Reflection On 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

I consider Jayar to be one of my friends even though I have never had the opportunity to meet him in person. We become friends through a gaming application and have been friends through there and on Facebook for almost two years. The reason why I chose Jayar for this project is due to the fact that I know his culture and family is very important and one of the main focuses of his life. I have been so envious seeing pictures and videos of his large family gatherings on Facebook. I have been very curious about his family’s structure and culture for a while now because I wish my family’s culture and togetherness was as prominent as theirs. In addition, I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to learn about what it means to be from Guam since I served in the military with many individuals who were from there.

This section discusses the literature that has been reviewed for this study. It consists of three main sections. It starts with intercultural communication. It is followed by English communication problem. The last one is the importance of English communication.

I did this to ensure understanding of the patient’s background. The patient told me that there are a few traditions that occur in this culture; such as root and huckleberry digging, eating Indian celery, drinking Indian Tea for good health when they have a cold, using ghost nets to go fishing, and praying for wellness. After understanding my patient’s background; I started directing questions that revolved around the six components of the Giger and Davidhizar model. The first concept, was communication. I asked my patient, how their culture predominately communicated with each other? My patient responded, by telling me that verbal communication was the biggest way they communicate. Story-telling, playing drums, and dancing were other aspects to communication method; story telling engrained lessons into her and her siblings heads. The second concept is time; I observed and directly asked the patient how their culture viewed time. She responded by notifying me that her culture is very much in the present, however, story-telling focuses on the past. My patient also told me that being present with family was another huge aspect of her culture. As demonstrated by the amount of family members that visited her throughout the two days, that I took care of her. For the third concept of space, I observed the way in which my patient and their family interacted with each other. They interacted with each other closely; very similar to the way in which

The following day, we met with the director of the mission who briefed us on the area and handed out a sheet labeled “Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions.” This was a much more formal run down of the cultural norms and taxonomies of India. He also went over some guidelines for expected teaching styles. “As you can see in your cultural dimensions handout, India is a high power distance country. When giving assignments you should always give clear and explicit

My writing will show how my cultural knowledge will facilitate the communication, and my experiences influences and shapes my and other’s identity in the ways in which communication happened.

For this exercise I have decided to analyze three short clips from the American TV show The Office. By doing a thorough analysis of the interactions I saw many of the themes we discussed in class such as form versus meaning, gender, power in relationships, culture, and speech patterns. Each of these factors played a role in how the conversation played out. The most prevalent, however, was power and its relationship (or lack thereof) to gender. According to Henley and Kramarae’s “Gender, Power, and Miscommunication,” differences between male and female patterns of speech are a direct result of male’s higher level of power compared to females. In my analysis I show that, contrary to the opinions above, gender does not automatically determine power in conversations; the context of the situation is largely responsible for determining who is in the higher position of power.

Many assume that their daily life and basic education is enough to be fluent in communication, gender and culture, but they are severely mistaken. As our society becomes more diverse the need to learn about communication and culture increases ever more, for with communication and understanding of one's identification, we can limit and decrease the bigotry in the world. Therefore, allowing to build a stronger foundation for a better society.

1- The 5 communication principles are very applicable to my cultural experience. In the Hispanic culture, my culture, I was taught all 5 principles from my parents and adults in different ways. When I speak to my grandparents or the elderly, for example, I tend to use a more formal and respectful vocabulary than if I speak to a friend or sibling (“aware”, “adapt” and “verbal” principles). Also, basic manners and listening skills were taught to me from a very young age (“aware”, “listen”, and “nonverbal” principles). I believe that all the principals apply in my culture. Even the “nonverbal” principal has had an impact. An example of this is that when I was in elementary, the teachers would reprimand us for placing our elbows on the lunch table

Upon getting this assignment I immediately thought of doing it on Nepal’s culture. I had been intrigued each time my co-worker, Aastha, would share her stories about her home. I presumed this would be the perfect opportunity to learn more their practices. I believe they are some similarities between Nepali and Haitian culture in the sense that both could be viewed as having stricter values than the western culture that most of us is familiar with. But more importantly the way that religion is embedded within the culture is the most comparable. I believe that’s where the similarities ended and the differences began. Upon asking Aastha if she would be interested in being interviewed she immediately began to plan what we could discussed. She almost took over

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.

"We didn 't all come over on the same ship, but we 're all in the same boat."- Bernard Baruch

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

Indian offers varied as well as fascinating culture. In most instances, they are often unwilling to discuss some elements, which are considered taboo in their culture. Indian has a long historical tradition of acceptance, and has been capable of accommodating immense variety of culture, religion as well as social levels. India is known to be grounded to tradition at heart. Even between young Indians, there are different ways and procedures of performing things distinctly. This deals with fashion, attitudes about work, gender roles, life and family (Uddin 2009). There are issues that are regarded as taboos in the Indian

Bearing that we all come from varying cultures and cultural backgrounds do dictate a lot the type of reactions we receive from the pubic as well as the way we react to other people around us, there is need to use our communication tools as an access tool to the people of the different culture. Being a Chinese who has lived in the USA for 4 years, I have come to realize that the use of communication accommodation has been one of the best tools to overcome the barriers that can be between me and the majority of the cultures around me.