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Impact of cultural differences on communication
Impact of cultural differences on communication
Culture of Korea
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Communication is a crucial aspect in people’s everyday life. Everything from word choice to personal perception can influence the interactants’ behaviors and styles of communication. Kim’s Contextual Theory of Interethnic Communication depicts the many layers and facets that attribute to the communication between two people belonging to different identities or groups. While there are four layers to Kim’s theory, this paper will focus on the behavioral aspect. Kim’s theory will be analyzed and explained through the lens of associative and dissociative behaviors.
Kim’s Contextual Theory of Interethnic Communication
According to Kim, there is a particular circumstance that must occur in order for an interaction to be considered an interethnic communication. There must be some kind of deviation or distinction between the communicator and interactant with regards to identity and ethnicity (Kim, 2005). This can include traits such as age, sex, skin color, and body size. Within this context, interethnic communication is regarded as an open-system concept rather than a fixed and rigid form of interaction. Every aspect of the conversation not only considered independent of one another, but
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Higher social status or power and commonalities between the individuals may explain why they are willing to do so. In attempt to demonstrate associative behavior, these individuals will partake in accommodation. According to the Communication Accommodation Theory, the interactants converge either upward or downward, unimodal or multimodal, or symmetrical or asymmetrical in order to adapt to the conversational setting (Zhang & Imamura, 2017). For instances, adults would speak slowly and use simple vocabulary when talking with children. In A Class Divided, the teacher would converge downward for her third-grade students to understand the
In sociology, the interactionist perspective tends to use the “micro'; approach, where smaller groups of individuals are studied. The interactionist perspective views society as countless encounters between human beings and everyday social activity. The fact that an interactionist would make a study based on everyday, example by example cases separates them from the other perspectives, which tend to look at the larger scheme of things. Using the above approach to the study, there are three particular questions that this article answers. First, why do individuals do the things they do? Second, do people always mean what they say? Finally, how is society experienced (what was the difference between black and white experience while shopping for a home?) The following will show how the article answers the previous three questions.
Delia Flanja defined “intercultural communication” as the way to imply an intercultural knowledge. She also mentioned that nowadays the numbers of people come into our contact are enlarging. Therefore, we need to develop the certain way of communication so that we can respond them effectively (Flanja, 2009)...
There are many different types of communication, whether that be group, mass, or interpersonal communication. For the purpose of this paper, the identification of interpersonal communication is necessary. Interpersonal communication is the involvement of direct communication between two people. There tends to be three stages involved in such a process. The personal, phatic, and intimate stages. Nonverbal and verbal methods are used in this type of communication. People often define themselves as communicators by ways in which they communicate. For example, when I am communicating with family members I may talk with more expression and use more nonverbal communication. However, when I am with peers, I may communicate in ways similar to them. This may mean less nonverbal communication. I think when we define ourselves as communicators it is important to know who we are. The experiences and personality of a person should make up who they are and how they like to communicate. I see myself as an active communicat...
This theory has been subject to many articles and studies in the communication and social departments. Indeed, studying this theory can help us understanding human relations in interpersonal communication. Each of us has been one day confronted to uncertainty, whereas in initial encounters, or moving to a new a new place, or beginning a new work.
Throughout the semester, we have studied numerous communication theories. Their purpose is to help understand exactly what happens when we interact with others. We might not necessarily agree with all of the theories, but the idea is to develop tools to evaluate situations we may encounter. Often, when the theories are explained in the readings or lecture, it is beneficial to apply the concepts to a "real life" situation. Using this approach, I will use a situation that many of us have faced, or will face, and analyze it according to a particular communication theory.
Orbe, Mark P., and Tina M. Harris. Interracial Communication: Theory into Practice. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, 2008. Print.
In interpersonal communication there are many theories that are similar yet different in many ways. The theories can be combined to describe people and how those people interact and communicate with each other. Many of these theories help explain how people in society form impressions of others, how they maintain these impressions, why people interact with certain people in society, and how people will use these impressions that they have formed later on in life. These theories also help people to better understand themselves, to better understand interpersonal communication, and to better understand people in general. There are two theories in interpersonal communication that, despite their differences, can go hand in hand. The first is interaction adaptation theory and the second is emotional contagion theory. These two theories’ similarities and differences and their relevance to my everyday life will be discussed in this paper. These two theories are very important in understanding how people interact with others and why people do the things they do sometimes.
As I begin to examine myself, it is evident that my self-identity, which includes my personal identity, spiritual identity, regional identity, and gender identity, as well as worldviews and values are almost entirely made up of the efforts of my family, my friends, and from my experience of growing up in America as a person of African descent. In addition, the African American culture that has influenced myself as well as those who are closest to me has partly done so by establishing a culturally preferred communication style that varies based on age and relationship. In order to begin to understand Intercultural as well as International communications, it is imperative that I first evaluate and understand my own cultural and personal values, views, and communication styles. With this understanding, I will be able to open myself up to understanding, learning, and accepting others ways of life.
Intercultural communication is an evolving discipline that encapsulates the interactions between individuals or groups from different backgrounds. Diversity and the need for cultural awareness are forever increasing, and this solidifies the direction in which diversity will take in the future. Intercultural communication is going to be a tremendous part of our future and as individuals it will be part of our personal, social and professional relationships.
Since we all learn and develop different identities trying to communicate with people of different identities is difficult and has its implications. We often try to communicate with others the way we would communicate with ourselves. In order to interact with other cultures and identities, we must learn those identities and learn to adapt to those other identities. In order to have successful intercultural communication, we must accept our differences but discover our similarities, as
I wasn 't quite sure what I was getting into when I first enrolled in Intercultural Communications. I had assumptions as to the goals of the course such as I would be learning about the way cultures interact with each other, learn about communication in general, or I would be learning about the ways we use communication through our culture. I think that I achieve the latter goal, but I also gained knowledge about more then just my culture. I came to realize that there is more to a culture than just language, appearances, and customs, which are aspects of culture that could be seen above the waterline, or they are more noticeable/obvious to someone outside of that culture. There are aspects of culture that are below the waterline, or more
Many people who go to visit or work in another country suffer some misunderstanding from the local people, because they have a different culture. Different culture will cause disparity points of view about almost everything. In the article, Intercultural Communication Stumbling Blocks by Laray M. Barna, there are five stumbling blocks mentioned that are seen in a cross-culture communication. These blocks are: language, nonverbal signs and symbols, preconceptions and stereotypes, the tendency to evaluate and high anxiety. Barna wants to use these stumbling blocks to show the common blockades between different cultures. I agree with what she thinks about the language, nonverbal signs and symbols, preconceptions and stereotypes, and the tendency
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.
...tions and 9) Interaction posture-otherwise known as the ability to respond to others in a descriptive, nonevaluative and nonjudgmental manner (Lustig & Koester, 2010).
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.