Some language features are described that could account for feelings of people from different cultures not being on the same "wave length" when they communicate with each other in business negotiations. Candlin's explanatory approach involving a "top-down, bottom-up" methodology is used. It views language as being indeterminate and allows language to be studied in relation to the users of language. Data are reported based on analysis of a videotape of two businessmen from Singapore and Great Britain. Three features of language occurring in the negotiation are discussed: "propose" speech acts, interactional structure, and distribution of talk. It is suggested that their different perceptions of the negotiations and attitudes toward each other lie in the way they acknowledge each other's "face," and the way they realize "pragmatic ambivalence." Contains 16 references. (LB)