intercultural communication
CULTURE
SOME DEFINITIONS
Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge,
experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion,
notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and
material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of
generations through individual and group striving.
Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively
large group of people.
Culture is communication, communication is culture.
Culture in its broadest sense is cultivated behaviour; that
is the totality of a person's learned, accumulated experience which is socially
transmitted, or more briefly, behaviour through social learning.
A culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviours,
beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about
them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one
generation to the next.
Culture is symbolic communication. Some of its symbols
include a group's skills, knowledge, attitudes, values, and motives. The
meanings of the symbols are learned and deliberately perpetuated in a society
through its institutions.
Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and
for behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive
achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in artefacts; the
essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their
attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as
products of action, on the other hand, as conditioning influences upon further
action.
Culture is the sum of total of the learned behaviour of a
group of people that are generally considered to be the tradition of that
people and are transmitted from generation to generation.
Culture is a collective programming of the mind that
distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.
Geert Hofstede defines culture as “the
collective programming of the human mind that distinguishes the members of one
human group from those of another. Di Geert H. Hofstede,1984 – 327 (p.
21)
Banks defines culture as “the
behaviour, patterns, symbols, institutions, values, and other human made
components of the society” J. Banks 1984 p52.
Patricia Marshall defines it as “consistent
ways in which people experience, interpret, and respond to the world around”
Marshall, P. L. (2002).Edward Tylor (1871):Culture ... is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society. (p.1)
LAYERS OF CULTURE
People even within the same culture carry several
layers of mental programming within themselves. Different layers of culture
exist at the following levels:
The national level: Associated with the nation as a
whole.
The regional level: Associated with ethnic,
linguistic, or religious differences that exist within a nation.
The gender level: Associated with gender differences
(female vs. male)
The generation level: Associated with the differences
between grandparents and parents, parents and children.
The social class level: Associated with educational
opportunities and differences in occupation.
The corporate level: Associated with the particular
culture of an organization.Applicable to those who are employed.
Intercultural
communication
Intercultural communication is a form of communication
that aims to share information across different cultures and social groups. It
is used to describe the wide range of communication processes and problems that
naturally appear within an organization or social context made up of
individuals from different religious, social, ethnic, and educational
backgrounds.
Problems
The problems in intercultural communication usually
come from problems in message transmission.
Management
·
Anticipate the meaning
the receiver will get.
·
Careful encoding
·
Use words, pictures,
and gestures.
·
Avoid slang, idioms,
regional sayings.
·
Selective transmission
·
Build relationships,
face-to-face if possible.
·
Careful decoding of
feedback
·
Get feedback from
multiple parties.
·
Improve listening and
observation skills.
·
Follow-up actions
Basic tools for improvement
The following are ways
to improve communication competence:
·
Display of interest: showing respect and positive
regard for the other person.
·
Orientation to knowledge: Terms people use to explain
themselves and their perception of the world.
·
Empathy: Behaving in ways that shows you understand
the world as others do.
·
interaction management: A skill in which you regulate
conversations.
·
Task role behaviour: initiate ideas that encourage
problem solving activities.
·
Relational role behaviour: interpersonal harmony and
mediation.
·
Tolerance for ambiguity: The ability to react to new
situations with little discomfort.
·
Interaction posture: Responding to others in
descriptive, non-judgemental ways.
Important factors
·
Proficiency in the host culture language:
understanding the grammar and vocabulary.
·
Understanding language pragmatics: how to use
politeness strategies in making requests and how to avoid giving out too much
information.
·
Being sensitive and aware to nonverbal communication
patterns in other cultures.
·
Being aware of gestures that may be offensive or mean
something different in a host culture rather than your own home culture.
·
Understanding a culture's proximity in physical space
and paralinguistic sounds to convey their intended meaning.
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