Have you ever struggled to get through a meeting in a language you haven’t mastered? Well, haven’t we all?!

You connect online or in-person with high expectations, only to realize that the party on the other side of the line –or sitting across the table from you– is not conversant in your language.

What you hoped would be a 15-minute call drags on for at least half an hour, and you and your interlocutors are now farther than you ever were from closing that deal or reaching compromise on the issue that brought you there in the first place. Sure, you can always enlist the help of professional interpreters, but considering the meeting is virtual you wouldn’t know where to send them. At that point, you probably settle for English, or the closest common language you can think of. At the end of some grueling 20 minutes, you still don’t have a deal.

It doesn’t have to be that way!

Watch the humorous video below picturing a similar situation involving Italian and Japanese business people trying to close a deal. The clip plays with a few stereotypes that tend to get exacerbated by the lack of a common language, and we’re sure some of the scenes will resonate with a few of your own experiences.

The video premiered on July 30th, at 12 noon EST. And it is now available on YouTube.

We would love to show you a better way.  KUDO seeks to put an end to miscommunication and help you bridge the linguistic and cultural gap. We look forward to meeting with you next. We promise we’ll make sense. No matter the language.