Business across culture

Historical discussion of cross-language issues and qualitative research[edit]
In 1989, Saville-Troike^[21] was one of the first to turn to apply the use of qualitative research (in the form of ethnographic investigation) to the topic of cross-cultural communication. Using this methodology, Saville-Troike demonstrated that for successful communication to take place, a person must have the appropriate linguistic knowledge, interaction skills, and cultural knowledge. In a cross-cultural context, one must be aware of differences in norms of interaction and interpretation, values and attitudes, as well as cognitive maps and schemata.^[21] Regarding cross-cultural interviews, subsequently Stanton^[22] argued in 1996 that in order to avoid misunderstandings, the interviewer should try to walk in the other person’s shoes. In other words, the interviewer needed to pay attention to the point of view of the interviewee, a notion dubbed as “connected knowing," which refers to a clear and undistorted understanding of the perspective of the interviewee.^[22]
Relationship between cross-language issues and qualitative research[edit]
As one of the primary methods for collecting rich and detailed information in qualitative research, interviews conducted in cross-cultural linguistic contexts raise a number of issues. As a form of data collection, interviews provide researchers with insight into how individuals understand and narrate aspects of their lives. Challenges may arise, however, when language barriers exist between researchers and participants. In multilingual contexts, the study of language differences is an essential part of qualitative research. van Ness et al. claim that language differences may have consequences for the research process and outcome, because concepts in one language may be understood differently in another language.^[23] For these authors, language is central in all phases of qualitative research, ranging from data collection to analysis and representation of the textual data in publications.
In addition, as^[23]van Ness et al. observe, challenges of translation can be from the perspective that interpretation of meaning is the core of qualitative research. Interpretation and representation of meaning may be challenging in any communicative act; however, they are more complicated in cross-cultural contexts where interlingual translation is necessary.^[23]). Interpretation and understanding of meanings are essential in qualitative research, not only for the interview phase, but also for the final phase when meaning will be represented to the audience through oral or written text.^[19] Temple and Edwards claim that without a high level of translated understanding, qualitative research cannot shed light on different perspectives, circumstances that could shut out the voices of those who could enrich and challenge our understandings.^[19]