I have also experienced this difficulty (seeing the same abstraction)
involving people of a different nationality. I have had the pleasure of
working with two French Nationals. Their English (which I have noticed is
true also in this forum) is at least as good as if not better than mine.
But when we were embarking on a journey with information modeling into new
areas, I observed that the Frenchman could not (for lack of a better word)
translate the models. Many heated debates resulted. The debates were
only solved when the Frenchman were allowed to discuss the model in French
- (which is where their "natural" abstraction occurred) and they able to
"SEE" the models in the same way intended as the 3 American teams
members.
This phenomenon/problem of understanding the same abstraction as
presented, is part of our challenge as practitioners of systems thinking.
I am interested in other experiences and success stories in overcoming
this obstacle.
-- Chris Michel chris.michel@daytonoh.attgis.com