markets, organisations worldwide should be up-to-date on European labour market trends. To combat smaller labor pools, both legislative incentives and educational support are explored to encourage immigration and integration into...

Do you shake someone’s hand when you meet them? Hand-shaking is a common practice in the United States when meeting someone for the first time. Are you comfortable blowing your nose in public? Japanese culture does not appreciate public displays of mucus, thus blowing your nose is best saved for...

As providers of language courses and intercultural communication training we at BBi Communication have clients from varying backgrounds, industries and organisations. Even with such variety, we see several themes that are consistent across organisational demographics. In this article, we’ll share our top-five pressure points which have led to many mutually-beneficial...

The boy with his finger in the dike. Sasquatch. Rapunzel. Leprechauns. You might recognize some of these myths and legends. Their stories told have been passed down through the ages, though that doesn’t make them true. In this article we’ll tackle some of the most common myths about learning a...

Is the working language at your work not your mother tongue? If so, you may sometimes run into a ‘fluency gap’, a situation where you find you are (just) not fluent enough in the language. This may mean that you cannot explain your ideas or express yourself well enough. A...

How to work with the Dutch? Working with the Dutch can be confusing. Are they being rude, or just direct? What about the Dutch ‘flat hierarchy’, which sometimes appears to be not so flat at all? And how does the Dutch decision-making process (The Polder Model) work, where everyone is...

Behavioural change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, effort and engagement. With that in mind, we’ve written out some tips to help you get the most out of our Intercultural Communication training.  Before your training: Before the start of your course it’s helpful to start engaging with the topic. Keep...