Communication And Cross Cultural Communication

This text is a good reference point. This text is used to understanding communication within culture. This source also gave a better understanding

You know that feeling of home whether it’s with family members or even your loved ones? I don’t think that home is something that is automatically there, I believe that it is something that’s created. I learned that lesson through the eyes of one of my older friends who came from India with his brother when he was 16 in order to make a living. My friend Vikas, told me everything he had to do and the struggles he conquered in order to make his own successful business here in the U.S. Some things he told be reminded me of interpersonal communication, intercultural communication, and intracultural communication. He had to have a lot of communication with his friend who also happened to be from India and some new friends and colleagues he met through his journey. Of course there was homesickness and the occasional depression, but that didn’t stop him from creating his now successful business.

People have communicated from different cultures, carefully thinking about the assumptions they made. Some negative consequences could happen from keeping the old stereotype from one’s first language and culture. Thus, we need to learn how to discard stereotype and effective communicator. Based on human perceptions, people make assumptions about the other. They choose the appropriate communicative style to reduce confusion and avoid miscommunications.

Intercultural communication is defined as when people communicate with one another who have different cultures. They may differ because of their languages, beliefs, values, and behavioral characteristics (Bennett, 1998). The intercultural communication plays a key role in globalization. It will help organizations to have a long-term success if they can manage the cultural differences and intercultural cooperation effectively to conflicts. Increasing shared knowledge and dealing with miscommunication are the two main factors for having a successful intercultural communication. However, the difference in discourse systems is the most miscommunication issue that leads individuals to misunderstand and misinterpret to the contents or messages

Previous researchers have found that for a person to achieve better and more effective communication competence, it is necessary to develop skills that allow an appropriate participation in specific situations. The ability to listen, ask questions, and express concepts or ideas effectively is an important part of communication competence. Intercultural communication presents an unexplored and challenging field that needs to be understood for a better development in communication. (Dillon and McKenzie, 1998). The variables of listening depend on the different perceptions that a person obtains through their cultural background. Furthermore, culture often affects the structure of consciousness in the act of listening. When a person seeks to

Humans have been communicating since four million years. On the other hand, the birth of culture is estimated to have taken place about 35,000 years ago. Today, both culture and communication have evolved considerably and have become interdependent of one another, to the point that communication is considered to be a product of culture. Thus, our own culture has a deep impact on our thoughts and behaviors. Since each culture has its distinct aspects, intercultural communication can be the cause of conflict and disorder. There are three main issues which are at the root of the problem of intercultural miscommunication : language as a barrier, cultural diversity and ethnocentrism. I will analyze

¡°The moon is a rocky physical sphere that orbits the Earth; yet when looking at this object, many Americans often see a man in the moon, many Native Americans perceive a rabbit, Chinese claim a lady is fleeing her husband, and Samoans report a woman weaving¡±(Samovar 56). For Americans, a ¡°V¡± sign made with two fingers usually represents victory. Australians equate this gesture with a rude American gesture usually made with the middle finger. Most Asians respond negatively to white flowers because white is associated with death. For Peruvians, Iranians, and Mexicans, yellow flowers often invoke the same reaction. In these three examples, the external objects (moons, hands, flowers) were

Intercultural communication competence refers to the ability of an individual to adapt and communicate appropriately and effectively across a wide array of cultural contexts. That is to say, for an individual to be considered an intercultural communicator they must understand other’s cultures as well as they understand their own, and apply this understanding to communication (Chen 1-2). With the increasing diversity at the workplace, school and other social settings, it has become increasingly important to learn how to communicate with people from a diverse array of cultures. More importantly, adapting to a more effective intercultural communication competence model provides us with learning opportunities occasioned by the interaction with people from other backgrounds. The intercultural communication competence model comes with some key components including tolerance for uncertainty, self-knowledge, and motivation. The greatest and most important of these aspects is motivation. An individual must be willing to foster relationships with people from a different cultural background. If an individual lacks the willingness to promote intercultural relationships, then other aspects of the intercultural communication model become moot.

Doing business in a foreign country is not easy, because many people do not know how to communicate effectively with others of different cultures and background. Statistics show that more than half of international joint ventures fail within two to three years because of a lack of cultural Intelligence. Cultural differences became the main barriers of cross-cultural communication, and therefore overcoming cross-cultural communication barriers has become the common problems in the business world today. Most of the foreigners still cannot fit into a different culture when they have to transfer to another country to work with different people, even they were international business major or have learned the basic concept of international management in their colleges. Therefore, it is better to have someone who are familiar with the culture.

The first statement asserts that because every culture is immensely different, communication is virtually impossible across different cultures. This is obviously not true as cultures share a common purpose, and most often have common symbols and boundaries (McClean 88). While language can be a barrier to communication across different cultures, it’s often symbols or phrases that are harder to overcome rather than the language barrier (McLean 90). Cross-cultural communication can be understood; however, we must understand ourselves and the interactions we have with others (Klopf 31). Communication between different cultures is very attainable because cultures are more similar than different.

Cross-cultural communication is the process of exchanging meaningful and unambiguous information across cultural boundaries, in a way that preserves mutual respect and minimizes antagonism, that is, it looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds endeavour to communicate. The study of cross-cultural communication was originally found within businesses and the government both seeking to expand globally. Communication is interactive, so an important influence on its effectiveness is our relationship with others. All communication is cultural -- it draws on ways we have learned to speak and give nonverbal messages. We do not always

As Jeane Kirkpatrick once said, “Cross cultural experience and communication teaches us not simply that people have different beliefs, but that people seek meaning and understand themselves and others in some sense as members of a universe ruled by God.” Effective cross cultural communication with people of different cultures can be especially challenging. Culture itself provides human beings with different ways of thinking and responding, which includes a variety of different ways of seeing, hearing, and interpreting the world. While there are ways of translating the language of other cultures in order to have the ability to effectively use cross cultural communication (most specifically for collaborative purposes), the same words can mean different things to different people from different cultures, even when they speak the same language. In fact, when languages are diverse, and translation has to be used to communicate (cross cultural), the potential for misunderstandings and difficulty rises. In the case of “Strategies for Smooth and Effective Cross-Cultural Online Collaborative Learning” written by Junfeng Yang, Kinshuk Huiju, Sue-Jen Chen, and Ronghuai Huang, describes the difficulties with cross cultural communication and the findings of a study done by Hangzhou Normal University (China), Athabasca University (Canada), and University of North Caroline (United States) about this difficult subject and its gravity

A single thread cannot become a cord, and a single tree does not make a forest. This Cheng Yu is about cooperation and being part of a larger whole. Its roots stem from Confucian beliefs of organized society through togetherness. This is in stark contrast to the emphasis placed on individualism in some Western countries.

Communication between cultures is heavily impacted by the perceptual sets that individuals have when they are first introduced to other. Although not always openly admitted or even consciously known, stereotypes can impact the way that people view one another. Stereotypes are not always negative in connotation, and can even help people deal with a very complex and dynamic world. However, just like the world is complex and dynamic, so are individuals within a culture. Overgeneralized stereotypes as well as blanket labels can never accurately define a person. It is necessary to look at not only cultural norms from different cultures, but learn about individuals themselves in order to effectively communicate between people of all places.

Cross-cultural communication varies depending on the cultures. Although students have a high level of proficiency, second language learners still find difficulties while being understood that cross-cultural differences appear in speaking their second language. This concern makes learners consider that pronunciation might be the cause of the misunderstanding. However, fluency and accuracy elements are very important for effective conversation, learners of English as a second language may find themselves in a difficult position when they have to speak with native speakers of English, because they have received enough knowledge in areas such