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Common cultural differences in intercultural communication
Common cultural differences in intercultural communication
Effects of intercultural communication
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Recently, I read an article on intercultural communication. I also watched three videos that showed problems in intercultural communication.Intercultural communication is communication between people from different cultures or countries. After reading the article about intercultural communication by Laray M. Barna, I found some of the reasons that caused the problems in the video.
The first video was about an American baseball player who was eating lunch with a Japanese family. The man does not know anything about Japanese culture, so he tries to do his best by copying what the Japanese family is doing. For example, by slurping the noodles. However, it turns out to be very sloppy and the Japanese people look at the man in a stern way. There
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In the video, the man is talking to a woman. The man talks in English and the woman talks in Italian. Netherless, they were able to communicate without much trouble. After that, the man decides to give the woman flowers. He leaves some flowers in front of her house. But in Italy, that type of flowers are used to show sadness. Therefore, when a person who passed by sees the flowers next to a bike lying on the ground, the person thinks that the woman who lived in the house was dead. The man who left the flowers did not intend to make it look like she was dead. He only left the flowers as a gift. However, in different cultures, flowers have a different meaning. This is also one of nonverbal misinterpretations. Sending flowers in one culture have a different meaning in others. This was one example of when a person did not know a culture and made a mistake …show more content…
Even though he is not used to the Chinese food, he eats it all and drinks all of the soup. The man drank all of the soup as a sign that he was finished. However, the Chinese took this gesture as a sign that he was not full and wanted more. On the other hand, the man did not know that there was a difference in gestures. This is another problem with nonverbal misinterpretations. Foreign countries have different meanings even if it is the same gestures. This led to an uncomfortable experience for the foreigner. Also, in this I thought there was an assumption of similarities. The Chinese people assumed that the foreign person was like them, and served him Chinese food. They treated him like they would treat a Chinese person. That is why they thought that the man wanted another serving when he drank all of his soup. They thought that the gestures meant the same thing anywhere in the world. In addition to this, they did not stop to think otherwise. Thinking that other countries have the same meaning for gestures can lead to
He was actually portraying and explaining the rituals of the American people and how we are so consumed with self-image. Our cultural worldview influence and inform our perception of people from other cultures by the way our own culture has taught us to behave. For example, we are so consumed with self-image that Miner explains how the Nacirema culture “have an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth, the condition of which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all social relationships. Were it not for rituals of the mouth, they believe that their teeth would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert them, and their lovers reject them” (Miner, 2007, p.504). Some of the practices and rituals of other cultures seem odd or foreign to us because we of the way our own culture has shaped us. The US is an individualistic culture where Japan is seen as a collectivist culture. Other cultures practice different rituals then us such as religion, family practices and other standards. Our cultural norms affect our understanding and perception of other cultures by the way we practice our cultural norms. For example, we might find it respectful to shake someone’s hand when introducing ourselves or saying hi, however in India it is avoided with it is with the opposite sex. Another example is eye contact. We are taught when speaking to someone always display eye contact, but in Japan you avoided it with superiors as a sign of
Growing up in an American society, we are surrounded by certain customs and mannerisms. We pay little attention to them, as they have been ingrained into our society and is apart of our everyday lives. It is when a new culture or society gets thrown into the mix that we notice the different customs. Our first reaction is to think their way is wrong or weird, but when you take a step back you realize that it’s not weird at all, in fact it is as natural as breathing. They are from a different country, therefore they have different customs and way of living. To them, our ways are just as strange.
The first video summarizes the difference between Western heroes and Chinese culture. Western and Eastern cultures way of life and how they differ from each other. He starts out by stating how the two are different in regards to learning abilities. For instance, he states that in the West its results based, while in Chinese and Asian culture they are not results based but instead they are processed oriented. Furthermore, he discusses more in depth of what a Western hero is one who creates and goes forward with ideas despite who may disagree. For instance he uses Steve Jobs, creator of Apple to say that everyone laughed at him when he came up
Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Amy Tan’s “Fish Cheeks” describes Tan’s upbringing as a Chinese-American caught in between two cultures. In “Fish Cheeks” Tan’s crush Robert and his family were invited to Tan’s house for Christmas, Amy was embarrassed of Robert’s impression of her Chinese relatives, cuisine, and culture (Tan 110). Tan’s situation is not uncommon as millions of first generation Americans encounter similar situations while living within two cultures. Albeit the extreme embarrassment Tan endured throughout the encounter, she contends that her mother taught her a valuable lesson in appreciating her Chinese culture (111). Ultimately, Tan's purpose was to implore first generation Americans to embrace both of their cultures, in spite of its unique traditions (Tan
Martin, Judith N., and Thomas K. Nakayama. Intercultural Communication in Contexts. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print.
While on vacation, people see the difference in the cultures. In China, they eat with chopsticks, in Antigua, they eat with their fingers. While on vacation, people will try to pick up the cultures ways of doing things, but in most times, will end up looking silly or downright dumb. Kincaid wrote about this in her book A Small Place, “ ...you have bad manners (it is their their custom to eat their food with their hands; you try eating their way, you look silly; you try eating your way, you look silly)” (Kincaid, 17). While people try their best to understand a lot of the different cultures, it doesn 't always work out for the best. They try and try again, but can come off as ignorant, which they don’t want, but happens
There were people with faces that showed how that they were clueless on what to eat but when they saw people of the same culture through their dressing, they had the expression of happiness written all over them. It felt like they had found a sense of home just by discovering their culture food and those of the same culture. They immediately got their food and went to sit in the section where their culture was present. Women and Men in official clothing chose to dine at the Chinese and Italian section probably because the stand was of a more decorous setting than the other
Many cultures have contrasting ways of preparing meals and showing polite manners at the dinner table. The chinese culture is very diverse from most cultures. The short story Fish Cheeks by Amy Tan shows great examples of these two main topics. Many of their traditional foods are massively influenced by their cultures diversity and geography.
Interpersonal communication is very important in everyday life. It helps us build a relationship with another, also it helps us to satisfy our physical needs, identity needs, social needs and practical goals. Communication lets people exchange their feeling and information through verbal and non-verbal communication through social media or face to face communication. Communication can be effective and ineffective depend on the individual communication skills. The ways we communicate with another can be influenced by family, friends, significant other also within the culture and region where we stay. Each person has a different set of rule to communicate with another, so this is how miscommunication happen. There are some expectation and way
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 these three notions in situations in which intercultural communication is frequent such as : the workplace, the classroom and vacation trips.
When thinking about food, Americans do not necessarily consider the origin of the country that food was made in or its ingredients. Often disregarded, the culture of Asian food goes amiss in American appropriation of Asian food. Asian cuisines can easily represent the power of its country, thus, are useful tools for education in Asian culture. In America, many people experience variety of food choices of Asian food such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
To elaborate, by mentioning intercultural understanding, I meant that each cultural group has different ways to communicate. For example, Western culture encourages people to be up-front and straight-forward with their communication; contrastly, people who are influenced by Eastern culture might be less outspoken about their ideas and pay a lot of attention to nonverbal language of the people around them. Culture is something that if one have never encountered or exposed to it, he or she would never know. I hope that after this project, besides of the knowledge we gained from the research itselves, all four of us would improve even more on our intercultural and interpersonal communication skills. Because at the end of the day, the knowledge that one have learnt might be forgotten, but all of the skills that one have gained will stay for a very long time.
The term “culture” refers to the complex accumulation of knowledge, folklore, language, rules, rituals, habits, lifestyles, attitudes, beliefs, and customs that link and provide a general identity to a group of people. Cultures take a long time to develop. There are many things that establish identity give meaning to life, define what one becomes, and how one should behave.
7.Paul E. Rohrlich, "Why Do We Study Intercultural Communication?," in Culture, Communication and Conflict: Readings in Intercultural Relations, 2d ed., ed. Gary R. Weaver (Needham Heights, MA: Simon & Schuster Publishing, 1998), 84-87.