Intercultural Reflection

Cultural immersion is an essential part of the education experience. It has been used throughout time to allow people to understand those whose ideas and beliefs differ from their own. The experiences gained through immersing in an unfamiliar culture allow the mind to grow in ways that are beyond comprehension. Because our nation is advancing, and merging ides from other cultures, this process is more important than ever. Cynthia Kratzke and Melissa Bertolo (2013) state that if we only teach concepts and language from other cultures we are limiting the ability of future generations to be able to work with other cultures (p.1). Cultural immersion is a way for one to reach a new insight they may not have otherwise gained. Jesus Nieto (2006) says there are main goals to these experiences: 1) to interact with people of a different culture 2) to gain insight into aspects of others 3) to be of a minority group in a setting 4) to gain a new perspective on one’s own beliefs and values (p. 77).

My experience interacting with minorities and medically underserved individuals has taught me cultural competence by gradually learning the capacity to understand other people’s experiences and sufferings in a way I never had before. By working in family and free health clinics, and volunteering as an EMT and a hospice aide, I have personally seen some of the health disparities found in our world. I have witnessed how a lack of insurance, monetary income, or health education affects one’s decision to attain primary health care. Furthermore, my experiences with emergency medicine teams serving culturally diverse communities have helped me to be able to see how healthcare professionals handle crises while not losing the ability to think logically and rationally when striving to treat people’s illnesses, instead of focusing on their

My HUN 180 Intercultural communication class conducted a field trip to the Jamaica Islamic Center, Queens, on November 22, 2016. I did some research about the Jamaica Islamic Center and, according to JIC “Jamaica Islamic Center, INC is an initiative of Muslims in America dedicated to promoting Islamic awareness and facilitating socio-economic welfare of the common people in Jamaica, Queens, New York”. (http://jamaicamuslimcenter.org/)

There are all kind of feeling that are transpiring throughout my mind when think of the term cultural analysis. In executing the communication concepts of African American cultural, I found that the Chinese and African American cultural are strongly tied to their beliefs and family concepts. I define myself through my culture as being an African American male, thought out religions, education, and family is very essential in my culture. Also, being limited to making lifestyle changes, and the different ways we communicated with each other are how I define myself through my culture. Being African American my perception of my culture is that we as a community are high in health, crime, education, and public housing, which implies welfare, government assists, black on black crime, and drug abuse. Being an African American, other cultures have a better chance at getting better jobs, education, and opportunities in life.

After this, the students talked to each other and they decided that they enjoy it when the teacher reads to them. The teacher read the book and the students followed along with the reading. When the teacher finished reading, she asked various questions that the students had to answer. The students, had to discuss the question and the answer with their group members. The teacher, asked each group to give their answer and, all the students participated in the activity. They had a good teacher and student relationship. The students respected the teacher and she did an awesome job with the lesson. The teacher, talked to us and, explained that when she creates her lessons she tries her best to incorporate group work and class discussions. Her goal is, that her students are engage in the lesson that she created.

My strong interest in intercultural studies originally stems from my parents, a couple of learned men knowing all about heaven and earth in my eyes. They care much about my education, more than I do. My father wrote good stories, and my mother loved reading. Growing up in such a family, I have read a myriad of classic novels since young. Later in high school, my Chinese teacher, Ms. Zhang exerted a great impact on me. She encouraged me to read extensively, including articles of commentator in varied journals home and abroad, and she spoke highly of what I wrote in the essays, which have dramatically built my confidence in literature and broadened my international viewpoints. It’s what I grew up seeing, so it’s what I grew up being: a young

I completed my science and technology internship at the Calvary cardiac centre in Hobart, Tasmania under the supervision of senior consultant cardiologist Dr. Warrick Bishop MBBS, FRACP. The placement being in Tasmania meant that I was required to be self-sufficient. As I currently live with my parents this was a challenging aspect of my placement. The experience helped develop my time management and organizational skills. Although it was not an objective of the subject, I felt that the experience was challenging and educational.

My first two years of college, I didn’t take seriously. I would put my family first and I encountered culture shock. My parents didn't reach a higher education, so they don’t understand the dedication and hours of work school requires. I would put them first, I would be the leader of the house, I would take my brother to school and attend his school activities.

Since I started this class, I have a learned a great deal about cultural diversity in the classroom and abroad. My perspective has changed slightly but my knowledge of this subject has improved. In my family, my father taught me about the civil rights movement and the evils of segregation in the U.S. My parents taught me to be tolerant of all humans, no matter what they look like, how they dress, or their sexual orientation. My family has always been liberal thinkers who taught me the dark history of racism and bigotry in this country. As an educator I would be accepting to all race, creeds, and religious peoples.

The second chapter includes several interesting concepts, one of which being the differences between intercultural and interpersonal communication. Intercultural communication is defined as “the process that occurs when members of two or more cultures or co-cultures exchange messages in a manner that is influenced by their different cultural perceptions and symbol systems, both verbal and nonverbal” (Adler et al., 2015, pg. 40). While most interactions seem to have some sense of intercultural aspect due to the great diversity not only in race but in backgrounds today, not all interactions have this effect. Intercultural interactions only occur when there is a difference between the two people in contact that is noticeable and creates a different dynamic in the interaction. The book uses the term “salience” in order “to describe how much weight we attach to a particular person or phenomenon” (Adler et al., 2015, pg. 41). The book gives several examples, such as different ethnicities on the same basketball team striving toward a common goal don’t place much emphasis in their cultural discrepancies, just as young children from different countries playing together don’t experience intercultural communication until they reach an age when they can understand what makes them different from each other. (Adler et al., 2015, pg. 41) In my own life, and can look back and see how I have played football with guys from a very different culture, and found it easy to spend time around them

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 cultural assignment allowed me to gain a new perspective on the differences of others. I have grown up in a household of dissimilar belief systems. My mom is a dedicated Christian while my dad is unassociated with any religious beliefs. Though, he grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness. There differing belief systems have been the cause of various conflicts within their relationship. I often wondered if people with contradicting beliefs could effectively and peacefully discuss their belief systems. This cultural experience showed me that a peaceful discussion is possible between individuals of dissimilar beliefs.

BP is a global organization that has a multinational presence in the world. A cultural issue that can impact this organization outside of the United States is gender. In the United States and several other countries that BP works in, gender is not an issue as culturally it is acceptable for men and women to be in business together, but in some countries, especially in the Middle East this is tricky cultural difficulty. This can be a serious issue because women should be able to be equals in a corporation, but at the same time, BP has to be able to not offend someone that they are trying to do business with because they are culturally uncomfortable with women in business. This is a delicate

In this paper I will answer six question about the course I’m taking “intercultural studies” and what I have learned during these weeks based on my own words and knowledge. I have learned new things that are related to the culture such as observable, non-observable, metaphor and many others, in terms of definition and examples in real life.

When Mr. Carter objected to Mr. Ota’s going to be promoted to President of the joint venture. He first informed Mr. Sony directly that he objected to Mr. Ota. At the same time, he proposed Mr. Katsuki for the position and gave his reasons for his choice. This was the evidence for his low context culture. And then he became aware of the culture difference in Japanese culture; so he changed to adjust to it. He carefully worded his opposition to Mr. Ota and his suggestion of Mr. Katsuki.