Monday, May 4, 2009

Intercultural Communication Personal

To begin, I will make you aware that I was a pretty sheltered girl in grade school: I went to a Catholic school, so just about all of my friends and people I knew were Catholic. However, in high school I met people with many different religion backgrounds: Jews, Mormons, Lutherans, and Atheists. My freshman year I thought it was a little odd the different holidays we would all be able to take off due to our religion. But I thought it was so neat: the variety of celebrations, typically all for the same purpose. 
Anyway, not only did intercultural communication enter my life by becoming friends with people of many different faiths, but I basically dove into another culture, taking every opportunity I could to learn from it. I am referring to a relationship I had in high school; I dated a Jewish guy for two and a half years in high school and felt it necessary to take every opportunity to learn about Judaism since they are the Catholic's roots. However, at times I did feel a little uncomfortable during Passover or batmizvahs when I had myself convinced I was the only person present not understanding the Hebrew being spoken. I would often ask my boyfriend what was being said, and of course a verbatim translation was not accurate because "language differences can go much deeper than simple translation ambiguities" (Tubbs & Moss 323). Ultimately, even though I felt a little uneasy at times I knew the importance of our successful intercultural communication, especially since Catholics and Jews are often seen on different spectrums of things. This was a great experience of intercultural communication in my life. 

Intercultural Communication Applied

Our world today

 "is characterized by an ever growing number of contacts resulting in communication between people with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds" (1st website). The article, Stereotyping and Intercultural Training, suggests the importance of learning about one another's cultures in a positive way to help communicate. 

To begin, the article notes that it is essential for people to make generalizations about other people's cultures to properly communicate with one another. However, the article specifically states that this is very different from stereotyping, which normally constructs generalizations about cultures and groups through a negative window. 

Stereotyping and Intercultural Training stresses "Intercultural awareness training does provide conclusions on cultures or nationalities but it does not stereotype," (2nd Website). Therefore, intercultural training provides people with social norms that can set certain standards for cultures. They can prepare people to be ready to shake one's hand or bow, depending on which culture they are in. Moreover, in order to improve intercultural communication, intercultural training observes people, pinpoints commonalities, and draws conclusions base on the commonalities. "For example, an intercultural researcher or trainer working and/or living in Kuwait is able to make a few accurate, but at the same time, general statements about the Kuwaitis. They may therefore be able to make the generalizations that one should be aware of gender roles, that to do business building a personal relationship is crucial, that if you have a good network of contacts this should be used, and that decision making can be a long slow process that ultimately always rest at top of an organization" (2nd Website). Clearly, this example exemplifies the necessity of intercultural training's assistance of intercultural communication which will help people survive visiting or moving into other cultures. 

1st website: http://www.immi.se/intercultural/ 

2nd website:http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/intercultural-training-stereotypes.html

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Definitional Intercultural Comm

Due to the increase in intercultural communication it is essential to determine the different dimensions of cultural differences. 
First, a central dimension that is measured between cultures is individualism or collectivism. Individualist societies have the tendency for "people in a given culture to value 'individual identity over group identity, individual rights over group rights, and individual achievements over group concerns" (Tubbs & Moss 317). For example, Tubbs and Moss recognizes the Unite State, Australia, Great Britain, and Canada as individualist cultures. On the other side, "collectivism has been defined as the tendency of people in a given culture to value "group identity over the individual identity, group obligations over individual rights, and in-group-oriented concerns over individual wants and desires (Tubbs & Moss 317). Also, Tubbs and Moss suggests that Brazil, China, India, and Mexico are cultures that practice collectivism. However, Dr. Hatfield proposes that there is no definite line that exists to be able to refer to each country as either collectivists or individualists. She supports this theory as she explains how in general America may be an individualist culture where Americans live life competing against one another. But, Dr. Hatfield illuminates that America is also able to apply the collectivism culture in time of need; for example, Americans rush to each others rescue when it is necessary such as, Hurricane Katrina or 9/11 (In Class Discussion).
Cultures can also be defined as high or low-context cultures. Communicating Across Cultures suggests, "high context refers to societies or groups where people have close connections over a long period of time. Many aspects of cultural behavior are not made explicit because most members know what to do and what to think from years of interaction with each other" (website). In this case a family is a good example of high context culture. On the other side, Communicating Across Cultures defines low context cultures as "societies where people tend to have many connections but of shorter duration or for some specific reason. In these societies, cultural behavior and beliefs may need to be spelled out explicitly so that those coming into the cultural environment know how to behave" (website). People will often have low contact interactions at a very large US airport. 
Individualism and collectivism along with high-and-low-context cultures are two of the dimensions of intercultural communication.

website: http://www.culture-at-work.com/highlow.html