Cultural Barriers

For today's class, we read articles about working with ESL students in the Writing Center.  It seems as though the concept of international relations has been coming up in all of my class and that it is currently a very important topic.  Because countries interact regularly and are made up of many different nationalities and cultures, learning habits of different cultures can be beneficial to avoid disrespecting the person you are working with, particularly in the Writing Center.  In my Business Communications class, we focus a great deal on dealing with interpersonal communications abroad.  For instance, in Asia pauses between conversation are common in order to give the decision maker time to contemplate.  However, Americans see these pauses as a chance to provide more input to whatever idea they are trying to sell.  This can be seen as interruptive and rude in other cultures.