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As established, culture plays an important role in the field of international marketing. Of all the cultural aspects, language may be the most critical, as it can be one of the biggest barriers a company has to face when it becomes global. It is certain that language has been involved in a number of cultural confusions. Thus, good communication linkages must be set between a company and its customers, suppliers, employees and the governments of the foreign countries where it performs business activities.

Conversely, poor communication can obviously cause various difficulties. For example, the fact that English is widely spoken in India can be very misleading, as there is a difference between Indian English and the English we know. Some words or terms sound like English but they are Indian-English, giving them a completely different meaning. For instance what sounds as "a lack of rupees" could mean "lakh of rupees" signifying a 100,000 of them. (Gonzales)

One of the challenges international marketers need to surmount is a practice called the self-reference criterion. Unconsciously, individuals tend to use the standards of one's own culture, including language, to evaluate others. "Foreign marketers should never take it for granted that they are communicating effectively in another language." (Cateora) The important thing for marketers is to consider how these biases may come in the way when dealing with members of other cultures.

A country's language is key to its culture. Language expresses the thinking patterns of a culture; what is important and what is not important to a particular culture can be ascertained by what is present and what is not present in its language. The words of the language are merely concepts reflecting the culture from which it is derived. It is the spoken language that dominates as it changes more quickly and reflects the culture more directly.

Eskimos have many words to describe the concept of snow because the difference in the forms of snow plays a much more important role in their daily life than say, a native of Bermuda or Haiti. Furthermore, regional differences and dialects may be subtle, but they can produce substantial differences within the same language. Americans, British, Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders, although from the same Anglo background with less than a 250-year spread, are diverging. It is not only with humor that one speaks of the Americans and British as two nations divided by a common language.

For example, natives from Minnesota, Mississippi, and Boston in the U.S. may not be able to easily understand each other or a word may mean one thing in a Latin American country, but something coarse in another. Brown sugar is referred to differently according to Hispanic local backgrounds; in New York (azucar negra), Miami (azucar prieta), California (azucar cafe), South Texas (azucar morena) and elsewhere (azucar pardo). Four different ways exist to say tire in Spanish depending on where one is; the Spanish call it neumatico, the Peruvians caucho, the Mexicans llanta and the Argentineans goma.

Former West Germans and former East Germans have difficulty communicating. The language of West and East Germans diverged for 45 years since they were divided in 1945 and until their reunification in 1990. The Wessi, as a West German is called in East Germany, have different words and different meanings for the same word than did their cousins in the East.

Habitually, cultures are proud of their native tongue. In today's modern world, concerns exist in many countries that one's language is becoming obsolete. France passed a law in 1994 which became effective in 1996 that French radio stations have to devote at least 40 percent of their prime time music programming to songs in French. France is seeking to protect its culture against what it considers the perfidious influence of the English language, ignoring the fact that English is the language of choice for the hip in France. Undeniably, French consumers prefer American television and tune out French programs, as well as American films accounting for over 70% of all box office receipts in the European Union. As a result, laws were passed in France that the French language must be used on television and radio, in all advertising, schools and workplaces, with the use of an English term forbidden if an adequate French word is available.

For a foreign company attempting to enter the French market, these edicts will pose any number of problems and complication for the company's international marketing efforts. As one of several examples, Disney was taken to court because seven of its Paris' retail stores' 5,000 items did not have French labels. Furthermore, the elite in Paris lambasted the EuroDisney project as an affront to French cultural traditions, resulting in Disney deciding that French would be the first official language at EuroDisney as a response to these concerns, in order to maintain the French customer's goodwill for the project.

As the significance of language is ascertained, its impact on the elements of the international marketing mix is indisputable. As the marketing mix should in itself be a product of understanding the consumer, keeping in mind that language is an integral part of that consumer, it follows that mastering the nuances of the new market's language helps the organization to target its marketing mix, namely product, price, distribution and communication, more closely on the potential consumer.

Language plays the biggest role in the communication element of the marketing mix, as it may impede communication across groups because of a lack of shared or common cultural values. To make consumers accept a product, language is used to promote that product through advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and publicity, all of which cannot be effectively used without language. Marketers going into any foreign market need to understand this and fundamentally believe in it. This is the reason why a standardized advertisement may have difficulty communicating with consumers in foreign countries. Advertising and promotion require special attention because they play a key role in communicating product concepts and benefits to the target segment. "Advertising copywriters should be concerned less with obvious differences between languages and more with the idiomatic meanings expressed". (Cateora)

One source of difficulty among international companies is that of effective communication with potential consumers, as there are many possible communication barriers. For multinational businesses sending messages to consumers on a regular basis is a customary and vital practice. Sometimes messages can be translated incorrectly, while other times when the message does arrive, its ineffectiveness can cause it to be of no value. "Carelessly translated advertising statements not only lose their intended meaning but can suggest something very different, obscene, offensive or just plain ridiculous." (Cateora)

When advertising, global companies need to know what their message actually communicates, instead of what they think it announces. "A dictionary translation is not the same as an idiomatic interpretation, and seldom will the dictionary translation suffice". (Cateora) When American Airlines translated the commercial Fly in Leather to Latin American countries, the output sent was to encourage people to Fly Naked. Chevrolet kept the American name for the model Nova to sell it in Mexico, which means in Spanish Does Not Go. Parker made a mockery of its brand when their ball-point advertising Use Parker and avoid embarrassing situations was translated in Spanish improperly. Consumers understood that Using Parker reduces the possibility of pregnancies. A U.S. toothpaste manufacturer promised its customers that they would be more interesting if they used the firm's toothpaste. What the advertising coordinators did not realize, however, was that in Latin American countries, interesting is another euphemism for pregnant.

Several international marketing experts correspond with these concepts in their writings, where Buzzell singles out language as the major cultural element affecting advertising and promotion decisions, while Usunier devotes considerable attention to communication strategies. As far as advertising is concerned, he observes that there are considerable variations from country to country, with language mainly affecting advertising copy and slogans. . .

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