Responding to Questions of Cultural Insensitivity
Listener – Speaker
- I find the term you are using makes me uncomfortable.
- I support your desire to speak your mind but the language you are using strikes me as disrespectful.
- I am interested in your perspective, but the way you are approaching this topic promotes hostility not understanding.
- Did you need to make your point by using that language?
- Your understanding of this subject is important to me, but when you present your information this way you turn me off to learning more about your ideas.
- My judgment is not about you, it is about the language we are using.
- I think language is important, but I appreciate how difficult it can be to communicate.
- Statements or language usage can make a speaker's intentions misunderstood. Did I understand you to mean……?
- I don’t want to take your comments/terms out of context. Did you mean to suggest that women/minorities/gays…..?
- I hope I am not being too sensitive, but…
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Speaker – Listener
- My meaning and usage is technical but I am open to further discussion.
- Give me a second, I have never had someone ask me that question.
- I’m not sure I understand your position, but I want to explore your concerns.
- You raise a good point, but we won’t have time to examine this idea until next week.
- Sounds like we should discuss these terms in greater detail.
- Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain myself further.
- Language is important, but thank you for not jumping to conclusions about my intentions.
- I try and keep up on language usage and what might be considered terms that are culturally insensitive. I apologize if my words were offensive, that was not my intention.
- Thank you for not taking my remarks out of context. I was trying to be provocative not offensive.
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This list of possible responses is meant to open up possibilities for more effective communcation. We welcome your feedback and suggestions on these or other approaches.
