Adeola Abdulateef Elega

2.6.1 Communication Barriers 
Communication barrier has been defined by so many scholars and educationist. Heun 
& Heun, (1975) posits that communication barriers are the impediments or anything 
that barricades effective communication. He submits that getting a defined and 
accurate categories of what inhibits effective communication is a tough one but, 
“difference is the prime barrier to effective communication” (Heun & Heun, 1975 
p.76). That is to say the major impediments of effective communication between 
Nigerians in Turkish Republic of North Cyprus is because of our difference. For the 
benefit of this study, barrier to intercultural communication is the case here. For 
effective communication across cultures, one should be able to do away with a 
couple of actions as highlighted by Barna (1994). Shedding more light on the 
importance of communication will result to over flogging of issues. It is an 
established fact that communication holds a vital part of our living and here comes 
discussion on its impediments. Communication across cultures suffers because of a 
couple of reasons following Barna (1994), he has highlighted six of these barriers; 
anxiety, assuming similarity instead of differences, ethnocentrism, stereotypes and 
prejudice, nonverbal misinterpretations and language.
Anxiety: This is a major barrier to intercultural communication and it is obviously 
not a planned effort. It occurs with a major concentration on something entirely 
strange which steals our attention. The first day at work can be an instance here. For 
a young lady who has always wanted to work, first day at work can make you make 
common mistakes. Another example can be likened to the discourse here. The first 

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day in Eastern Mediterranean University for a Nigerian student can make his/her 
communication suffer.