MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- In today’s landscape of Great Power Competition, the United States must fortify its alliances and partnerships worldwide. This effort is a two-way street. Just as we must grasp the languages and cultures of our allies and partners, we must also ensure that working with the United States is seamless and mutually beneficial. Strengthening these bonds is essential for our collective success and security.
As part of the Air Force Culture and Language Center’s continuing mission of enhancing partner interoperability and adversary understanding through language, regional expertise, and culture education, AFCLC’s video, “Effective Intercultural Communication for Working with Americans,” by Dr. Susan Steen, Associate Professor of Cross-Cultural Communication at AFCLC, has a niche following on the Culture Guide App. This video is unique because it contains subtitles for 11 languages – Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), English, Filipino, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish – with plans to add more.
“Positive relationships enabling seamless interoperability with our partners and allies depend on effective intercultural communication,” Dr. Steen said. “This video offers American military members and our international partners alike an introduction to important cultural and regional similarities and differences in communication patterns as a means of helping achieve positive and productive intercultural interaction.”
Dr. Steen stresses in the video that effective intercultural communication is being able to recognize potential similarities and differences across cultures, not just being able to speak the language. Some skill sets allow us to construct and accurately interpret verbal and nonverbal messages in our interactions.
This is the first video produced on AFCLC’s signature Culture Guide App with multiple translated languages.