Guides
Business Meetings Between Italian and English Speakers — Without the Diplomatic Awkwardness
Managing a business meeting when speakers of different languages are present demands a high level of technical linguistic competence, along with a deep understanding of cultural differences. This practical guide outlines how to navigate professional settings between Italian and English speakers, ensuring language is never a barrier and mediation is practised with consideration towards everyone. After all, it is these nuances which can make or break a business appointment.
The Characteristics of Italian Business Culture
Gesturing and speaking at a considerable volume
These signals are not necessarily signs of anger or agitation. They may simply reflect the speaker’s personality or indicate a particularly strong emotional investment in the matter at hand.
A flexible approach to time
If a meeting is scheduled for 9:00 am, it may well begin at 9:10 am; if it is due to finish at 5:00 pm, it may run until 5:15 pm. Neither delay is considered significant.
Food as a trust-building tool
In Italian culture, interpersonal relationships form the foundation of business contracts. A working lunch or an aperitivo are not trivial social occasions; they are genuine opportunities to build trust between people. You cannot sign a commercial agreement without first establishing a personal connection, and the business lunch is the ideal setting in which to do so.
The importance of coffee
In Italian culture, coffee plays a central role even in professional settings. Sharing a coffee with colleagues or business partners is essential to building the trust that underpins any working relationship. Informal moments around the coffee machine become opportunities to forge the personal bonds on which professional collaboration is founded or perhaps to negotiate a better price on a purchase contract.
The Characteristics of British and American Business Culture
Direct communication
The Anglo-Saxon communication style is explicit, straightforward, and clear. The message is conveyed as directly as possible, leaving no room for implication or ambiguity.
Softened feedback
Despite this directness, criticism is frequently cushioned using downgraders: softening words such as “perhaps” or “slightly”. In the United Kingdom in particular, diplomatic understatement is widely used and can conceal quite sharp criticism behind apparently gentle phrasing.
The feedback sandwich
In the United States, the so-called sandwich method is commonly used when delivering criticism in a professional context. The technique essentially involves wrapping a negative or critical remark between two layers of positive or encouraging statements, much like the filling of a sandwich between two slices of bread. If not correctly interpreted, this approach can be a frequent source of cultural misunderstanding, as the style may come across as insincere.
A quick lunch at the desk
In Anglo-Saxon cultures, working lunches tend to be brief and purpose driven. It is common practice to order something quick to eat at the desk during a short break from the meeting, to avoid interrupting the flow of work and make the most of the time available. Food, therefore, does not always serve the purpose of strengthening interpersonal relationships, and in fact, eating a sandwich at your desk demonstrates commitment and dedication to the task in hand.
For a deeper exploration of cultural differences in workplaces around the world, I recommend The Culture Map by Erin Meyer, from which the cultural insights above are drawn.
In this context, a professional interpreter is not merely acting as a linguistic translator by converting words from one language to another, but as a genuine cultural facilitator capable of decoding implicit messages. This role is essential in preventing cultural differences from being perceived as personal attacks or a lack of respect. By framing behaviours such as attitudes towards time or lunchtime habits, the interpreter ensures that the meeting becomes a moment of genuine mutual understanding, well beyond the words themselves, essentially safeguarding interpersonal trust and the effectiveness of the professional collaboration.
Cultural Intelligence in Practice
With over a decade of experience as an interpreter between Italian and English in multicultural professional settings, I have accumulated a wealth of anecdotes about cultural differences: some amusing, others deserving of deeper reflection. Let me tell you about one instance that, had it been handled without cultural intelligence, could have cost thousands of pounds, triggered dismissals, derailed agreements, or even ended a professional partnership entirely.
The fine line between a compliment and an offence
Picture this situation. On one side of the table: a technical manager at an Italian footwear factory, in his fifties, Italian through and through. On the other side: a young merchandiser from a British fashion company, which relies on the Italian factory for its Made in Italy production. In the middle: me, working as a consecutive interpreter between Italian and English, helping the two partners communicate and agree on the best collection strategy for the upcoming season.
During a lively back-and-forth between the two, the Italian participant made an off-the-cuff remark:
“Tu sei troppo giovane, queste cose non le sai.” (“You’re too young, you don’t know about these things.”)
The tone was playful. The comment was undeniably personal and direct, but no offense was intended. It was made as an aside during a lengthy discussion about some technical design matters and would not have had any bearing on the meeting’s outcome or decisions.
In a fraction of a second, as I listened to the remark, I became aware of the potential grenade that had just landed on the table. I know British professional culture well and the expectation of setting personal differences aside in a work environment, focusing entirely on competence. In that same split second, I decided to translate the sentence into English as follows:
“You’re quite young, so it is only natural for you to have less knowledge in this field.”
A literal translation could have hurt or offended the young merchandiser, put the collection strategy at risk, and potentially triggered far more serious consequences for the relationship between the two partners.
So, what did I do? Drawing on my knowledge of British cultural norms, I chose to soften the translation by introducing small, but crucial, words that take the edge off the comment (quite, it is only natural, less knowledge). Through careful assessment of the situation and the speaker’s intent, the resulting interpretation successfully conveyed his light-hearted joke about the age difference and the craft knowledge that comes from working in the field every day for forty years.
Words carry varying shades of meaning and offer infinite translation possibilities, the human professional’s role is to adaptively apply their emotional, cultural, and relational intelligence. Guided by the overarching goals of the conversation, words are contextually tailored without betraying the communicative intent of the speakers.
