Looking closer at the rules for distinguishing one culture from another which of them strike you as particularly salient and useful for describing the culture differences between nations?

Inter-, as you’ll probably know, comes from the Latin word for “between”, and the dictionary defines “communication” as “exchanging information”. Therefore, it’s easy to draw the conclusion that intercultural communication simply refers to exchanging information between two cultures. Sounds very easy, doesn’t it? But it’s the “culture” part of this basic definition where things start getting a tad complicated.

Academic researchers in the field of intercultural communication often start out with the observation that “culture” is a word with a very vague meaning. Or rather, a word with lots of different meanings. A ground-breaking study by two anthropologists in the 1950s found that there were no less than 164 (!) definitions of the word “culture”. So it’t no easy matter to understand what intercultural communication is all about.

Intercultural Communication: What’s Culture Anyway?

When talking about culture in everyday conversation, completely unconnected with intercultural communication, the word might refer to high-brow culture: intellectualism, literature, the fine arts etc. “My cousin Peggy’s a real culture vulture (хищница). She goes to the opera every Sunday, and loves spending her free time at the museum!” Or, to get back to the expat context, a globe-trotting friend might chat with you about various national cultures. “I love the Italian culture,” he would say. “Their food is excellent, and they are so much nicer to kids than us back home.”

One mistake that many a traveller make is to assume that a foreign country’s national culture is just this: its heritage and arts, food and table manners, visible social customs and family life, festivals and rituals. In fact, experts in intercultural communication call this false assumption one of the most dominant myths about culture.

Actually, in intercultural communication, what you can see and touch is only the smallest part of a foreign culture. Some teachers of intercultural communication like using the “iceberg model” in their lectures. The culture of any country is like an iceberg. 7/8 of an iceberg are hidden from your view. So, if you want to avoid ending up like the Titanic during your time abroad, it’s best to familiarize yourself with some basic principles of intercultural communication.

From Wikipedia:

Inter-cultural communication principles guide the process of exchanging meaningful and unambiguous information across cultural boundaries, in a way that preserves mutual respect and minimises antagonism. For these purposes, culture is a shared system of symbols, beliefs, attitudes, values, expectations, and norms of behaviour. It refers to coherent groups of people whether resident wholly or partly within state territories, or existing without residence in any particular territory. Hence, these principles may have equal relevance when a tourist seeks help, where two well-established independent corporations attempt to merge their operations, and where politicians attempt to negotiate world peace. Two factors have raised the importance of this topic:

• Improvements in communication and transportation technology have made it possible for previously stable cultures to meet in unstructured situations, e.g. the internet opens lines of communication without mediation, while budget airlines transplant ordinary citizens into unfamiliar milieux. Experience proves that merely crossing cultural boundaries can be considered threatening, while positive attempts to interact may provoke defensive responses. Misunderstanding may be compounded by either an exaggerated sensitivity to possible slights, or an exaggerated and over-protective fear of giving offence;

• Some groups believe that the phenomenon of globalisation has reduced cultural diversity and so reduced the opportunity for misunderstandings, but characterising people as a homogeneous market is simplistic. One product or brand only appeals to the material aspirations of one self-selecting group of buyers, and its sales performance will not affect the vast multiplicity of factors that may separate the cultures.

The aspects of crosscultural communication may include:

High and Low Context Cultures: Context is the most important cultural dimension and also immensely difficult to define. The idea of context in culture was an idea put forth by an anthropologist by the name of Edward T Hall. Hall breaks up culture into two main groups: High and Low context cultures. He refers to context as the stimuli, environment or ambiance (зд. аура) surrounding the environment. Depending on how a culture relies on the three points to communicate their meaning, will place them in either High or Low context cultures. For example, Hall goes on to explain that low-context cultures assume that the individuals know very little about what they are being told, and therefore must be given a lot of background information. High-Context cultures assume the individual is knowledgeable about the subject and has to be given very little background information.

Empathize Through Action

• As you learn the ways of another culture, the best way to establish good intercultural communication is to act in a way that is considered ethical in that culture. Do and say the things that will express that you have the best interest of those around you in mind. Enjoy the food people prepare for you. If there are certain respectful gestures associated with greeting people older or more prestigious than yourself (or everyone), use them. Learn at least enough of the language to greet people and ask how they are doing in their native tongue. Wear clothing that is culturally appropriate. Respect family organization and methods of doing education and business. On every level of life and society, share in the way people think and act as much as you are able to. This willingness to adopt the standards of another culture is the best way to establish ethical and intercultural communication. COMMENT

DO YOU THINK EMPATHIZING IS IMPORTANT TO ESTABLISH GOOD INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION? HOW DO YOU INTERPRETE THE TERM?

HERE ARE 10 PRINCIPLES TO BE GUIDED WITH WHEN WORKING IN AN INTERCULTURAL ENVIRONMENT (e:info@kwintessential.co.uk) DO YOU THINK THE LIST IS EXHAUSTIVE?

1. Be Patient: Working in an intercultural environment can be a frustrating affair. Things may not get done when expected, communication can be tiresome and behaviour may be inappropriate. Patience with yourself and others helps move beyond such issues and address how to avoid similar incidents in the future. 2. Establish Rules: Sometimes if working in a truly intercultural team it may be necessary for all to take a step back and set down some ground rules. i.e. how do we approach punctuality, meetings, communication, emails, disagreements, etc? It is always a good idea to try and develop the rules as a group rather than have them imposed. 3. Ask Questions: When you don't understand something or want to know why someone has behaved in a certain way, simply ask. Asking questions stops you making assumptions, shows the questioned you did not understand them and helps build up your bank of intercultural knowledge. 4. Respect: The foundation of all intercultural communication is respect. By demonstrating respect you earn respect and help create more open and fruitful relationships. 5. The Written Word: Sometimes people who do not have English as their mother tongue will read more proficiently than they speak. It is a good idea to always write things down as a back up. 6. Time: Not everyone in the world thinks "time is money". Understand that for many people work is low down on the priority list with things like family taking a much higher precedence. Do not expect people to sacrifice their own time to meet deadlines. It is good practice to always leave a bit of spare time when considering deadlines. 7. Humour: In an intercultural environment one man's joke is another's insult. Be wary of differences in the sense of humour and also the acceptability of banter and the like in a business environment. 8. Always Check: The easiest way of minimizing the negative impact of intercultural communication is to check and double check. Whether agreeing something or giving instructions, a minute spent double checking all parties are 'reading from the same sheet' saves hours of work later on down the line. 9. Be Positive: When faced with incidents of an intercultural nature steer clear of blame and conflict. Stay positive, analyse the problem areas and work as a team to build strategies and solutions to ensure the same never occurs again. 10. Self-Reflect: A good intercultural communicator not only looks outwards but also inwards. Take time to reflect on your own communication, management or motivation style and see where you can improve as an individual.

USING WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED ABOUT CULTURE IN GENERAL AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION AS A STARTING POINT GIVE YOUR OWN EXPLANATION OF WHAT SHOULD BE MEANT BY LINGUOCULTURAL DIFFERENCES. WHAT IS THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE MEANS, INCLUDING PHONETIC MEANS, IN DISTINGUISHING CULTURES? Give examples.

Communication (presentation) HAVE YOU EVER EXPERIENCED CULTURE SHOCK WHEN YOU FOUND YOURSELF IN ANOTHER COUNTRY AND WERE EXPOSED TO A DIFFERENT CULTURE?