Some of the challenges involved in establishing and maintaining effective communication is the language barriers, cultural differences, and different kinds of connections. Coming from different countries it is apparent that there will be issues with speaking different languages. For example our company name is “Saùde” and I had to translate it online and Arthur had to explain what it meant to our group. In terms of cultural differences, the non-USA team members are in a different time zone so the times when we can communicate are limited. Also, all countries use different means of communication. Many USA members communicate via Snapchat or GroupMe, and many non-USA members communicate through What’s App which is the communication platform we ended up using. Another challenge faced is how our connections are made. Brazilian and Columbian connections are more made through emotional trust. This includes getting to know people before working with them and building an emotional connection. Americans build connections more by being direct and getting straight to work without building an emotional connection, therefore, this is definitely a challenge. Even though there are a few challenges, this experience has expanded my knowledge and shifted my perspective on cultural business.

In cultural business I find it better to get to know who I am working with first on a personal level, because I believe it helps me learn more about their background. This is a new perspective for me because I always felt business needed to be very serious and direct but sometimes it’s better to be more open and friendly. Another perspective that changed for me was my economical perspective. I didn’t realize that other countries have different economical/business cycles. I always used to think that every country had the same business cycle but after seeing pictures of the land and houses in Brazil and examples of their economic cycle, my perspective quickly changed. Finally, a last change of perspective I had was I believed their prior knowledge would be different due to the education systems in different countries, but I soon found out that we have very similar prior knowledge to the program. Despite the challenges, I enjoy learning new things about the other countries and how they communicate.