Response Paper 1
Living in the United States, we are exposed to so many cultures. I have thought that I learn a lot about culture in this country. However, when discussing the concept of culture in class, I realize how little I actually know about it. Importantly, I have a similar response to some other students about culture, which is “I don’t have a culture”. Until I have read the first chapter of the book Intercultural Communication: Globalization and Social Justice by Kathryn Sorrell, I began to think more deeply about this concept, about my cultural identity and positionality. My view about culture became broaden when I learned about the definition of culture which is a site of shared meaning, of contested meaning, and a resource.
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Most of my social interactions with peers and professors take place here as well. Therefore, I have picked up my cultural differences within this cultural context. Within the school context, I view the process of my cultural identity formation is the process of creating a sense of belonging and constructing myself in alignment with the mainstream group. As a Vietnamese immigrant living in the United States for 5 years, I have encountered many different social, cultural, and linguistic boundaries throughout my life in this adopted country. Identifying my position as an adult, female, first-generation college student in the family and someone whose primary language is Vietnamese, I am aware of many significant cultural and language challenges when I first arrived in the United States.
Thus, the barriers include social relationship, communication style, and the education process are the typical challenges that I have encountered during this time. Among the language barriers, speaking is the most challenging skill for me when entering a new culture. I figured out that Vietnamese cultural norms affect my willingness to speak in public. Different from the U.S cultural practice of individualism which focuses on self, Vietnamese culture focuses more on group. In Vietnam, students rarely speak in front of the public individually. Therefore, when being expected to speak in front of
Growing up as an Asian American, I often struggle to identify my own cultural identity. Being the first generation of both my mother and father’s side of the family, I more than often get confused between American and Asian culture when applying them to society or at home. While being raised at home, I am largely influenced by culture and traditions from Asian parents and relatives. However, when I go to school or someplace else, I am heavily judged for practicing part of my Asian culture because it is entirely different than western or American. With that being noted, I began to learn and adapt to the western culture in hopes of fitting with society as well of trying to keep my Asian culture intact. As can be seen, this situation I dealt with is the same problem the whole Asian American community faces. Mainly focusing on younger generations like me for example, the Asian American community struggles to adapt to the western culture because they were raised with an Asian influence. Wishing to fit in society and be part of the social norms, the Asian Americans community faces issues that identify their cultural identity.
Productivity in the new culture is experienced to an extremely positive extent. Business dealings and negotiations become secondary nature to the expatriate, and the expatriate’s journey becomes a great success in the perspective of their employing company.
This text is a good reference point. This text is used to understanding communication within culture. This source also gave a better understanding
You know that feeling of home whether it’s with family members or even your loved ones? I don’t think that home is something that is automatically there, I believe that it is something that’s created. I learned that lesson through the eyes of one of my older friends who came from India with his brother when he was 16 in order to make a living. My friend Vikas, told me everything he had to do and the struggles he conquered in order to make his own successful business here in the U.S. Some things he told be reminded me of interpersonal communication, intercultural communication, and intracultural communication. He had to have a lot of communication with his friend who also happened to be from India and some new friends and colleagues he met through his journey. Of course there was homesickness and the occasional depression, but that didn’t stop him from creating his now successful business.
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.
The theorist of intercultural communication that could help solve the problem with communication with the United States and Mexico can come from different fields such as psychology, anthropology, and sociology (Chen & Starosta, 2000). It has been numerous theories use to help intercultural communication to primarily focused on the adjustment, adaptation, and research on each country (Huntington, 2005).
Culture is the lens through which we view the world; it is the mirror we use to reflect and interpret reality. It teaches us how to think and what to think about. It reveals to us what is beautiful or ugly, helpful or harmful, appropriate or out of place. In effect, every culture provides with a series of lessons. Among the lessons we learn are how to say “hello” and “good-bye,” when to speak or remain silent, how to act when angry or upset, where to focus our eyes when functioning as a source and receiver how much to gesture, how close to stand to another, and how to display emotions such as happiness or rage. By instructing members, culture guides behavior and communication, revealing to them how to act, think, talk, and listen.
Culture by definition is the identity or feeling of belonging to a group. It is part of a person's self-conception and self-perception and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any type of social group that has its own distinct culture. To me that definition couldn't be more spot on but let's go more in depth over the past few months in my English class we have been trying to learn what our culture is and what part culture plays in our daily lives so in this essay I will be sharing with you what I think culture is what it means to me and how I think it impacts our way of living and the way we look at each other as human beings and how we treat each other and how all this makes up my culture
An inescapable ignorance dominates the way we define "culture". It is all too easy to define culture when a group of people feel as though they are part of the same culture. A bias arises when defining this term, because we consider ourselves to be "cultured". We define culture with our own definitions, and we judge it through our own prejudiced eyes. To accurately define culture, we must take ourselves out of the cultural boundaries we have been accustomed to. Of course, this is impossible. Accordingly, defining the essence of culture is something I cannot attempt to do.
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
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
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?
The concept of culture is something that defines many aspects of one’s life. From physical objects to different ways of thinking, culture adds significance to human life and makes groups of people distinct from one another. Culture is essentially a group of people who come together with similar interests and points of view. According to the Center for Advanced Language Acquisition of the University of Minnesota, “culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization.” From a more sociological perspective, culture is a way in which people come together in order to fulfill their needs. These shared patterns and ideas identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.” Culture is one of the things that sets the United States apart from the rest of the world. Not that the rest of the world is not cultural, but the circumstance here is different. Many people of different cultural backroads come to this country in search of a better life. As a consequence, the United States has become a place where many cultures merge together like a colossal pot soup.
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