I attended four events: the Cross-cultural Teamwork workshop, Maximising Career Opportunities in the EU, the Language Café, and How International Students Get a Job in the UK – Alumni Experience Sharing. However, I’d like to focus on two in particular: the Language Café, which was a completely new experience for me, and the Cross-cultural Teamwork workshop, which provided valuable insights into working in diverse teams.
Language café with Centre for Open Learning
The event was structured into three 30-minute sessions with short breaks in between, lasting a total of two hours. The setup was simple yet immersive: each table had a teacher from the Centre for Open Learning, and students could choose to learn basic phrases in French, Spanish, Arabic, or Korean.
Although I couldn’t stay for the full event, I managed to attend the Arabic session. My knowledge was zero going in, but by the end, I had learnt basic greetings—Marhaban! (Hello!)—and how to introduce myself (Ismii Paula!) and ask for someone’s name (Ma ismuk?). We also practised four Arabic sounds, both spoken and written.
One fascinating takeaway was that Arabic is written from right to left and varies across different regions where it’s spoken. Curious about how long it would take to reach a conversational level, I asked the teacher, who estimated that with weekly classes and consistent practice, it would take around three years. A long journey, but as they say—it’s never too late to start!
Cross-cultural teamwork workshop with the student development team
This engaging session, led by Stella Wang from the Student Development Team, was all about understanding culture, why cross-cultural teamwork is important, the challenges international teams face, and key skills for cross-cultural teamwork.
One of the takeaways from this session was understanding the effectiveness of multicultural teams compared to monocultural teams, emphasising how diversity impacts performance. Multicultural teams can either perform worse or better than monocultural teams, depending on how cultural differences are managed. If cultural differences create misunderstandings and conflicts, performance declines. However, when leaders acknowledge and support these differences, they become an asset, enhancing creativity and effectiveness in complex tasks. This discussion was informed by Adler’s (2002) research on international organisational behaviour.
In small group discussions, my team and I identified some key challenges international teams face:
- Language barriers – Things can get lost in translation, leading to miscommunication.
- Geographical distance – Virtual teams may struggle with building rapport and smooth collaboration.
- Different perceptions of punctuality – Depending on cultural norms, arriving early, on time, or a few minutes late can all mean different things.
Perhaps the most crucial takeaway from this session was the role of communication in successful cross-cultural teamwork. Other essential skills mentioned included understanding, trust, honesty, compromise, patience, responsibility, and open-mindedness—all of which are fundamental for fostering collaboration in diverse teams.
This year’s International Week was a fantastic opportunity to gain new perspectives on global careers and cultural diversity. Whether through learning a new language or improving teamwork skills, each event reinforced the importance of openness, adaptability, and communication—key qualities for anyone looking to work in an international environment.