The Importance Of Inter-Cultural Communication

Cross-cultural communication is about the manner people with different cultural background interact with each other face to face or at a distance, i. e. the process by which people exchange with information. Three broad areas of communication are written, verbal and non-verbal communication, or body language. Some communication styles include direct/indirect, formal/informal and emotional/neutral communication. Direct communication assumes saying what people think without adapting the message to the counterpart. The result is clear and transparent but can be considered undiplomatic by the indirect communicators whose concern is to avoid offence. Formal communication style implies respect to age, status and also requires more formal language than informal communication style. In the emotional communication style it is important to express one’s emotions as it is a significant aspect of self-expression. Neutral communication style implies control of emotions and restricted body language. (Brian and Tomalin, 2013, p10). There can be problems of communication even within one culture and the barriers to efficient communication between different cultures can be poor knowledge of cultural differences, ethnocentrism, stereotyping and fear of embarrassment (Najafbagy, 2008; Brian and Tomalin, 2013).

Bowe, H. J. & Martin, K. (2007). Communication across cultures: Mutual understanding in a global world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

     In business, successful communication is the key to success, and being able to relate to a customer is the best form of communication. This is why cross-cultural communication is so important as the business world continues to globalize itself. Unfortunately, “A lack of awareness about the culturally prescribed rules and norms of communication behaviors can cause public relations projects to fail, or worse, backfire.” (Zaharna, 2001, p.135).

Washington, Okoro and Thomas (2012) have written an analysis of the benefits and challenges of improving intercultural communication in international business. Their article functions as an overview of some key issues, and is fairly well-researched, but ultimately treads no new ground. The article first outlines the case for improved intercultural communication, noting that business is becoming increasingly globalized. As nations come together, there is the risk that ventures and deals could fail as the result of errors in intercultural communication. The authors note, however, that "as businesses begin to appreciate and respect cultural differences, they develop a better understanding of why people act in certain ways, and give them a better understanding on how they should be act while conducting business."

This text is a good reference point. This text is used to understanding communication within culture. This source also gave a better understanding

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.

Alberts, Martin and Nakayama (2011) describe communication as “ a transactional process in which people generate meaning through the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages in in specific contexts, influenced by individual and societal forces and embedded in culture.”(p.7) They then go on to state that intercultural communication “occurs in interactions between people who are culturally different.”(p.122) Cultural differences thus affect many interactions, with the communication process being one.

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

Intercultural communication: A discourse approach attempts to explain the discourse approach and points to the authors ' distinction between cross-cultural communication and intercultural communication. The chapter underlines the authors ' approach and theory to intercultural communication. It covers several explanations and the distinction between cross-cultural communication and intercultural communication. The chapter discusses the many varieties of culture that exist. It also clarifies that intercultural communication can occur in conversations not necessarily when two people are from different countries.

In order for effective intercultural communication to occur one must be aware of the different aspects of communication. These can include but are not limited to language usage, types of non-verbal

Culture influences all aspects of an individual’s life including food and dietary habits, dressing, communication with others and the relationship with other members of the community among others. One of the most critical aspects of culture in business is communication. Cross-cultural communication is one of the perspectives of cross-cultural lifestyles. It refers to communication that takes place from a person in a particular culture to another person in a different culture (). In a globalised world, cross-effective cultural communication is a growing concern among enterprises that operate in different cultures, multinational corporations and those employing staff from different cultures. Cross-cultural communication must take place within a conscious context, where the sender of the

After the study of Intercultural Communication, I get a good experience and knowledge of how to share information with people from different cultures and social groups. Also, what are the major problems that appear at workplace or any organization, how different contexts are to different religions or cultures and how people react to it. It also helped in getting a fair sense of knowing how people from different backgrounds and countries and cultures react and communicate efficiently. Being very helpful in becoming an effective intercultural communicator by experiencing intercultural communication in action at different sites and from self-experience with people in Australia, leading to improve my understanding as I do not belong to the country where English is the ‘lingua franca’{Tsui,2014}. I will be relating my first experience I have had respective of intercultural communication at the site being the Vodafone store at rundle mall. And the second being at the rundle street and the third at my own university and the where I have faced how intercultural communication eased the situations and also relating my three experiences with the course readings.

Cross culture communication is defined as the interaction between the team members who are coming from the different countries or groups. All the team member is shared their own knowledge and ideas to present their work in the way that other people can easily understand. In international business, we have to communicate with the foreign people and we have to communicate the other party with their own language to expand our business. It is important to know the intercultural communication in business because to create an effectiveness between people from the diverse culture within a business, to avoid misunderstanding and to improve the efficiency of the manpower and raise the productivity. There are three main points that I am going to illustrate in this essay which is the importance of language, religion, and social habits.

Cross-cultural communication is the process of exchanging meaningful and unambiguous information across cultural boundaries, in a way that preserves mutual respect and minimizes antagonism, that is, it looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds endeavour to communicate. The study of cross-cultural communication was originally found within businesses and the government both seeking to expand globally. Communication is interactive, so an important influence on its effectiveness is our relationship with others. All communication is cultural -- it draws on ways we have learned to speak and give nonverbal messages. We do not always

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