Intercultural Communication Stumbling Blocks By Samovar, Porter, Mcdaniel & Roy

Different social, professional and cultural contexts may affect relationships and the way people communicate due to of a lack of understanding or knowledge of one another’s background and culture. This could be through their race, religion, ethnicity or where they come from. Each one of these can have similar or very different ways to communicate. For example

Our overall the unit of study for writers workshop is making our writing interesting. We are also incorporating an author study of Dr. Seuss. Learning different techniques to make our writing interesting is important for young writers. Not only does it make their writing better, but it also inspires them to use their creativity. We decided to do an author study on Dr. Seuss because he has great examples of creative writing. We were able to use many of his books as examples for each of the strategies we worked on.

Cross-cultural communication is about the manner people with different cultural background interact with each other face to face or at a distance, i. e. the process by which people exchange with information. Three broad areas of communication are written, verbal and non-verbal communication, or body language. Some communication styles include direct/indirect, formal/informal and emotional/neutral communication. Direct communication assumes saying what people think without adapting the message to the counterpart. The result is clear and transparent but can be considered undiplomatic by the indirect communicators whose concern is to avoid offence. Formal communication style implies respect to age, status and also requires more formal language than informal communication style. In the emotional communication style it is important to express one’s emotions as it is a significant aspect of self-expression. Neutral communication style implies control of emotions and restricted body language. (Brian and Tomalin, 2013, p10). There can be problems of communication even within one culture and the barriers to efficient communication between different cultures can be poor knowledge of cultural differences, ethnocentrism, stereotyping and fear of embarrassment (Najafbagy, 2008; Brian and Tomalin, 2013).

The ability to grow and be successful in any society depends on its ability to transcend limitations of intercultural communication. The chief aim of social groupings is to harness the capacity of the human mind. The ability to channel this process information during communication impacts our social connections to one another, especially in intercultural communication.

The organization I have chosen is NEA (National Education Association) that deals with communicating cross-cultural and what teachers should know about diversity. The Website address is http://iteslj.org/Articles/Pratt-Johnson-CrossCultural.html which is found in the NEA link. The article explains the need for educators in terms of culturally responsive and competent as schools and classrooms become increasingly linguistically and culturally diverse. The article highlights five important points of cultural difference with which all teachers should be aware when teaching students of diverse backgrounds. These five points are ways of knowing, ways of solving problems, ways of communicating nonverbally, ways of learning, and ways of dealing

Alberts, Martin and Nakayama (2011) describe communication as “ a transactional process in which people generate meaning through the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages in in specific contexts, influenced by individual and societal forces and embedded in culture.”(p.7) They then go on to state that intercultural communication “occurs in interactions between people who are culturally different.”(p.122) Cultural differences thus affect many interactions, with the communication process being one.

Today, we live in a culturally diverse society due to globalization. As our world grows, expands and become increasingly more interconnected, the need for effective interpersonal communication among differing cultures has become apparent. When people from different cultures interact with one another there is intercultural communication because different cultures create different interpretation and expectations about what is seen as competent behaviors that will enable the construction of shared meanings.

In the book Communicating with strangers: An Approach to Intercultural Communication, Gudykunst, and Kim state,” Whenever you interact with others, you interpret their communication in part by drawing on information from your schemata. But your schemata is are filled with the beliefs, attitudes, and values you learned in your own culture.” People from different cultures perceive the meaning of certain communication very differently as Nancy Adler states in International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, “ Cross-cultural communication continually involves misunderstanding caused by misperception, misinterpretation, and misevaluation. When the sender of a message comes from one culture and the receiver from another, the chances of accurately transmitting a message are low. Foreigners see, interpret, and evaluate things differently, and consequently act upon them differently.” Culture usually ends up being the main factor in how people perceive communication because to communicate effectively with people you have to perceive it in the same

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

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.

Barriers to effective intercultural communication can be defined as the aspects or conditions that interfere with effective exchange of ideas or thoughts (Antos, 2011). There are many barriers to effective intercultural communication and these may occur at any stage in the communication process.

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

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

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

Intercultural communication is commonly explained as an interaction between people of 'different cultures whether defined in terms of racial, ethnic or socioeconomic differences.' Human communication consists of verbal and nonverbal messages (language and gestures) which are shaped by gender, social class or culture. Thus, what perimeters define the intercultural exchange and what primary messages do we need or try to convey?