This article addresses the issue of asking questions as an important element of international business negotiation where there are differences in cultural background. A Dutch–Spanish difference in questioning was related to differences between the two parties in uncertainty reduction and negotiation goals. All 480 questions in 8 simulated Kelley game negotiations were reviewed: both monocultural (3 Dutch–Dutch in Dutch and 2 Spanish–Spanish in Spanish) and intercultural (3 Spanish–Dutch in English), i.e. 2 cultures and 3 languages (average duration of 30 min of recording per negotiation). This analysis may also allow an illustration of the Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis (Sapir, 1949 and Whorf, 1956) which holds, at least in its weak version, that culture frames language and language frames culture. It may also be possible to determine the extent to which intercultural differences between Dutch and Spanish questioning behaviours – assuming they can be ascertained in comparison with monocultural Dutch and Spanish behaviour – are language bound. In other words, do negotiators use a different typology of questions in their native language (L1: Dutch or Spanish) than in a neutral language (L2)? A comparison of the monocultural and intercultural data makes it possible to illustrate the above hypothesis, and to establish how far the L1-culture connection differs from that of the L2-culture. For another similar test on culture–language relations in South African mathematics texts and their readers, see Prins and Ulijn (1998). The uncertainty reduction theory (UR) of Berger (1979) and the negotiation models developed by Fisher and Ury (1981) and Mastenbroek (1989) are related to question behaviour, which is analysed with the Verbal Response Mode Taxonomy of Stiles (1981). Pre- and post-negotiation questionnaires (using Likert-scales) were developed and administered to relate the results of the linguistic analysis to the perceptions of the negotiators in order to test the ecological validity of UR. Asking questions appeared to be ...