Cultural Linguistic Services: Offering a world of assistance

Jane Gressang (left), UI language and cultural specialist with Cultural Linguistic Services, conducts an educational session with University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics employees Ivonne Zabibu and Shi-Jiang Wu. Gressang's lesson covered English terms for various foods, along with the use of American currency. Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

Cultural differences can resemble an iceberg, according to Jane Gressang, UI language and cultural specialist.

“Some things you can clearly see are different—an accent, or if a person doesn’t shake hands,” says Gressang, who helps run the University’s Cultural Linguistic Services, a new Human Resources initiative to support an increasingly diverse and inclusive campus community. “But then there’s a large level of differences that you don’t see.”

Those differences are presenting themselves more frequently as the population of the University of Iowa workforce, not to mention that of the state of Iowa, becomes more diverse. Avoiding potential misunderstandings is the goal of English-speaking and English-learning employees alike, says Gressang, who hopes the new UI linguistic services program, which was launched in July 2006, will help everyone meet the goal.

One common example on the UI campus, Gressang notes, is the differing cultural issues between American employees and employees from Asia, particularly the way that workplace problems are communicated. In most Asian cultures, such problems aren’t talked about, especially with the boss; if it is mentioned, it is usually delivered in an indirect manner.

“But here in America, if a supervisor isn’t looking for these indirect cues, the problem might never find a resolution,” Gressang says.

A background with greater emphasis on heirarchy can lead to reluctance in some workplace situations, too. “Americans try to deny that there are power levels—bosses speak informally with their subordinates, and people work independently,” Gressang says. “Employees accustomed to hierarchy will not feel comfortable answering a question for their boss, even if they know the answer and the boss doesn’t.

“When they defer to the boss, this is done out of respect, not as a way to avoid work. Yet the supervisor might ask, ‘Why didn’t you just answer the question?’”

Gressang says Americans are more direct than people from Japan, Korea, African nations, and Mexico, but less direct than those from Germany or Denmark. Someone from Denmark might ask a question that Americans find rude, and Americans unwittingly might do the same to people from other cultures.

CLS can fulfill tasks such as translating training and safety documents, interpreting supervisor comments, and teaching workplace-specific English classes, just to name a few. (For a detailed list of offerings, see sidebar.) Gressang says CLS has helped employees in various campus departments through workplace consultations, and the program is looking to offer formal English classes through UI Learning and Development.

The CLS staff includes Gressang, who speaks Spanish and a little bit of Mandarin; Viviane Diamitani, a native speaker of French and Ewe, a language of West Africa; and Yousun Shin, a native speaker of Korean. All three have language-instruction experience, and they also can assist employees whose first language differs from those listed above.

Their services are not limited to those learning English. Cross-cultural communication classes can help English-speaking employees overcome language and cultural divides.

For two University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics employees and their supervisor, the CLS program has been successful in building a greater common ground.

Gressang works with Ivonne Zabibu and Shi-Jiang Wu, both of whom work in food and nutrition services at the hospital, on understanding English terminology related to their work as well as American currency values. As part of the exercise, Gressang uses fake bills and coins, along with sheets of paper with pictures of food with monetary values printed below each image. Gressang asks the employees the price for various items. Once they locate the corresponding image, they recite the price and, if necessary, make change.

That might seem like an easy exercise—if your first language is English. It’s a little more difficult if, like these two employees, your native tongue is something else.

Zabibu came to America from the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire); Wu from China. Through workplace sessions with Gressang, they have found an improved channel of communication with their coworkers.

Zabibu says she is better able to let her coworkers know when a task is finished; Wu says he’s found it easier to understand what jobs he is asked to complete. Wu also mentions he’s better able to get to know his coworkers, something to which his supervisor, Douglas Robertson, can attest.

Robertson, associate director of food and nutrition services at UIHC, contacted CLS to work with some of his employees, and he says the payoff has been obvious—they have shown increased confidence, both on the job and in social situations.

“Mr. Wu initiated a casual conversation with me the other day,” Robertson says. “Typically when I’d see him, I’d get a cheerful greeting, but that would be the extent of our interactions. So now, having a two-sided conversation with him is an extremely impressive thing for me to experience.”

Robertson says diversity in the workforce can be utilized to accomplish amazing things.

“When you are truly willing to put effort into working with a diverse workforce by providing resources to all staff, you remove barriers between cultures and foster productivity,” he says.

For more information about Cultural Linguistic Services, contact Jane Gressang at (33)5-5822 or jane-gressang@uiowa.edu, or visit http://www.uiowa.edu/hr/administration/linguistics/index.html.