Language Barrier or Cultural Difference?

During one of our lectures with the INEMA students we were discussing the bright sides and the dark sides of globalization.  Whilst discussing and giving our opinions, I had an uncomfortable situation with one male student from Afghanistan.  I was expressing my opinion that many of the circumstances surrounding globalization are dependent on the specific situation.  However, my INEMA partner disagreed and when I pressed forward with more questions that would discredit his opinion, he stopped listening and told me that I must not support globalization.

After witnessing several instances with my other colleagues, I am considering if this was a language barrier or a cultural difference?  Is it that the INEMA student was raised in a culture that doesn’t respect a woman’s opinion?  Or is it that he didn’t have the right vocabulary and language proficiency to get his point across?  In many instances, it seemed as though the INEMA students were very “intense” and “direct”, and as I reflect on this I am beginning to think that it’s a combination of both.  When having a discussion with a native German and an Egyptian, there were many times that both were unable to pinpoint the thought they were trying to get across without help from me and my vocabulary.  In my reflections, I believe that as native English speakers, it falls on us to help the communication between others as we are the “experts” of the common tongue.  We can’t let a direct or intense statement turn us off to a particular person when we don’t know the true intentions of their words because in some instances it may be a language barrier rather than a cultural difference.