Stella Ting-Toomey: Understanding Culture, Communication, And Language

A culture can be defined as a way of life of a group of people- their behaviors, beliefs, values that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next. It also includes the customs, arts, literature, morals/values and traditions of a particular society or group (Virginia Encyclopedia). Culture can also be considered as a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in places or organizations. This topic is of huge importance to our society mainly in the state of

Culture is a set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes a society, a country or a group. According to Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner, organizational theorists and authors in the field of cross-cultural communication, “Culture is a shared system of meanings. It dictates what we pay attention to, how we act, and what we value.” (Trompenaars, 17) Culture is “observable” through language, living environments, governing institutions, food and material goods, the arts and literature, and religion of a particular group or society. Culture also reflects the norms and values of a group and directs their behavior. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner also believe a culture is distinguished by the way in which it “solves problems” and “reconciles dilemmas.” (Trompenaars, 8-9) A culture has to find ways deal with its external environment and has to determine how to effectively use available resources.

The term culture was defined over time by different scholars and writers. Though each one of them had his/her own dimensions and criteria in order to explain the word culture. Hofstede claimed in 1994: “[Culture] is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.”( Spencer-Oatey 3). He considers culture as an aspect that distinguishes groups from others. Indeed, Matsumoto and Hofstede agreed that culture is a distinctive of a group of people. Matsumoto confirmed that : “ ... the set of attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors shared by a group of people, but different for each individual, communicated from one generation to the next.” (Spencer-Oatey 3). Also, Matsumoto added to what Hofstede has claimed, that even if culture is a common among a community, it is distinctive for each singular among the same community. All in all, what I wanted to explain is that a

According to West, Richard, and Lynn H. Turner in the book Interpersonal Communication culture is learned, multileveled, and creates a community.

Culture has its important in comprehending communication since culture is figurative communication, and the connotations of the symbols can be learned and continued through establishments of a specific society.

In the textbook , “An Introduction to Intercultural Communication: Identities in Global Community,” by Fred E. Jandt, the author defines culture as the, “sum total of ways of living, including behavioral norms, linguistic expression, styles of communication, patterns of thinking, and beliefs and values of a group large enough to be self-sustaining and transmitted over the course of generations.” In a culture

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 is a convenient way of describing the ways members of a group understand each other and communicate that understanding “Culture is not only race or ethnicity; it includes gender, sexual orientation, education and literacy level, profession, hobby, or life experience that may include violence, trauma, or disease. Each of these cultures has their own language or slang, and group behavior and beliefs”

Culture directs human actions and the way person present themselves in the society in order to remain in the culture boundaries and accepted by the common community as a respected member of the society. According to David (2001) “Culture is often used to refer to ideas, beliefs, representation, behaviour pattern, practices, artifacts and so forth that are transmitted socially across generations within a group, resulting in pattern of within-group similarity and between group differences”. Moreover, culture is transmitted on an unconscious level from generation to generation, influencing day-to-day behavior and ensuring a people 's survival (Norma, 2001).

Culture refers to the behaviors and interactions of a people and the representative structures in which give such behavior meaning. Human nature, history, and environment have impacted and resulted in the many differences and similarities amongst the various cultures that exist today. A culture is inclusive of shared language or system of communication, beliefs,

One universal aspect of the human condition is communication. Finding some way to convey the abstract concepts of our minds in such a way they can be understood by others is a fundamental necessity of being a human in culture as we understand it. It is with this understanding that the question has been asked; if language is the medium through which our perceptions are channeled, how much are our perceptions distorted by language? How much is our language distorted by our perceptions? Is this relationship something that could be manipulated, and how effective would it be? Thankfully, these are questions that

Culture is not about group differences or a way to describe a group of people. It is diverse, dynamic and ever changing. It is the shared system of values, beliefs and rules.

According to (Kidd & Teagle, 2002, p114) culture is discribed as the way of life of a social group including their values, norms, behaviour pattens, customs and rituals and even material objects. (Giddens, 2001, p22) states that culture refrs to the way of life of the members of a society, or of groups within a society. It includes how they dress, their marriage customs and family life, their patterns of work, religions ceremonies and leisure pursuits. Howerver Gidden also adds that, no culture could exist without culture and without culture we would not be human at all. We would have no language in which we can express ourselves, no sense of self-consciousness or have the ability to think or reason.

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.

Culture can be defined in many ways due to the fact that everyone can have their own distinct and traditional beliefs and values. “ Culture is fluid, it is not a static entity which one takes out of the box on occasion. It is with us daily” (Cultural Handout). Someone’s culture is set as the characteristics of the group practices in language, religion, types of food, social traits and habits, and the distinct arts and music. There are a variety of different cultures for example, Western Culture, Eastern Culture, Latin Culture, Middle Eastern Culture, and African Culture. All of these different cultures have their own ideas, values, and individualism, laws that are implied, civil rights, and even technology. In our, “ Culture Handout” culture is defined as the tool of the mind, “ it is an individual’s way seeing and interacting within the world. It encompasses one’s values systems, beliefs, and perceptions of the world around them. Race, socio-economic class gender, sexual orientation, ability, geographic location, age, religion language, etc. all impact the formation of culture, but these various context are not culture” (Cultural Handout).