Literally Communication

Cross-cultural communication frequently refers to inter cultural communication. It looks generally at how people from different cultural backgrounds engage themselves to communicate or in the communication process.

It does not only indicate towards the understanding of visible parts of communication but also towards the understanding of invisible or hidden parts of communication like hidden signs and signals. These hidden symbolic elements embedded in the culture give meaning to the visible communication process. As we know, culture influences almost everything about communication or we can say that culture influences all attributes of communication like language, non-verbal signals, word meanings, time and space issues, rule of human relationship, traditions, backgrounds, outlooks, experiences, attitude, behavior and degree of respect.

But generally, the common crowd experiences problems or lacks comfort while interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds. The main causes for such uneasiness are the sources of differences like race, gender, sexual identity, ideology, age, nationality, body structure, family background, appearance, socio-economic status, occupation, language, caste, ethnicity, etc.

For the above mentioned sources of differences it is obvious that the importance of culture is becoming more and more relevant in the modern times as international business is fast gaining importance. People of different countries and diverse cultural backgrounds are meeting each other for various purposes.

So the question arises as to how do we make our communication effective while dealing in business in the diverse culture. We are aware of the fact that when we come into the contact of different people, their culture profoundly influences influences ours and vice versa and there we find complex problems. Therefore it is needed by everyone in the business profession to understand

• culture as a difference
• culture as a sensitivity

The layout or format of business letters is broadly divided into two type or two styles or ways. They are:

• the semi-block format
• the block format

Below are the layouts of the above mentioned formats.

SEMI-BLOCK FORMAT

BLOCK FORMAT

In the world of professionalism, one can’t afford to be wrong at anything, not even writing a paragraph. So here is a quick and easy method to write down a correct and effective paragraph. The method is known as PREP. Now moving to the method:

• P: Point
  
  Start with the main point of your paragraph. The first sentence is usually called the ‘topic sentence’, it usually simply states what the topic is. It should be kept in mind that the ‘title sentence’ is not always the ‘topic sentence’. Try to start with an interesting sentence.
  
  
• R: Reason
  
  Give a reason relating to your topic sentence or to why you believe in that. Write why you think so. You can also write down a few related sentences by taking the help of translational words or phrases or in other  words sentence linkers.
  
  
• E: Example
  
  Give an example to support your beliefs. Find some examples, this will paint a word picture in your reader’s mind, which they will remember long after they finish reading.
  
  
• P: Point Repeatation
  
  Repeat your point one or more times. Your readers will often remember the last thing you write more than anything else. You can try to use different words to say something in different ways or styles. This is effective and helps the reader to keep interest.