What better way to communicate with an individual from another culture than understanding something about that culture, prior to attempting communication?  The military (Canada, US and others) use cultural awareness training to inform their deploying members prior to operations.  Focus on cultural practices and local languages are among the topics studied.

In this time of globalization, many corporations doing business on an international level also value cultural awareness for intercultural business communications.  The key takeaway from this video link is patience (allowing the person you are communicating with to get to their point in as long as it takes to get there) and respecting the individual.  It makes sense that not all persons from the same culture will value the same communication styles.

Is there such thing as committing a cultural faux pas when engaging in intercultural communications?

Does body language and personality type really matter?