Intercultural Misunderstanding In Indonesia

Although we all are living on the same planet we have a huge diversity among us. One of these notable differences between the people on earth is their different cultures. One can notice these differences when traveling or relocating to a new country with another culture he or she are familiar with. For example, the American culture and the Italian culture both have more differences than one would expect. When people try to visit Italy they should be aware of the cultural differences, and the right way to communicate with the Italians.

In the article “Native Planet: Mentawai” it shows that the people have strong beliefs in religion and school. The children are instructed to go to school in a uniform as a sign of respect and to look formal. The people like to dress nice to show beauty. In their society, there is no crime, adultery, or war, because everything is ordered and written in laws. Their culture also consists of sikeiries, who are the leaders of the Mentawai tribes. The Indonesian Government practices Jarayak, while the people practice animism. Now, all Indonesians are required to choose a religion (Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, or Islam). Over time, they realized, Christian and Islamic beliefs are bad for their culture, because pigs are very important in Indonesian foods. Pigs are a great source of protein, and converting to Islamic ways meant they could no longer eat pork, and many Indonesian tribes disliked this idea because they love pig.

“The history of interactions among disparate peoples is what shaped the modern world through conquest, epidemics and genocide. Those collisions created reverberations that have still not died down after many centuries, and that are actively continuing in some of the world's most troubled areas”(Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel.) Throughout time, cultures have intertwined and mingled within each other. They have also separated and changed into different cultures, too. Take the silk road for example. Merchants and travelers had been using it from the second century BC to the fourteenth century AD. This has definitely caused a great deal of culture change. It changed how Europe traded with other nations. It also made them a huge world power. So, is is interactions of cultures positive or negative in the past? Interactions in cultures are negative because of conquest, disease and intolerance.

Washington, Okoro and Thomas (2012) have written an analysis of the benefits and challenges of improving intercultural communication in international business. Their article functions as an overview of some key issues, and is fairly well-researched, but ultimately treads no new ground. The article first outlines the case for improved intercultural communication, noting that business is becoming increasingly globalized. As nations come together, there is the risk that ventures and deals could fail as the result of errors in intercultural communication. The authors note, however, that "as businesses begin to appreciate and respect cultural differences, they develop a better understanding of why people act in certain ways, and give them a better understanding on how they should be act while conducting business."

Women coverings is a geographical practice. In certain cultures, women do not cover at all. Women are allowed to pray with the men in most cultures. In most mosques, women pray either behind the men or beside them. In some mosques, they are in another room or behind a curtain in the same room as the men. In most cultures, though the women have equal roles as men do. Women tend to have a more active role in politics, economics and medicine as well as other careers. Indonesia had their first female president about fifteen years ago.

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

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.

Many of us individuals face conflicts almost everyday in our lives. People of all culture have challenging in their lives that they come across a certain incident and get confused in what decision to be made. These conflicts could be a conflict between oneself and another person, an inner-conflict, a conflict between oneself and nature, one and society, or oneself and God. There are positive and negative intercultural conflicts that occurs every day. An example of a positive conflict could be two different cultures compliment one another on the way they dress or how good their food is in the way they prepare it in their culture, or just communicating and respecting one another with the issue that needs to be addressed openly. A negative conflict is when someone has a lack of communication and unwilling to compromise. According to lecture 6, “intercultural conflict occurs when differences in goals, expectations, and values stem from broader cultural differences” (COM-263 Lecture 6, 2017). This paper will describe an incident that happened in France with a Muslim women on how the conflict arose, the best way to handle the conflict, and one recommendation that comes from a Christian Worldview.

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.

Intercultural communication is “a method of communication that aims to share information across different cultures and social groups” (http://www.uslegal.com/). The challenges that may occur during this type of communication stem from misunderstanding or lack of trust of people customs that are foreign to the listener. This can cause many barriers when trying to initiate intercultural communication. I will be discussing the film Hotel Rwanda while analyzing the different intercultural barriers and diversity issues that are presented within the film.

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

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.

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

I was fortunate to sit down and interview with Juhi from Gujarat, India and Nico from the Philippines. Both interviews were in person and recorded on separate days. I took notes as they answered my questions and made sure they were comfortable with answering the questions I asked before we conducted the interview. Before I asked about the opinions they have on their culture, I asked about their culture’s values, food, language, and traditions to get a better understanding of their culture. Following my introductory questions, I began to ask Juhi and Nico about what they like, and if applicable, what they dislike about their culture. In addition to these questions, I also asked them questions that focused on their perspective of how others may view their culture; how they view their own culture, and things they would like to see improve within their culture. Juhi and Nico trusted me with their most honest opinions on their own culture and the cultures that surround them. The insightful answers they gave on how they view their culture explained how there personal identity affected their cultural identity.

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.