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Understanding of intercultural communication
Short reflection about intercultural communication
Intercultural Communication
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I was born to a Slovak mother and a Colombian father, who were both studying in Germany at the time. Shortly after, we moved to Brazil, which made my first language Portuguese, even though my father spoke to me in Spanish, my mother spoke to me in Slovak, and my parents to each other in German. Before I was two, we embarked on a new life in California. It was just my parents and I. Everyone else we knew was spread all over the world. So we made the world our home, traveling every summer to different countries, experiencing the beauty of cultures unlike ours. International experiences have exposed me to places, people, and situations that have instilled a sense of global awareness in me and have given me a desire to improve the world. When …show more content…
I daydreamed about beautiful pink dolphins leaping through the river like my mom had shown me, but when we got there, reality had no pink dolphins. In their place were piles of trash twice my height on the riverbank. But there was also one man picking up bags and bottles. Sure, there were countless pieces of trash, but he didn't care. He was going to clean up the river one piece at a time. I watched him from a distance, feeling the need to go help him. By the time I reached my junior year of highschool, I found a field that offered an answer to my questions: nanotechnology. Growing up in a world with limited resources, pollution, and disease has opened my eyes. I dream of a day where small robots to clean the human body, or an army of microscopic machines can tackle the immense task of freeing the ocean of trash. Solutions to the biggest challenges can be hard to find when looking for something huge. Yet if we look closer, the answers we are looking for might be the tiniest. I, too, may be small in the bigger scheme of things, but that won't stop me from chasing big dreams of a better world. It just means I too am going to keep overcoming challenges in my life and admire the little things in
Being an Eritrean-American, I have had to learn and balance out both cultures. This came with obstacles that I had to tackle and has allowed me to grow as a person. From learning two different languages, history, and cultures, my experiences have definitely impacted how I want to live my life in this world.
I wasn’t even outside but I could feel the warm glow the sun was projecting all across the campsite. It seemed as if the first three days were gloomy and dreary, but when the sun on the fourth day arose, it washed away the heartache I had felt. I headed out of the trailer and went straight to the river. I walked to the edge, where my feet barely touched the icy water, and I felt a sense of tranquility emanate from the river. I felt as if the whole place had transformed and was back to being the place I loved the most. That day, when we went out on the boat, I went wakeboarding for the first time without my grandma. While I was up on the board and cutting through the wake of the boat, it didn’t feel like the boat was the one pulling and guiding me, it felt like the river was pushing and leading me. It was always nice to receive the reassurance from my grandma after wakeboarding, but this time I received it from my surroundings. The trees that were already three times the size of me, seemed to stand even taller as I glided past them on the river. The sun encouraged me with its brightness and warmth, and the River revitalized me with its powerful currents. The next three days passed by with ease, I no longer needed to reminisce of what my trips used to be like. Instead, I could be present in the moment, surrounded by the beautiful natural
Looking back on my life there haven’t been a lot of times where I felt like an outsider. I always had a group of friends, a family that loved me, and I like to think that my peers always thought of me as a pretty fun to be around person. However last year there was a time where I did feel as though rejection was prominent in my life..
I was born and raised in Vietnam, so I naturally observed my culture from my family and my previous schools. I learned most of my culture by watching and coping the ways my family do things. My family and my friends all spoke Vietnamese, so I eventually knew how to speak and understand deeply about my language as I grew up. At home, my mom cooked many Vietnamese foods, and she also taught me to cook Vietnamese food. So I became accustom Vietnamese food. I also learned that grandparents and parents in my culture are taken care of until they die. At school, I learned to address people formally and greet higher-ranking people first. In Vietnamese culture, ranking and status are not related to wealth, so they are concerned with age and education.
What is culture? Culture is the idea of what is wrong or right, the concept of what is acceptable within our society. Culture serves us as a guide, taking us to the "right way" and helping us to make sense of things that surrounds us. There are many different cultures around the world. A lot of them are similar in specific ways and others are just completely different, this difference explains why we think that people from different backgrounds are "weird".
From a very young age I knew that I was going to move out of my hometown Guadalajara, Jalisco for the rest of my life, after all, my parents had given me a very unique opportunity, a U.S. nationality. My goal was to finish high school in the U.S. and one day enroll in an American college, however, my parents were not willing to let a 17 year old girl move thousand of miles away on her own, with only the support of her older sister, that lived in Washington State. My mother was the one in opposition to this idea the most, every time I mentioned even the smallest comment about me moving away, she would instantly change topics, turn the volume up, or just say she didn’t want to talk about it, I would always insist, until she was willing to hear
Today we hit a long and rushing river, that I overheard was called Laromy river. The first few steps were simple, then the current started to push. I had made it to the other side of the river, when I heard a scream, and I saw one of the guiders being swept down the stream. In an instant they were gone. The dripping survivors and I were welcomed with a group of soldiers with towels. The soldiers lead us to buildings where we could sleep the night. That night I was feed the soft bedding hay, and they gave me clean good tasting
Growing up in an Eritrean household has put a lot of obstacles in my life especially living in the U.S., but has also given me so many opportunities as well. Being able to learn about the culture and history of where I came from has truly been an amazing lesson to my life. Without the support and efforts of the Eritrean Dallas community, many of my fellow Eritreans and I would have not gotten the knowledge and skills that we have now. With my involvement in the Eritrean community, I have been able to learn and accomplish so much, but also has guided me to my future goals.
I am an exchange student in America right now. I came to America not really knowing what I wanted to do in the future and also trying to figure out who I actually am. Throughout my exchange year I had to go through a lot of ups and downs. Let's just say it wasn't really the ideal experience I had hoped for. Now you are probably asking yourself why I want to stay here for another year and even for college? During my year here in America I have grown up. I am much more mature and responsible than I was ten months ago when I was still living in Germany. Going through all these struggles with my first host family and my first two schools in Antioch,without my family or friends being here, actually helped me to mature. Even though sometimes being
What describes me? Would it be only; my clothes, my face, what i like to eat, etc. But no, these are all defined under two words that describe yourself and no-one else, cultural identity. In my cultural identity, your; values, beliefs, morals, clothes, ethnicity, food and more all play a role in how your defined. To me, someone can’t describe who you are because they, well, aren’t you. Most of us at a young age may not even know ourselves to the full potential, we just think we do. How we define ourselves shouldn’t be a conflict of interest to ourselves, rather an uprise in how we will prevail through the good and bad times of our lives. I would say i’m defined by what I eat and what this represents. This plays a major role in someone's culture, whether they are that culture, are fascinated by that culture, or want to inherit that culture are part of our cultural identity.
One experience that I will always remember is the day I was running errands and had the opportunity to meet a very special patient. She was a sweet woman who was originally from Mexico. We were having a friendly conversation when she asked me about why I chose to do community service at the hospital. I explained to her that I planned on majoring in the medical field one day and I was working on obtaining community service hours. We got to talking about the education systems in our countries. In our conversation I learned that only selected people were given the opportunity to receive an education in her native country of Mexico. She told me about the poor education system and the extreme poverty which debilitates Mexico. As a United States citizen, I am provided with a variety of options for education. People in Mexico must fight to obtain access to any education. This made me realize how truly fortunate I am.
Cultural identity defines an individual and how they interpret society; however, my cultural knowledge is limited and has remained static due to the consumption of environmental influences. For a long period of time, I did not know why I was culturally disconnected, since I had a hard time grasping my family’s religious practices of Buddhism. This resulted in my inability to interpret my culture and religion. Individuals within society ask, “What are you?” I would like to answer that question myself if I could, so the real question is, “How does one define cultural identity?” My cultural identity is defined by my interpretation and knowledge of how my family responds to American culture versus how I am influenced by the sociological norms of American culture; however, my sense of cultural identity contrasts differently to that of my family in which results in my cultural displacement in society, conflicting me internally.
As we started to slowly drift down the river, seemingly inch by inch, I began to have feelings of disappointment. I had been planning on a more hazardous and fast-paced ride. The water was crystal clear and almost as flat as a sheet of glass. There was only a very mild current and being as impatient as I was, it appeared to me that we weren’t even moving.
You have big dreams and you have your eye on the prize but it’s the little things
Rolling waves gently brushed upon the sand and nipped softly at my toes. I gazed out into the oblivion of blue hue that lay before me. I stared hopefully at sun-filled sky, but I couldn’t help but wonder how I was going to get through the day. Honestly, I never thought in a million years that my daughter and I would be homeless. Oh, how I yearned for our house in the suburbs. A pain wrenched at my heart when I was once reminded again of my beloved husband, Peter. I missed him so much and couldn’t help but ask God why he was taken from us. Living underneath Pier 14 was no life for Emily and me. I had to get us out of here and back on our feet. My stomach moaned angrily. I needed to somehow find food for us, but how? Suddenly, something slimy brushed up against my leg and pierced my thoughts. I jumped back and brushed the residue of sand of my legs. What was that? As my eyes skimmed the water in front of me, I noticed something spinning in the foam of the waves. Curiosity got the best of me and I went over to take a closer look. The object danced in the waves and eventually was coughed out onto the beach. “Emily!” I called to my eight-year-old daughter who was, at that time, infatuated with a seashell that she found earlier that day. “Come here and see this! Mommy found something.” Although I had no idea what that something was and I definitely didn’t know it would change my life forever.