Culture is the practice that a group of people adopts in their lifestyle. Culture differentiates the clothing, food habits, the values and the beliefs of different groups of people. There are different cultural groups. The most important is the nation followed by ethnic groups and religious groups, gender, economic back ground and professions. Since there are many groups effective communication with people of different cultures is especially challenging. This is because culture modifies the people’s ways of seeing, hearing and interpreting the world. For example, same words can mean different things to people from different cultures.
Here, I would like to focus deeply on the challenges faced during intercultural communication. The most common challenge faced in intercultural communication is language and the accent. Furthermore, body language or the gestures also differ in different cultures. For example, we could notice that the gestures shown below indicate different meanings in different countries.
Fig1:In America and England this sign means OK, well or good. Where else in Latin America and France it is considered as an insult.
Fig 2: Raising your hand up means stop in America and England. In some Asian countries this gesture is used when asking for permission
Fig 3:Telling someone to come to you by curling your finger is acceptable in America and England. But this gesture is rude in many Asian countries like Singapore as this sign means death.
Culture not only acts as a barrier to oral communication but it has influences on written communication too. For example, the dates are written differently in different countries. Like in most Arabic countries the date’s system is different from the English system. In addition the naming system and also the format of the address writing are also different. Thus we could notice that culture acts as a barrier to both oral and written communication.
I being acknowledged to the above facts, I would like to ask suggestions on how intercultural communication challenges can be rooted out since effective intercultural communication is vital for business and also social development between different cultures.
Hello Aishath,
ReplyDeleteI think that your post introduced an important aspect of effective communication which was not highlighted in this module.
Indeed, 'Culture not only acts as a barrier to oral communication but it has influences on written communication too'. All along, we have been exposed to the importance of gesture meanings in different countries that we become oblivious to the importance of how it affects written communication.
One may have studied the various meanings of a particular gesture that he or she reminds him or herself to be wary about in front of a colleague from a different cultural background but completely overlooked such cultural differences when writing a letter (for example different date formats).
Hence, I suggest that one should not only pay attention to cultural differences through learning of gesture meanings but also through written communication.
Hi Aishath,
ReplyDeleteI am not sure whether my example below is one of an oral or written communication amongst different cultures, but I feel it does, to a certain extent, affect intercultural communication.
My father was a customer service supervisor and had constant contact with people from different countries. One of the things he learnt was the fact that in American, supervisors are typically a rank above mangers. In Singapore on the other hand, managers are more superior.
Hence if you are in America one day and wish to speak to a superior, look for the supervisor instead. Otherwise you may be speaking to the wrong person who cannot get the job done. When one understands a different culture better and knows the right people to approach, it will make the communication much more effective.
Samantha
Hi Aishath,
ReplyDeleteIt does seem like an insurmountable problem when dealing with the unspoken aspects of communication. Even if all cultures shared the same language, the same sign or even words can reflect different meanings. I do wonder if it is entirely possible to avoid this problem by introducing a whole new language of sorts. Or rather, maybe an old one. Perhaps Latin, the dead language of the scholars, could be used to communicate as a universal language since it should mean the same thing to everyone.
As for gestures and other subtle cultural markers, perhaps using a suitable translator who is intimately aware of both cultures would help.
Jonathan