Intercultural Communications: Cultural Stereotypes And Communication With Foreigners

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

Culture affects all aspects of communication. People must be aware of both the culture they originate from, live, or work in, as well

In modern society, interpersonal communications refer to communication betwee two or more people. Meanwhile the verbal interpersonal communication is one of the major element for interpersonal communication, such as sounds and word choice, and it is the oral, spoken and unwritten way of the communication (Beebe, 2002). During the process of communication, most people will meet the situattion about the cross-cultural. cross-cultural can be defined as the interaction and comparison of different cultures (Beebe, 2002). Therefore, the verbal interpersonal communication and cross cultural awareness will be useful. In the following, I will reflect on the verbal interpersonal cultural based my experience and analyse how to develop cross cultural awareness.

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.

In our textbook, Real Communications by O’Hair, Wiemann, Mullin and Teven, culture is defined as, “a learned system of thought and behavior that belongs to and typifies a large group of people”. In short, culture is the way we do things that is the same as people where we came from. It can vary not only from country to country, but even different parts of the city. It is part of an identity through which we see the world and can affect how we interpret information, especially speeches and body language. Culture includes lots of things such as languages, fashion, music, art, customs, and slang.

In addition to culture, Chapter 1 briefly touches on communication as an aspect of culture. Ineffective and improper forms of communication are detailed and several examples are discussed on “how not to” properly communicate in different countries.

Culture is distinguished by the way of speaking, language, clothing, norms, values and beliefs. Culture differences influence the way people communicate. For instance, in China and Japan, exchanging inexpensive presents at first meeting is imperative. But in western countries, gifts are not anticipated initially. Gifts in number of four are prevented in Japan because four sounds like death. Similarly, in doing business, the role of formality is high in Asia but significantly lower in western countries. Therefore, the awareness of cross-cultural variations as well as similarities can lead to an effective international 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

An important aspect of culture and interpersonal communication is the fact that it’s impossible to interact “without being aware of how culture influences human communication” (DeVito.) To improve communication skills, and understanding of the differences and relevance of culture is extremely important. Through enculturation, you learn about your native culture and develop and ethnic identity. Another process of learning culture is acculturation, which is learning the norms and rules about a culture different from your own. Learning and gaining a better understanding of the external world (enculturation and acculturation) are one of the specific axioms or principles of interpersonal communication. Culture and interpersonal communication go along with each other because they change individual observers into active participants of intercultural

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

Intercultural communication: A discourse approach attempts to explain the discourse approach and points to the authors ' distinction between cross-cultural communication and intercultural communication. The chapter underlines the authors ' approach and theory to intercultural communication. It covers several explanations and the distinction between cross-cultural communication and intercultural communication. The chapter discusses the many varieties of culture that exist. It also clarifies that intercultural communication can occur in conversations not necessarily when two people are from different countries.

When people think of business, rarely do we associate culture with the concept. This leads to an issue in cross-cultural communication. By analyzing cross-cultural communication, and its miscommunication in cultural differences, it is clear that employees should know more of a country’s defining culture. Only recently have we seen an emphasis in understanding other country’s cultures. In doing so, some businesses have prospered, while others have suffered after a terrible miscommunication. When dealing with culture, there are three segments that an employee should consider. What can be done before, during and after contact is made with the culture. In effectively preparing for one, a business may successfully send the message they wish to their client.

Communication and culture share a close-knit relationship with one another. According to authors Sarah Trenholm and Arthur Jenson of “Interpersonal Communication 7th Edition”, communication is “the process whereby humans collectively create and regulate social reality. Culture is a “set of values, beliefs, customs, and codes that bind people

Despite the fact that the phenomenon of politeness is widespread in the entire world, after looking into different cultures it is possible to notice that in each one it reveals itself in various ways; it can have a small number of differences or it may differ starting from the basics. This is determined by a range of cultural specifications, customs, and way of life (Wierzbicka 2003). The essence of politeness is usually lies much deeper than in speaking syntax and language structure. An ignorance of given actions can result in misunderstanding and cultural stereotyping, which is highly dangerous to communication (Leech

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.