The frequent situations of misunderstandings in intercultural communication may be more common then one may believe. The potential for misunderstandings between two different cultures communicating is very high. Through such things as idioms, translation errors, and wrong body language communicative skills can be incorrect. When these intercultural mistakes occur between the people speaking or moving it may be perceived by the opposite culture as funny, rude or confusing. With these considerations in mind, the combination of possibilities for misinterpretations is increasingly elevated.
Idioms are used in every language, which is why it is difficult to communicate in some instances. Different languages seem to create their “own” language, which may consist of words put together, or words made up by different societies. Most people who learn another language by another way than emersion learn the formal way of speaking a specific language and therefore when slang words, or idiomatic sentences are used, it comes across as either funny, rude or confusing. In the English language, saying words such as “gonna” and “hafta” seem normal to those who have spoke English their entire lives, however to a person who has just learned English, formally, these words would seem confusing. They are taught to say “going to” and “have to” and hence, making more room for misunderstanding situations between cultures. A sentence such as “we are in the same boat” woul...
Ting-Toomey, Stella., & Chung, Leeva C. (2012). Understanding Intercultural Communication. Oxford University Press. 43, 159-160.
The Gospel of Matthew is an eyewitness story written for an audience of believers, under great stress, and persecution. Matthew develops a theological plot incorporating genealogy, speeches, parables, inter and intra textual references, common vocabulary, and fulfillment quotations, with a tension that builds as we are invited into the story. The crucifixion and resurrection bring us to a Christological climax that symbolically points beyond its conclusion to God’s Kingdom, bringing atonement, salvation and the ushering in the Eschaton. The extraordinary events surrounding the crucifixion act as commentary, adding important details concerning the death of Jesus.1
Other themes people could get from this movie are black rights, anyone can achieve great things with the right practice, and sometimes you have to listen to your heart even when it is 2 sizes too big.
Paul’s prison letters are Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon written while in prison, however, there is not positive proof whether the letters were from his imprisonment in Rome or possibly Ephesus or Caesarea (Gundry, 2003).
Involving in a national level campaign such as Pulse Polio Campaigns, in charge of arranging and dispensing the vaccines helped to reach a larger population. Coordinating and working as a team with different healthcare people helped to deliver a comprehensive care for my patients. Being the team leader for the non-profit charity providing financial help with free medications, and food helped me understand my patients beyond just the medical diagnosis, but the complex web of multiple factors in their overall health. I hope to use my experiences to continue working with community into my residency and also in my
When interacting with a person from a different culture, there are many obstacles that one may, and probably will, face during the time spent together. Laray Barna, author of Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication, refers to these obstacles as “Stumbling Blocks” and states the six main ones in her article. These main stumbling blocks faced are the following: assumption of similarity, language difference, nonverbal misinterpretation, preconceptions and stereotypes, tendency to evaluate, and high anxiety. Every one of these blocks create feelings of unease when faced, specifically the feelings of misunderstanding and frustration. Learning to overcome these blocks is the key to having successful interaction with different cultures.
In various societies, people use several different languages in conversations between their friends, family and peers. Especially in Singapore, it is not an unfamiliar phenomenon to hear two or more bilingual speakers speaking and code switching between the language English and Chinese, English and Malay, English and Tamil or even Standard English and Singaporean English to each other in a natural and effortless manner. In this line, I have mechanistically relate speech varieties with “codes” and despite having a vast variety of definitions for code switching to choose from; I have decided to use Heller’s definition. Heller (1988) defines code switching as the alternating between two or more languages in a single sentence or conversation. During this phenomenon, it is common for individuals to fluently use more than one language in a course of a single communication episode. When this happens, bilinguals are not coached in how to code switch, but instead, they rely on unconscious linguistic understanding in differentiating between what are tolerable and intolerable code switching usages. According to Auer (1989), factors such as cultural interaction, intercultural marriage, education, and colonization are some influences for code switching. Moreover, speakers may choose to alternate from one code to another, either to distinguish oneself, to show commonality with a social group, to discuss a certain topic, join in social happenstances, to impress and influence the audience or to express feelings and affections (Crystal, 1987). However, there has been a misconception in many people’s perception, that “code switching is bad”, “code switching creates confusion” and that “code switching will result in a language deficit where individ...
Although we are now entering globalisation era, there are many hindrances especially multiculturalism and communication between countries. This paper analyses on the differences and similarities between Indonesia and US from different aspects like language, paralinguistic, non-verbal communication, cultural dimensions and communication styles; that emerge from contextual factors like politic, economic, social and culture; as well as the system that they use and their effectiveness. Recommendation will be made based on the analysis to define a strategy towards an effective cross-cultural communication process.
Effective communication with people of difference cultures can be especially challenging. The way people interpret the world can be strikingly different between cultures. Intercultural communication occurs when a member from one culture produces a message that is absorbed by a member of another culture. How that message is understood by the communicating party is a vital part in intercultural communication. For example, in Cambodia it would be considered rude to discuss business in a social setting (Language, culture, customs and etiquette, n.d.). However, in the United States this is a common practice and is almost an encouraged event. Another important factor and consideration in intercultural communication is the importance of understanding cultures, values, history and beliefs. For instance, in Cambodia, if you deliver a present that is wrapped in white paper, this is considered to represent mourning. This is one of the many reasons why it is important to assimilate into a culture and be mindful of communication between cultures (Language, culture, customs and etiquette, n.d.).
Globalization, the acceleration and strengthening of worldwide interactions among people, companies and governments, has taken a huge toll on the world, both culturally and economically. It’s generating a fast-paced, increasingly tied world and also praising individualism. It has been a massive subject of matter amongst scientists, politicians, government bureaucrats and the normal, average human population. Globalization promoted the independence of nations and people, relying on organizations such as the World Bank and also regional organizations such as the BRICs that encourage “a world free of poverty” (World Bank). Despite the fact that critics can argue that globalization is an overall positive trend, globalization has had a rather negative cultural and economic effect such as the gigantic wealth gaps and the widespread of American culture, “Americanization”; globalization had good intentions but bad results.
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
The rapid development and spread of electronic communication technologies is quickly making the world a smaller place. The economies of various nations become more merged through the globalization and people using these technologies increasingly find themselves interacting with a larger international audience. However, this audience has different expectations for how it evaluates and interprets information. For this reason, companies need to become aware of intercultural communication through the internet with its opportunities and advantages of global communication. Communication through the internet could cause miscommunication in international online interactions. For this reason, trainings should be used to provide strategies for avoiding these problems.
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.
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.
Abstract: Globalization has made intercultural communication inevitable. Communicating with other cultures characterizes today’s business, classroom, and community. Technology, especially the internet, has increased the probability that whatever is documented online will be read by someone from another culture. Intercultural communication is of importance in any career field, thus the art of knowing how to communicate with other cultures should be a workplace skill that is emphasized. This is a conceptual paper whose purpose is twofold.