Divided by a common language (Series: global teamwork)

• Do you already work interculturally?
• Your colleagues come from all kinds of countries?
• Do you get along well with each other and would like to work together more effectively?
• Or maybe your colleagues from the next federal state sometimes seem like strangers?

I stumbled unexpectedly upon one of my most surprising intercultural experiences when I started working in a team of 6 Germans and one Iranian.

Purportedly a native of the language common in northern Germany, I rushed into work and babbled away. He spoke of “Stiegen” (stairs) and “dreiviertel vier” (a quarter to four), “Seckieren” (bugging) and “Gelsen” (moskitoes) and what else is discussed at work and, as they say here, comes up during the “Klönschnack ” (chat) over lunch.

I had even dimly remembered that a “Erdapfel” was a “Kartoffel” (both potato) here and that an “Marille” (apricot) was also called an “Aprikose”.

Nevertheless, I found myself in front of a row of confused faces, eyebrows slightly raised, questioning glances directed at me.

Above all, the question of whether we should now take the stairs has caused general confusion.

“What are the “Stiegen”?” and “What do you want to take?” “Well, the “Stiegen”! How else are you going to get down?!” After a moment of strange silence, in which everyone wondered what I meant, and I racked my brain for the High German expression for a structural construction that allows people to ascend and descend between floors, we met again on a somewhat similar level of communication. And then we all took the stairs.

This experience has had a lasting impact on me.

I could speak German! At least, the version I had grown up with in Vienna. I was confident, perhaps naïve, when I started our move to the neighbouring country of my homeland, thinking, “Now I’m already an experienced expat. Finally a little closer to my original homeland (than England, but more on that another time), and I can already speak the language.” Only to discover that there were more differences than I had expected.

And since communicating without language was not an option, and I didn’t want to remain misunderstood any longer, I came up with the “Ösi Word of the Week”.

Every week, I posted a new word commonly used in Austria on our bulletin board. My colleagues posted their suggested meanings, and we discussed it until we finally figured it out. Shortly after the first round, our boss discovered the board and scolded my colleagues, telling them to behave and not make fun of me. I quickly clarified that the idea was mine! Reassured, the manager took one look at the board, grinned, offered her own “Schmarrn” (nonsense), as we say in Vienna, about the current word, and left.

So much for one of my most surprising experiences as an expat and in an intercultural team.

If you want to learn more about

• intercultural collaboration,
• strengthening intercultural awareness,
• and ways to help your intercultural team work more effectively,
• as well as how you can get support in preparing for your assignment,

stay tuned here and follow my new series on intercultural dimensions, which starts soon!

Business coaching and training can help you and your team prepare well for and effectively manage intercultural collaboration, so that you as a leader and your team can maximize the benefits of your cultural diversity.

See you soon,

Cary Langer-Donohoe

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