I work for an international company. We all communicate in English although for most of us English isn't our native language. As far as I know we are all expected to speak English to work at the company.
There's this HR business partner I have to cooperate with, who I simply don't understand and who apparently doesn't understand me. She's assigned to my team, I can't simply chose not to cooperate with her.
I devote plenty of time to decode her written English. She uses English words but it reads like English translated via an online translator - the words make sense, I can't understand the sentences.
I first thought she simply doesn't devote enough attention to her emails, but when I asked her to connect via Skype it became clear her English skills are very limited. She didn't understand most of my questions and tried guessing. She was wrong with most of her guesses. I tried repeating questions several times and rephrasing but it didn't help either. I would think her English is about A2-B1 level, not more than that.
All the other people I've met at the company speak fluent English. I communicate in English with most of my colleagues, including my managers. I haven't experienced any problems with being understood/ understanding others before. I normally try to rephrase things a lot during discussions anyway in order to make sure we are on the same page and not just assume so. But the situation with this colleague is different. She simply lacks the necessary English skills.
What should I do given that I'm new and don't want to cause problems, but any cooperation with her is very difficult?
I don't speak her native language.