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Journal of Business Communication
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Language-Based Communication Zones in International Business Communication

Richard D. Babcock

University of San Francisco

Bertha Du-Babcock

City University of Hong Kong

This paper presents a model of language-based communication zones in international business communication. The model builds on Du-Babcock and Babcock's (1996) descriptions of expatriate-local personnel communication patterns by reconfiguring and adding new zones, which vary according to the language proficiency matches of the interactants. The eight new communication zones represented here can contribute to a more comprehensive framework that represents the dynamic, bi-directional, mul tiply influenced, and tmnsformational translation process integral to international business communication. Previous research has operated on the assumption that all participants within an international business communication setting function as fully proficient users of all languages being spoken, with no accounting for communica tion difficulties based on varying levels of language proficiency. This study asserts that there is, in fact, a language-competency variable that greatly impacts communi cation and communication dynamics within the eight identified language-based com munication zones. Research-based incidents from four countries illustrate likely communication patterns in the language-based communication zones.

Key Words: International Business Communication • Communication Zones • Language Proficiency • Global Communication

Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 38, No. 4, 372-412 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/002194360103800401
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