We are all formed by our experiences, which in turn affects our interpretation of the world. Something that is normal for one person may seem to be irrational to somebody else, in the same manner that something spicy for me tastes plain to my father. Our experiences help shape who we are and how we approach things, often taking for granted that everyone else thinks and approaches things in the same exact manner.
Every day we are faced with a multitude of cases where we say one thing and the other party interprets it in a completely different way. Let’s take a case in point – how do dogs bark in different languages. Almost all dogs bark. In English we recognize "woof-woof," "arf-arf", "ruff-ruff" and "bow-wow." However, in Arabic their bark is “hau-hau”, in Greek “ghav-ghav”, is Irish “amh-amh”, in Bulgarian “bau-bau”, and, my personal favourite, in Romanian “ham-ham”. If a dog’s bark can be “interpreted” in so many ways, one can only begin to imagine what interpretations are given to what is stated during a negotiation. Perhaps “The Tower of Babel”, the story told in the Book of Genesis, should be a constant reminder of these differences in interpretation.