“Why don’t you add at the end of the message what you think
it’s best to do?” asked a friend after reviewing an email I'd composed before I pressed the
send button.
“I am of the British school”, I replied immediately laughing, and I showed him the following table to give him a better idea of what I meant (and why I
was laughing).
In my email, I had made a suggestion. Like British people, I
made the suggestion so that it would be followed. Otherwise, why make a suggestion in the first
place? Like non-Brits, my
friend (and the mail's recipients in all likelihood ) would assume that it’s just
an idea, no need to follow it.
Business and other implications of such a misunderstanding aside and viewed in a lighthearted manner, I find this very amusing. I
think of the number of times that I may have been told by someone “that’s
interesting” and actually felt good when the reality could be that they were saying "this sucks".
Part of me is tempted to let any misunderstandings and
confusion be and just enjoy without care a harmless Babel.
Alas, the little voice of conscientiousness inside my head warns
me that confusions can seldom be harmless and we better communicate as
clearly as possible – in any language, against any cultural background.
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