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Response Paper Intercultural communication

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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. …show more content…

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

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