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Intercultural communication (IC) is the exchange of thoughts or ideas between individuals from different
cultures. In other words, it is the way in which a message is conveyed between people so as to come to an agreement in its
meaning. For example: some people have a natural or learned ability to understand what others from another country or culture
are trying to say to them without having to consciously think about what the other person is really trying to say. This is
called Unconscious Competence. However there are people who do not readily accept others from another culture or country and
consciously make an effort not to understand them. This is called Conscience Incompetence. Then there are people who are aware
of their inability to communicate effectively with people from other nations or cultures and are trying to do something about
it. This is called Conscience Competence. And lastly there are those individuals who are not aware that they lack the ability
to affectively communicate with others from another country or culture. This is termed unconscious incompetence.
To add to the list of new jargon for understanding IC, there are two ends to this spectrum of cultural awareness and those are High and Low Context cultures, and those somewhere
in between. The U.S.
and China, respectively, are good examples
of High and Low Context cultures. The U.S.
emphasizes individuality, direct expression of thoughts and feelings, informal, verbally expressive, linear thinking. In contrast,
people from China would have family centered values, indirect expression of thoughts and feelings, formal, verbally reserved, and
holistic thinking.
Nonverbal Communication (NC) is quite different around the world despite what most Americans might
think. For instance the thumbs up sign in the U.S.
is meant to be positive and expresses approval. However, in Italy
it means something entirely different. It has the equivalence of “flipping someone the bird” here in the U.S., so in other words the thumbs up in Italy
is totally negative and vulgar. There are 5 other kinds of NC: Artifacts, Paralanguage, Facial Expressions, Gestures, Haptics
(see definitions link).
Lastly, Culture Shock (CS). It can happen to anyone at any time and even to the most experienced and
knowledgeable traveler. There are models that explain and demonstrate the various phases that one might go through or be caught
in, but the most important thing to about CS is to acknowledge its possibility that it can effect even you. Here is a list
and in the order most people find themselves when encountering another country or culture for the first time: Honeymoon stage,
Hostility stage, Humorous stage, In-tune stage, ambivalence stage, CS reentry, resocialization stage (see definitions link).
Terms and Definitions Link
IC Information Resource
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