Solutions

Rules of Communication have nothing to do with grammar, pronunciation or vocabulary. Rules describe how words should be used in specific situations. Not following the Rules can cause big problems. People may stop listening to you; not want to have a relationship with you; lose trust in you and other serious problems. 

You learn nine Western Rules, and

nine Confucian Asian Rules for contrast. 

If you want to understand Westerners and Western culture you must be able to 'see' the world as Westerners do. This begins by understanding the goal of Western culture, and then learning how that goal shapes almost everything we do. Some key areas include communication, relationships, work habits, solving problems, gaining and losing face, achievement, learning and much more.

I include Chinese because contrasting it to Western culture helps you gain a clear understanding of Western culture and helps you become multicultural. 

This lesson is the one I am proudest of. 

This solution improves all communication, not just cross-culture. We hear the word 'communication' all the time, but most people don't know what communication actually is. You learn how to define communication, what the goal is, how and where to measure communication success, three ways we communicate and three things that can happen when you try to communicate. 

Knowing what communication is and what its goal is helps make improvement easier, almost automatic.       

Good marks, bonuses and promotions all come from meeting the expectations of teachers and managers. If you don't know what their expectations are it will be hard to meet them. Knowing them helps you stop wasting time on unimportant things and spending time on what they want.

You learn nine expectations. At least four of them are unknown to most international students, and only two are well-known to all students and staff.

These expectations are more-or-less what friends and strangers expect from you. 

Marketing messages means adapting your messages to match the communication needs and expectations of the audience. You already do this in your home culture, but sell rather than market messages in a strange culture. This is natural, and bad. 

This solution is fun. I use personal examples to explain the difference between selling and marketing and to show the bad that can happen from selling.

One example is how selling a message led to the divorce with my first wife. Another is how a switch to marketing rather than selling the message led to immediate success.

If you want your communication to be understood by anyone, anywhere on any subject you need to market, not sell your messages. It's a life skill.

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