Intercultural Communication
A. Definition
Intercultural communication is defined as situated
communication between individuals or groups of different linguistic and
cultural origins[1].
It 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. Intercultural
communication is sometimes used synonymously with cross-cultural communication. In this senses it seeks to understand how people from different
countries and cultures act communicate and perceive the world around them. Many people in intercultural business
communication argue that culture determines how individuals encode messages,
what medium they choose for transmitting them, and the way messages are
interpreted.[2]
B.
History
For the proper name of the field
"Intercultural Communication" credit is often given to American
anthropologist Edward T. Hall, who used it for the first time in his book The
Silent Language in
1959. The book is sometimes called "the field's founding document"
(Hart 1998)
The beginning of Intercultural Communication was
for applied purposes rather than for theoretical considerations: Training was
the main issue. The first target audience comprised American diplomats and
development personnel whose intercultural skills had to be improved. From the
Foreign Service Institute, Intercultural Communication teaching and training
spread to the universities and other organizations. University courses were
given and academic textbooks in Intercultural Communication started to appear
in the USA in a larger scale in the 1970s. In Europe, the first university
courses in Intercultural Communication took place in the 1980s. The University
of Jyväskylä has been one of the pioneers in the field.[3]
C.
Problem
The problems in
intercultural communication usually come from problems in message transmission.
In communication between people of the same culture, the person who receives
the message interprets it based on values, beliefs, and expectations for
behavior similar to those of the person who sent the message. When this
happens, the way the message is interpreted by the receiver is likely to be
fairly similar to what the speaker intended. However, when the receiver of the
message is a person from a different culture, the receiver uses information
from his or her culture to interpret the message. The message that the receiver
interprets may be very different from what the speaker intended.[4]Attribution
is the process in which people look for an explanation of another person's
behavior. When someone does not understand another, he/she usually blames the
confusion on the other's "stupidity, deceit, or craziness"
Important points to consider:
·
Develop cultural sensitivity
·
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
D.
The
Importance of Intercultural Communication
The importance
of Intercultural communication is because modern communication and
transportation networks bring businesses, organizations and individuals in
contact with a large diversity of people from all over the world. People in different countries learn different social cues and
have different styles of communication. The ability to learn how different
cultures communicate is an asset in the modern world.
Many modern businesses and
organizations operate globally, which means that both executives and employees
must learn to communicate with partners, colleagues and employees from other
cultures. Organizations must also learn how to communicate with customers
across cultures, as important messages can be lost in translation, causing
confusion and even embarrassment.[5]
E.
Intercultural Communicative Competence
Intercultural communication can be
linked with identity, which means the competent communicator is the person who
can affirm other’s avowed identities. As well as goal attainment is also a
focus within intercultural competence and it involves the communicator to
convey a sense of communication appropriateness and effectiveness in diverse
cultural contexts.[6]
Intercultural
communicative competence, or ICC, refers to the ability to understand cultures,
including your own, and use this understanding to communicate with people from
other cultures successfully.[7] Example ICC could
include understanding how gestures and the distance between speakers vary from
culture to culture.
F.
The Four Distances Model (4DM)
The theory, rooted in semiotics, studies how relational distance can have an impact
on intercultural communication: incommunicability and misunderstandings are
strictly dependent from the feeling of "closeness" or
"distance" that emerges in the interaction patterns between
intercultural communicators. The 4 Distances Model defines the four main
variables that can determine relational distance. Each variable has a subset of
more specific hard-type (more tangible) and soft-type (mainly intangible)
sub-variables:[8]
Ø D1 – Distance of the Self. D1A: biological difference, chronemics-timing
differences between communicators emissions/decoding/feedbacks; D1B: Intangible
Distances, identity/role/archetype/personality differences;
Ø D2 – Communication Codes Distances (Semiolinguistic Distance).
Defined by D2A: communication content; – D2B: codes, subcodes, signs, symbols,
different languages, different communication styles;
Ø D3 – Ideological and value distance: differences in D3A: core
values, core beliefs, ideologies, world-views; D3B: differences in peripheral
attitudes and beliefs;
Ø D4 – Referential distance (personal history); D4A: different
experiences with external world objects, physical experiences; D4B: internal
sensations world, differences in emotional past and present.
G.
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.
·
Traits: Flexibility,
tolerating high levels of uncertainty, reflectiveness, Open-mindedness,
sensitivity, adaptability, engaging in divergent and systems-level thinking.
