Xenophobia

Xenophobia denotes a phobic attitude towards strangers or of the unknown. It comes from the Greek words (xenos), meaning "foreigner," "stranger," and (phobos), meaning "fear." The term is typically used to describe fear or dislike of foreigners or in general of people different from one's self.

Cross cultural communication is one of the major challenges of the business world. In fact, all of us come across situations that require some kind of cross cultural communication and understanding. One such situation is when communicating with foreigners. When faced with a situation in which there is no common language these points may help you to get your message across:

• Gestures: use hands, arms, legs, facial expressions and everything else that may help get your point across.
• Use emotions.
• Try out words that are shared among languages.
• Draw a picture.
• Confirm meaning and try re-phrasing when necessary.

Most importantly, even if you're speaking in your home town, your audience is probably multicultural. That means speakers need to be sensitive to these differences. Be careful when using humor and gestures. For example, the America A-OK hand signal is an obscenity in Brazil.

Profile the audience and be aware of the different cultures. If you're speaking abroad, use a few words of their language. And for those of you who are xenophobic or nervous around foreign people, focus on human interest stories. We are all the same at the level of the heart.