You know how it is in science, we do often work in interdisciplinary teams with people from all nationalities and cultures. And wow do we at least find this enriching and rewarding!

Yet it does come with some challenges attached, doesn't it? Today's topic with Dr. Julia Quante is intercultural communication, a topic that is not so often heard of in courses you might take during your graduate or postgraduate studies. Yet it is a very deep topic and one that we are sure you can learn about and profit from! We definitely have done both during our conversation with Julia.

Julia is a scientist by training who did her PhD (attention!) on the differences and similarities between German and British cartoon humor styles and rules. If that's not cool, then we don't know what is (LOL).

Believe us, you're in for a treat in this episode. Among other topics, we talk about: 

• How Julia ended up making it a 'habit' to drink tea at 3am in the morning after being out partying while in London
• Why Julia believes that being able to handle silences is a key skill to becoming a better listener and a better intercultural partner
• What low- and high-context communication are
• How incredibly powerful active listening can be and how to practice it
• Why identifying your values is key to effective intercultural communication
• What tolerance of ambiguity is and how to develop it

And much more!

And here are some of the resources that we discuss during this episode: 

• A geography of time by Robert Levine
• The pursuit of unhappiness by Daniel Haybron
• The culture map by Erin Meyer
• I hear you by Michael Sorensen