The problems in cross-cultural teams are rarely about vocabulary. They're about two people using the same words with different conventions underneath — and the dangerous version is when both leave the conversation confident they agreed.
Direct and indirect
The most consequential difference. In some professional cultures, a problem is stated plainly. In others, stating it plainly is a serious breach, and the problem is signalled instead.
So: That might be difficult can mean it will be slightly awkward, or it can mean no. We'll look into it can mean it's being actioned, or it can mean this has been heard and will not happen.
Neither convention is better. The failure is assuming yours is universal, which both sides do.
What "yes" covers
In some settings yes means I agree and will do it. In others it means I hear you, with agreement being a separate matter entirely.
This is where deadlines are lost. Someone says yes, everyone moves on, and nothing happens — not through dishonesty, but because the yes was never a commitment and the other person had no way of knowing.
The protection is to ask for the specific thing rather than the agreement. When will it be ready? gets a real answer in a way that Can you do this? does not.
Silence
In some cultures silence in a meeting means disagreement. In others it's respect, or thought, or simply that junior people don't speak unprompted.
Reading silence as consent is one of the most common and expensive misreadings in distributed teams.
Feedback
Directness about work varies enormously. Feedback that reads as normal and useful in one office reads as a humiliation in another; feedback that reads as kind in one reads as meaningless in another.
If you manage across cultures, this is worth asking about explicitly rather than inferring. How do you prefer to get feedback? is a reasonable question and saves a great deal.
Hierarchy
Whether you can disagree with your manager in a meeting, email someone two levels up, or question a decision in front of others — all vary, and none of it is written down anywhere.
Written over spoken
Where conventions differ, writing things down helps disproportionately. Not formality — just a short message after a call saying what was agreed, who's doing it and by when.
It gives both people a chance to correct a misunderstanding cheaply, before it becomes a missed deadline.
The habit worth building
Assume less, check more, and particularly check when something seemed to go unusually smoothly. An easy agreement across cultures is sometimes a genuine agreement and sometimes two people being polite in different directions.
Asking so just to confirm — you'll have the draft by Tuesday? takes five seconds and catches most of it.