Well, you do have to take cultural and language barriers into account.
Communicating in a language that is not your native language can often make you appear brusk and impolite, even aggressive, even if all you are doing is trying to get your point across. It can also make you seem uneducated or even stupid when you might be a college graduate and smart as a whip.
This industry is about as culturally diverse as they come, and that can stress communication, create false impressions and sour business relationships.
So a lot of patience is indicated at times, when an affiliate with a different cultural background shows up to clarify a situation he does not understand. Most likely this is the first time you hear from them, and usually they are very disturbed and distrustful.
The thing to do here is to try to avoid stereotyping the person and listen closely to pick out the actual issue because representation is bound to be clumsy. This person may well turn out to be a good business partner and friend.