One Day, Many Voices – Breaking down language barriers
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Why is intercultural communication becoming crucial in modern Ireland?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
With Ireland becoming more and more multicultural, do we need to be better at understanding different cultures and how to communicate? Well, I'm joined by Teresa Bukowska, who's the CEO of the Immigrant Council of Ireland. Teresa, you're very welcome. Thank you for being with us. I was saying to you that we were playing a clip right throughout the morning of somebody explaining that when you're Polish, it might take you some time to adjust to the fact that you can't be as direct here and in other Western countries as you would be in your own country. Do you agree?
Definitely. I think a lot of Polish people, if they are listening, and I'm sure they are listening to this program, are smiling, thinking about all the moments when we got in troubles, basically, at work, because we were just communicating and we came across as rude or just too direct. And then somebody had to have a conversation with us about like how to properly behave at work and how not to speak to colleagues. But our culture is very direct and we don't consider that to be rude. We just consider that to be time efficient, basically. I'm getting straight to the point without too many soft language around it.
So do you still find yourself translating? Well, what does this Irish person actually mean when they say something in a paragraph when you know that they have a one line instruction that they're trying to deliver to you?
After 21 years of living here, I think I'm quite used to it. On the other side, when I go to Poland, they sometimes are asking me, why are you using so many words to say something? Just say what you want to say. But it was a struggle definitely at the beginning. especially in me communicating with my colleagues at work, but also receiving feedback. And to this day, maybe this is one area that I'm still sometimes struggling.
How does a Polish communication style clash with Irish indirectness at work?
I keep saying to my colleagues, just tell me what you want or just tell me what you think, because I might not necessarily understand
the
nuances.
And because we are more multicultural now, do you think that Ireland and Irish people need to do more work on understanding how to communicate with people who are not from here? I think everyone has to
do it because intercultural communication works both ways. So Irish people and migrants have to understand each other and find a way to understand each other. So what I would suggest is to assume good intention and be curious about each other. And I start from the basic realisation that we are a multicultural society. Communication might be a challenge. Let's have a conversation about it. What do we want to say in
this particular moment? So you said that everybody has to make an effort. But in particular, are you saying that employers and people who are managing in workplaces need to make sure the culture is right?
Yeah, this is also an additional task for leaders within organizations or businesses or workplaces because they have to manage their staff and sometimes tensions and misunderstanding might happen. So for this cohort of people, I would recommend going to some workshops, trainings, getting external help to help them understand how intercultural communication works and how to navigate those situations to support their staff
Well, where do you see the greatest problems in your role as CEO of the Immigrant Council of Ireland? Because you've told us about the indirect nature of our communications here. What else do you see as being a problem for people who come here?
I think there are two main issues. So first of all, is language proficiency. And myself, you know, 21 years living in Ireland, and many people would consider me speaking fluent English, but even I sometimes don't understand certain words and certain words are new to me. And sometimes what is difficult is to understand the nuances between some words that are synonyms. And I might be using certain words when that might not necessarily express exactly what I think. So that might be a challenge. And then another challenge is just cultural background, how we communicate.
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