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Intercultural Communication

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Title: Intercultural Communication


1
Intercultural Communication
2
Unit 1 Introduction
  • CultureCommunication
  • Intercultural Communication


3
Importance of Intercultural Communication
  • Spurring development of transportation and
    communication systems (shortened touring time,
    television networks, the internet, international
    film industry)
  • Cultural migration between nations
    (multiculturalism)
  • New economic arena (multinational corporations)
  • Ever-increasing world population (finite natural
    resources, pollution, international conflicts)

4
Warming up
  • Make a list of images from your home culture
    and try to explain what they express about who
    the people of your culture are and what their
    relationship is to people from other cultures.
  • Which image do you prefer? Which do you think
    are the images that most truly express how people
    feel about themselves and the world?

5
1. What is culture?
  • On the surface customs and behavior
  • More deeply what the behavior and customs mean
  • to the people who are
    following them.
  • In a word Culture is all about meanings
  • Hall Culture is everything and everywhere


6
Basic functions of culture
  • Culture makes all things easy.
  • - by providing meaning to events, objects and
    people --- making life less confusing
  • - by providing us with structure --- the skills
    and rules necessary to adapt to our world

7
  • Case Study
  • Richard, an engineer from the United
    States, was invited to take tea with one of his
    British colleagues while he was in England. This
    was a purely social, relaxed occasion. Tea was
    served along with sugar and cream. As he helped
    himself to some sugar and cream, he sensed he had
    done something wrong.
  • Can you tell what went wrong?

Help yourself VS. Be my guest
8
Linell Davis five metaphorsabout culture
  • Culture is like an iceberg
  • some is visible (history, literature,
    customs)
  • most is invisible (feelings and attitudes)
  • Culture is our software
  • physical selves as the hardware, become human
    when programmed with the software of culture
  • Culture is like the water a fish swims in
  • notice everything except the water
  • Culture is the story we tell ourselves about
    ourselves
  • people tell stories to tell who they are and
    stories also change to adapt to changing
    circumstances
  • Culture is the grammar of our behavior
  • people learn their cultural grammar
    unconsciously and apply them automatically in
    order to behave appropriately in any society

9
2. What is Communication?
  • It comes from the Latin word communicare, it
    means to give or to exchange. Now, the most
    common meaning of communication is to give or
    exchange information or ideas.
  • Communication is our ability to share our ideas
    and feelings. (the basis of all human contact)
  • Communication is a dynamic, systematic process in
    which meanings are created and reflected in human
    interaction with symbols. (J.T.Wood)

10
Elements of communication
  • Context
  • Participants
  • Messages (meanings, symbols, encoding
  • and decoding)
  • Channels
  • Noise (external noise, internal noise,
  • semantic noise)
  • feedback

11
Linear Model of Communication
Mode of Communication
noise
Sender
Receiver
encoding
decoding
Channel (message)
Is this an effective model of communication?
12
Interactive Model of Communication
decoding
encoding
message / channel
Sender Receiver
Sender Receiver
noise
decoding
encoding
message / channel
Feedback is essential to good communication
13
Transactional Model of Communication
decoding
encoding
message / channel
Fields of Experience
Sender Receiver
Sender Receiver
noise
Relationship Dimensions
decoding
encoding
message / channel
We continually influence each other through
communication
14
Characteristics of communication
  • 1) Communication is dynamic
  • Communication is an ongoing activity. It is not
    fixed. A word or action does not stay frozen when
    you communicate it is immediately replaced with
    yet another word or action.

15
Characteristics of communication
  • 2) Communication is interactive
  • A interactive view holds that communicators
    are simultaneously sending and receiving messages
    at every instant that they are involved in
    conversations.

16
Characteristics of communication
3) Communication is irreversible Communication
is an irreversible process. We can never undo
what has already been done. Although we may try
to qualify, negate, or somehow reduce the effects
of our message, once it has been sent and
received, the message itself cannot be reversed.
17
Characteristics of communication
4) Communication is contextual. All
communication takes place within a setting or
situation called a context. By context, we mean
the place where people meet, the social purpose
for being together, and the nature of the
relationship. Thus the context includes the
physical, social, and interpersonal settings.
18
3. Intercultural Communication
  • Intercultural communication is
    communication between people whose cultural
    perceptions and symbol systems are distinct
    enough to alter the communication event.
  • intercultural communication refers to
    any communication between two members of any
    cultural communities.

19
Forms of Intercultural Communication
  • International communication
  • Interracial communication
  • Interethnic communication
  • Intracultural communication

20
a. International communication
  • International communication takes place
    between nations and governments rather than
    individuals it is quite formal and ritualized.

United Nations Conference
21
b. Interracial communication
Interracial communication occurs when the sender
and the receiver exchanging messages are from
different races.

22
c. Interethnic communication
Ethnic groups usually form their own communities
in a country or culture. These groups share a
common origin or heritage that is apt to
influence family names, language, religion,
values, and the like.

23
d. Intracultural communication
It is defined as communication between or among
members of the same culture.

24
4.Elements of Intercultural Communication
  • Perceptions (beliefs, values, attitudes, world
  • views, social
    organizations)
  • Verbal processes (the ways in which
  • cultures employ
    symbols
  • to portray things
    and
  • experiences)
  • Nonverbal processes (share thoughts and feelings
  • by way of
    bodily behavior,
  • time and
    space)
  • Contextual elements (business, education and
  • health
    care, tourism and
  • personal
    relationships)

25
Case Study
  • While visiting Egypt, Richard, an
    engineer from the United States, was invited to a
    spectacular dinner at the home of an Egyptian
    friend. As he was leaving their home, making
    effort to thank them for their dinner, he noticed
    their picture and made a compliment by saying
    What beautiful frames your pictures are in!
    However he sensed something wrong. His sincere
    compliment was obviously misunderstood.

26
What is the correct attitude?
  • The communicator cannot stop at knowing that the
    people he is working with have different customs,
    goals, and thought patterns from his own. He
    must be able to work with them and within them,
    neither losing his own values in the
    confrontation nor protecting himself behind a
    wall of intellectual detachment.
  • (Adapted from L.M.Barna,
    Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural
    Communication, 1992)

27
  • Unit 2 Words and Culture

28
1. Word meaning
  • Words, the basic component of a language, are
    influenced and shaped by culture.
  • In each language, there are particular labels or
    names for objects, events, experiences and
    feelings as the speech community has arbitrarily
    decided to name them so.

29
  • The reasons
  • different historical backgrounds,
  • geographical positions,
  • religious beliefs,
  • customs,
  • life styles
  • and value systems

30
  • There are many interpretations of meaning, here
    we are concerned is conceptual and associative
    meaning .
  • The Conceptual meaning
  • It makes the core of the words
  • It is stable
  • It forms the basis of communication
  • It covers those basic, essential components of
    meaning that are conveyed by the literal use of
    word
  • The associative meaning
  • It is the secondary meaning supplemented to the
    conceptual meaning
  • It differs from the conceptual meaning it is
    open-ended and indeterminate
  • It is liable to the influence of such cultural
    factors as religion, geographical position, class
    background and education.

31
  • We would like to illustrate them in the
  • following five parts
  • ? words with basically the same cultural meanings
  • ? words with partially equivalent cultural
    meanings
  • ? words with greatly different cultural meanings
  • ? words with completely different cultural
    meanings
  • ? words with cultural meanings absent in the
    other.

32
  • 1?Words with basically the same cultural meanings
  • That is to say the conceptual meanings and
    associative meanings of words in both English and
    Chinese are the same.
  • Examples are as follows
  • Head The meanings of head are basically the same
    in both English and Chinese.
  • ?that part of the body, which contains the eyes,
    nose, mouth and brain.
  • In Chinese we say ?????
  • E.g., Hit him on the head.
    ????

33
(No Transcript)
34
  • ?something likes a head in form or position.
  • In Chinese we say ??????????
  • E.g., the head of a nail
    ?????
  • ? (of plants)mass of leaves or flowers at the top
    of a stem or stalk.
  • In Chinese we put it to (??)??????????
  • E.g., a flower head
    ?????
  • ? ruler, chief, position of command.
  • We call it ?????????????
  • E.g., headman
    ????????????

35
  • ? Fox
  • In Chinese, fox is the synonym for cunning and
    craftiness ??? ????????
  • In English speaking countries
  • He is as sly as a fox. ?????????????
  • You can never fox me. ???????
  • ? Laurel
  • related to prominence and honor in both English
    and Chinese culture
  • In western countries, heroes, warriors and brave
    men wear laurel wreath (????????) Poet Laureate.
  • in Chinese ??
  • ? other instances

36
  • Words with greatly different cultural meanings
  • As every culture is unique, the words with the
    same conceptual meaning in the two languages may
    differ greatly in their associative meanings.
  • It can be results of different geographical
    surroundings, dissimilar ways of logical
    thinking, different aesthetic standards and
    different social systems.

37
Unit 3
  • Idioms and culture

38
  • Definition and features of idiom
  • colloquialism
  • catchphrase
  • proverb
  • Semantic unity structural stability

39
  • Equivalent idioms
  • Strike while the iron is hot.
  • Many hands make light work.
  • More haste, less speed.
  • Out of sight, out of mind.
  • Birds of a feather flock together.
  • Look before you leap.
  • An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

40
  • Half equivalent idioms
  • Where there is smoke there is fire.
  • Better be an ass head than a horse tail.
  • The pot calls the kettle black.
  • The grass is always greener on the other side
    of the fence.
  • A lion in the way
  • a donkey in a lions hide

41
  • Seemingly equivalent idioms
  • It takes two to make a quarrel.
  • A miss is as good as a mile.
  • Gliding the lily.
  • To eat ones words
  • To blow ones own horn
  • to lock the stable gate after the horse has
    bolted.

42
  • Non-equivalent idioms
  • 1. literature
  • a catch-22 situation
  • 2. mythology
  • apple of discord
  • the Pandoras box
  • an Archilles heel
  • 3. religion
  • like Moses leading his people
  • the salt of the earth

43
  • 4. Sports
  • to carry the ball
  • to hit below the belt
  • 5. Social life
  • as American as apple pie
  • an Ivy Leaguer

44
  • Unit 4
  • Verbal Communication

45
What is language?
  • Language is a set of symbols and the rules for
    combining those symbols that are used and
    understood by a large community to people.
  • A language is a symbolic code of communication
    consisting of a set of sounds (phonetics) with
    understood meanings and a set of rules (grammar)
    for constructing messages.

46
language is influenced by peoples perception of
the world
47
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
  • Human beings do not live in the objective world
    alone, nor alone in the world of social activity
    as ordinarily understood, but are very much at
    the mercy of the particular language which has
    become the medium of expression for their
    society. The real world is to a large extent
    unconsciously built up on the language habits of
    the group. No two languages are ever sufficiently
    similar to be considered as representing the same
    social reality. (Sapir,1931)

48
  • that the linguistic system (in other words, the
    grammar) of each language is not merely a
    reproducing instrument for voicing ideas but
    rather is itself the shaper of ideas, the program
    and guide for the individuals mental activity,
    for his analysis of impression, for his synthesis
    of his mental stock in trade

  • (Whorf, 1952)

49
Language as reflection of values
  • Chinese family big and hierarchical
  • Chinese kinship terms reflect the importance of
    our family system, elaborate system of kinship
    terms.

50
Summary language and culture
  • Language is a reflection of culture, and culture
    is a reflection of language.
  • Culture influences language by way of symbols and
    rules for using those symbols, as well as our
    perceptions of the universe (the meaning
    associated with the symbols).
  • Language, on the other hand, would seem to have a
    major impact on the way an individual perceives
    and conceptualizes the world.

51
What is verbal communication
  • Verbal connected with words and their use
  • Verbal communication communication done both
    orally and in written language
  • Easier to use words to represent ones
    experiences within the same culture because
    people share many similar experiences.
  • More troublesome in verbal communication across
    cultures because peoples experiences, beliefs,
    values, customs, traditions and the like are
    different.

52
Verbal Communication
  • ----Sometimes we think about this but talk about
    that.

53
(No Transcript)
54
Case
  • Two Japanese who knew some Chinese were one day
    at a Beijing subway station. They saw a warning
    sign which read Xiaoxin di hua! (????)They were
    very much surprised to see that nobody around
    them was skating, though the floor was really
    very smooth.
  • In a laundry, when a man saw the sign when light
    flashes, remove clothes, he took off all his
    clothes.

55
Are they the same?
  • ?? (lover)
  • ? (play)
  • ???? (intellectual)
  • ??(peasant)
  • ?? (miss)
  • ?? (comrade)

56
  • Case Study
  • In Japan, Richard, an engineer from
    the United States, has an unpleasant experience
    though he thought he had handled it well. A
    number of serious mistakes had occurred in a
    project he was supervising. While the fault did
    not lie with any one person, he was a supervisor
    and at least partly to blame. At a special
    meeting called to discuss the problem, poor
    Richard made an effort to explain in detail why
    he had done what he had done. He wanted to show
    that anybody in the same situation could have
    made the same mistake and to tacitly suggest that
    he should not be blamed unduly. He even went to
    the trouble of distributing materials which
    explained the situation rather clearly. And yet,
    even during his explanation, he sensed that
    something he was saying or doing was wrong.

57
Thinking patterns and culture
  • Some people tend to adopt analytical thinking
    patterns. They tend to analyze and dissect things
    into elements in order to understand them
    properly. Their emphasis is upon the parts rather
    than the whole of things.
  • Some people employ synthetic thinking patterns.
    They tend to synthesize elements into a unit,
    with the emphasis on the whole.

58
How different thinking patterns affect our life?
  • Western medicine Vs traditional Chinese medicine
  • Western cooking
  • Different views on contracts
  • Westerners value objectivity, specificity and
    precision and make sense of the world by
    reasoning and analyzing.
  • Chinese are more subjective and value intuition a
    lot, through which they get an insight into
    things around them.

59
4. Communication Styles and Culture
  • Compare the following two spoken discourse and
    decide which one might be given by a Chinese and
    which by an American?
  • Because most of our production is done in China
    now, and its not really certain how Hong Kong
    will be like after 1997, and since I think a
    certain amount of caution in committing to TV
    advertisement is necessary because of the
    expense. So, I suggest that we delay making our
    decision until after Legco makes its decision.

60
Which is given by a Chinese? Which by an American?
  • B. I suggest that we delay making our decision
    until after Legco makes its decision. Thats
    because I think a certain amount of caution in
    committing to TV advertisement is necessary
    because of the expense. In addition to that, most
    of our production is done in China now, and its
    not really certain how Hong Kong will be like
    after 1997.

61
Different Communication Styles
  • 2)?????(?????)
  • VS
  • ????(?????)
  • induction (specific ? general)
  • deduction (general ? specific)

62
Chinese Inductive?American deductive?
  • In the east, people sometimes adopt the deductive
    pattern.
  • In the west, people do not exclude the use of
    inductive pattern.
  • In both the east and west, the person in a higher
    status tends to use the deductive pattern while
    the one in a lower status tends to use the
    inductive pattern.

in a close relationship or relatively equal status
borrow money, or ask for a big, embarrassing
favor
63
Unit 5
  • Non-verbal Communication

64
QUESTION What?
  • Every culture has rules about the CORRECT use of
    space. The proxemic (relating to the study of
    space) rules are unwritten and never taught-- but
    they are very powerful
  • a. She will ask them to sit somewhere else.
  • b. She will stare at the space "invaders"
    defiantly, but she will not move .
  • c. She will leave, saying nothing to the three
    people who invaded her personal space.

65
No gesture has the same meaning!!
  • There is no 'international language' of gestures.
    Instead, cultures have developed systems of
    unique gestures, and it is almost never possible
    for us to understand intuitively the gestures
    from another culture.

66
guess what this Iranian gesture means?
  • No. 1 for me/ Good luck / screw you

67
Screw you
  • This gesture teaches an extremely important
    lesson. This gesture is identical to the
    American/English gesture for Good Luck to you.
    But it is an obscene gesture, and an American
    traveling in Iran would outrage people there if
    the American performed this gesture. When in
    another culture or society, we should never
    'mirror' a gesture that someone presents to
    us--without knowing it, we could be deeply
    offending that person and inviting conflict.

68
Who won the game of one-on-one basketball?
  • a. The man on the left
  • b. The man on the right

69
The man on the right
  • He seems confident, poised and modest--all
    qualities that suggest he is the winner of the
    game.

70
Definition (1)
  • Metacommunication (beyond the usual
    commmunication), paralinguistics, second-order
    messages, the silent language, and the hidden
    dimension of communication. (Hall, 1959)

71
Definition (2)
  • Nonverbal communication involves all nonverbal
    stimuli in a communication setting that is
    generated by both the source and his or her use
    of the environment and that has potential message
    value for the source or receiver. (Samovar and
    Porter, 2004)

72
  • Overview of Nonverbal Communication
  • Body Language
  • General appearance and dress
  • Gestures
  • Eye contact
  • Facial expression
  • Posture
  • Touching
  • 2. Paralanguage
  • Silence
  • Pitch
  • Volumn
  • Environment Language
  • Space
  • Time

73
Body Language
  • Body language refers to all nonverbal codes which
    are associated with body movements.
  • Body language includes gestures, head movements,
    facial expressions, eye behaviors, postures and
    other displays that can be used to communicate.

74
General Appearance and Dress
  • Concern with how one appears is universal.
  • We make inferences (often faulty) about anothers
    intelligence, gender, age, approachability,
    financial well-being, class, tastes, values, and
    cultural background from attractiveness, dress,
    and personal artifacts.
  • Do you select attractive friends over less
    attractive ones?

75
  • Muslin girls usually wear scarves to cover their
    heads, and in most instance, girls are not
    allowed to participate in swimming classes
    because of the prohibitions against exposing
    their bodies. Modesty is highly valued among
    Arabs.
  • Perhaps nowhere in the world is the merger
    between attire and a cultures value system more
    evident than in Japan. The proclivity for
    conservative dress styles and colors emphasizes
    the nations collectivism and, concomitantly,
    lessens the potential for social disharmony
    arising from nonconformist attire.

76
Gestures
  • Do you know what the following gestures mean?

77
(No Transcript)
78
What may the O.K. sign mean?
  • In Brazil a. rudeness
  • In Russia b. money
  • In France c. something vulgar
  • In Japan d. something worthless

79
Eye contact
  • Thou tellst me there is murder in mine eye.

  • ---- Shakespeare
  • Your lips tell me no, no, but theres yes, yes in
    your eyes.

  • ---- Musical ballad

80
General guidelines
  • The eye contact in an elevator could be very
    brief. Direct visual contact with another's eyes
    ???????????????????? He managed to say hello
    to 12 people in five seconds without making eye
    contact with a single one
  • In a crowded bus, a subway or train, the proper
    eye contact time could be some 10 seconds.
  • Only a lecturer or a politician addressing an
    audience can hold eye contact as long as he
    wishes.

81
  • Generally speaking, if you look at your partners
    eyes from time to time while speaking, youll be
    regarded as sociable, friendly, confident and
    frank.
  • If you avoid eye contact, youll be regarded as
    cold, distant, unconfident and not involved in
    the conversation.

82
Direct eye-to-eye contact is not universal
  • A teenage Puerto Rican girl in a New York high
    school was taken with a number of other girls to
    the principal for suspected smoking. Although
    there was no proof of any wrongdoing and although
    she had a good record, the principal decided she
    was guilty and suspected her. There was
    something sly and suspicious about her. he said
    in his report. she just wouldnt meet my eyes.
    She wouldnt look at me.

83
Cross-cultural differences
  • USA vs. France Italy
  • Many American women visiting France or
    Italy are acutely embarrassed because, for the
    first time in their lives, men really look at
    them ---- their eyes, hair, nose, lips, breasts,
    hips, legs, thighs, knees, ankles, feet, clothes,
    hairdo, even their walk. These same women, once
    having become used to being looked at, often
    return to the United Sates and are overcome with
    the feeling that No one ever really looks at me
    anymore.

84
Co-culture differences
  • White American vs. Black American
  • Look at me when I talk to you!
  • Dont look at me in that tone of voice!
  • The white speaker interprets intended
    respect of black behavior as dishonesty or at
    least inattentiveness.

85
Real life contact
  • Do you change your eye contact length when you
    speak to a disabled person, compared with to
    someone who is not disabled?

86
Facial expression
  • Look at the following pictures, try to tell who
    is
  • 1. The most kind-hearted?
  • 2. The most
  • artistic?
  • 3. The most
  • smart?

87
Smiles and laughter
  • In a Chinese classroom a girl was asked to answer
    a question. She stood up and smiled, without
    making any sound.
  • When an American is parking his bicycle and
    bicycle accidentally falls over, he feels
    embarrassed at his awkwardness, and is quite
    angered and humiliated when Chinese onlookers
    laugh.
  • Japanese men go so far as to hide anger, sorrow
    or disgust by laughing or smiling.

88
Nodding is culture-specific
  • Case Study
  • ?????????,??????????????????????????,?????????????
    ??????????,?????????????????????????????????????,?
    ???????????,????????????????????,???????????????,?
    ???????,????????????????????????????
  • ?????????,1986)

89
Posture
  • A man and a woman met on the train platform.
    Will the woman accept the mans greeting
    friendly?

90
She wont!
  • Man
  • half smile expression
  • a relaxed position
  • snap gesture
  • body orientation
  • Woman
  • frowning expression
  • chin up facial position
  • backing posture
  • Legs together
  • Feet pointing inwards

91
You dont just read others body language
  • You observe, analyze and interpret before you
    decide the possible meaning!

92
Match the following descriptions with the
behaviors
93
  • The person is very relaxed, but he/she is ready
    to move at any time.
  • The person is in deep thinking. He/she thinks
    that may be a good idea and is ready to move
    after the thinking.
  • The person is very glad to see the other.
    Actually he/she thinks that person is important.
  • The person is very confident. He/she thinks
    he/she is more important than the other.
  • The person has made up his/her mind. He/she is
    very angry, but tries to control him-/her-self.
  • The person determines to control his/her
    feelings, trying to calm down.
  • The person presents him-/her-self as an important
    man. But he/she tries to be friendly to others.

D
E
A
F
C
G
B
94
Sitting or Standing?
  • In western countries, people who stand are more
    important than those who sit (unless there is a
    table between them), because the former could
    control the latter.

95
Bowing in Japan
  • In Japan, mutual bowing is largely determined by
    rank.
  • bowing contest
  • Bend slightly to ones right
  • Becoming automatic movement, e.g. bow when making
    phone call

96
Touching
  • Jourard sat in coffee shops in four different
    cities. Whenever he saw people touch, he recorded
    the touch. His records are as followed
  • _at_ Sainthorn (Porto Rico) 180
  • _at_ Paris 102
  • _at_ Gynswere (Florida) 2
  • _at_ London 0

97
  • Each culture has a well-defined system of
    meanings for different forms of touching.
  • Some generalizations can be made with regards to
    high-touch versus low-touch cultures.
  • Americans, the English, Germans and Northern
    Europeans are said to belong to low-touch
    cultures, exhibiting very limited tactile contact
    in public.
  • Hispanics (????), people of Eastern European
    descents, Italians, the French, Arabs, and Jews
    are all said to belong to high-touch cultures.

98
Whats wrong here?
  • Case study
  • One of the very common manners of
    touching ---- handshaking ---- may result in
    conflict when performed with no consideration of
    cultural differences. Among middle-class North
    American men, it is customary to shake hands as a
    gesture of friendship. When wanting to
    communicate extra friendliness, a male in the
    U.S. may, while shaking hands, grasp with his
    left hand his friends right arm.

99
  • Once, a North American businessman visiting
    Middle Eastern countries attempted to emphasize
    the sincerity of his friendship in this manner to
    his Saudi Arabian business partner. However, the
    Saudi Arabian business man was greatly
    displeased.
  • Why?

In the Muslin world, the left hand is profane
(???) and touching some one with it is highly
offensive.
100
Unit 6 Fundamental theories of intercultural
communication
101
  • God gave to every people a cup, cup of clay, and
    from this cup they drank life They all dipped in
    the water, but their cups were different.
  • ---- R.
    Benedict

????????????????,???????????????...??????????,????
????????
----?????
102
Why is one culture different from another?
  • More deeply
  • World view (religion)
  • - Spiritual and psychological needs of
    people (life and death, creation of universe,
    relationship between humans and nature)
  • - Social aspects of a culture (origin of
    society and groups within the society,
    relationship of individuals and groups to one
    another)
  • Family (gender roles, individualism-collectivism,
    age, social skills)
  • History (government, community, political system,
    key historical heroes, geography)

103
What does cultural diversity mean?
  • Cultural patterns
  • - conditions that contribute to the way in
    which a people perceive and think about the world
  • - the manner in which they live in that world
  • Some cautions
  • The value of the culture may not be the value of
    all individuals within that culture.
  • It is useful to visualize each cultural pattern
    as a point on a continuum rather than one of only
    two possible responses.
  • The patterns are interrelated with a host of
    other values and do not operate in isolation.
  • Common cultural patterns must be limited to the
    dominant culture in each country.

104
Significance of studying cultural diversities
  • When we study cultural differences, we mainly
    refer to the deep structure of culture (below the
    iceberg)
  • Although culture is subject to change, the deep
    structure of a culture is resistant to change.
  • The comparison and contrast of different cultures
    help understand ones own culture and other
    cultures, which will ultimately enhance the
    effect of intercultural communication.

105
How to classify different cultures?
Culture patterns
Kluckhohn and Strodtbecks Value Orientation
Hofstedes Dimensions of Cultural Variability
Edward T Halls Context - Culture Theory
Human Nature
Individualism Vs Collectivism
High-Context
Man-nature
Uncertainty Avoidance
Time
Low-Context
Power Distance
Activity
Masculinity Vs Femininity
Social Relationship
106
1. Model by Kluckhohn
  • 5 basic questions that need answering at the
    root of any culture
  • 1) What is the character of innate human nature?
  • 2) What is the relation of man to nature?
  • 3) What is the temporal focus?
  • 4) What is the mode of human activity?
  • 5) What is the mode of human relationship?

1) Human nature orientation ???? 2)
Man-nature orientation ???? 3) Time
orientation ???? 4) Activity
orientation ???? 5) Social
orientation ????
107
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108
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109
Limitations of Kluckhohns model
  • Not everyone in a culture has the same basic
    values.
  • Cultures change over time.
  • The concept of basic values is itself a
    generalization

110
Case study
  • During the American Civil War, a very
    hungry young man fell down in front of a farm
    gate. The farmer gave him food but in return he
    asked the young man to move a pile of wood in his
    yard in fact it was not at all necessary to
    move the wood. When the young man left, the
    farmer moved the wood back to its original place.
    Seeing all this, the farmers son was confused.

111
Model by G. Hofstede (1984)
  • Hofstedes work was one of the earliest attempts
    to use extensive statistical data to examine
    cultural values.
  • During the 1980s, he surveyed over a hundred
    thousand workers in multinational organizations
    in forty countries.
  • Each country was assigned a rank of one through
    forty in each category, depending on how it
    compared to the other country.

112
Hofstedes Four Cultural Value System
  • individualism-collectivism
  • Uncertainty avoidance
  • power distance
  • masculinity-femininity

113
Individualism vs. Collectivism
  • Individualistic cultures
  • I consciousness
  • independence,
  • competition,
  • negative face need
  • Collectivist cultures
  • We consciousness,
  • interdependence,
  • group harmony,
  • positive face need
  • Strong influence on social relationships
  • The concept of ingroups and outgroups
  • Rules Vs relationships, strangers Vs associates
  • All people and cultures have both individual and
    collective dispositions.

114
Ranking of Individualism
115
  • Case study
  • At the negotiating table, differences
    in this dimension can clearly cause serious
    conflict. Americans too often expect their
    Japanese counterparts to make decisions right at
    the negotiating table, and the Japanese are
    constantly surprised to find individual members
    of the American team promoting their own
    positions, decisions, and ideas, sometimes openly
    contradicting one another.

116
Uncertainty Avoidance
  • It involves the extend to which a culture would
    avoid or tolerate uncertainty.
  • High uncertainty avoidance cultures think of the
    uncertainty inherent in life as a continuous
    hazard that must be avoided. They try to avoid
    uncertainty and ambiguity by providing stability
    for their members, establishing more formal
    rules. (a higher level of anxiety and stress)
  • Low uncertainty avoidance cultures more easily
    accept the uncertainty inherent in life and are
    not as threatened by deviant people and ideas, so
    they tolerate the unusual. They prize initiative
    and more willing to take risks, more flexible.
    (less tense, more relaxed)

117
Ranking of Uncertainty Avoidance
A low score means the country can be classified
as one that does not like uncertainty.
118
Power Distance
  • High PD Culture
  • People who hold power and people who are affected
    by power are significantly far apart
  • Vertical, hierarchical (everybody has a rightful
    place)
  • E.g. India, Brazil, Singapore, Greece, Venezuela,
    Mexico, etc.
  • Low PD Culture
  • The power holders and people affected by the
    power holders are significantly closer
  • Horizontal (inequality in society should be
    minimized)
  • E.g. Austria, Finland, Denmark, Norway, New
    Zealand, etc.

119
Masculinity vs. Femininity
  • Cultures high in the masculinity dimension focus
    on achievement, power, and possessions, regarding
    work as more central to ones life, differing
    gender roles more than feminine culture.
    (performance society)
  • Cultures high in the femininity dimension value
    interpersonal relationships, nurturance,
    compassion, and quality of life.
  • (welfare society)

120
Ranking of Masculinity
A low score means the country can be classified
as one that favors Masculinity.
121
Limitations of Hofstedes model
  • Because the people Hofstede surveyed were middle
    managers in large multinational organizations,
    most of his findings are work related.
  • Many important countries and cultures were not
    included in his study. ( no Arab countries, South
    Africa representing Africa, no information about
    mainland China)
  • He emphasizes national culture, so it is not
    possible to know the layers of culture within
    nations.

122
Edward T. Hall's Model
  • Human communication is dependent on the context
    in which it occurs.
  • Communicative contexts include the physical,
    sociological, and psychological environments.
  • High- and Low-context cultures

123
High-context Culture
  • In high-context messages, meaning is not
    necessarily contained in words. Information is
    provided through gestures, the use of space, and
    even silence. Meaning is also conveyed through
    status (age, sex, education, family background,
    title, and affiliation).
  • Examples of high-context cultures include
    Chinese, Japanese, Middle Easterners, etc.

124
Low-context Culture
  • In low-context messages, the majority of the
    information is vested in the explicit code.
  • Examples of low-context cultures include English,
    North American, German, etc.

125
  • High-Context Cultures
  • Japanese
  • Chinese
  • Korean
  • African American
  • Native American
  • Arab
  • Greek
  • Latin
  • Italian
  • English
  • French
  • American
  • Scandinavian
  • German
  • German-Swiss
  • Low-Context Cultures

126
How high-context and low-context affect
intercultural communication
  • Lack of enough data, people from low-context
    cultures often feel uncomfortable with the
    vagueness and ambiguity and will ask very blunt,
    unappropriate questions, which will make
    high-context culture members become impatient and
    irritated.
  • People in high-context cultures perceive
    low-context people less credible.
  • Conflicts are differently perceived and responded
    to.
  • high-context discreetly and subtly
  • Low-context directly spell it out

127
Culture Shock
  • Movie Guasha (the Treatment)
  • Which scene suggests culture shock in the
    movie clip?
  • Can you describe what culture shock is with your
    own words?
  • In your opinion, what has probably caused culture
    shock?

128
What is Culture Shock?
  • Definition
  • Troublesome feelings such as depression,
    loneliness, confusion, inadequacy, hostility,
    frustration, and tension, caused by the loss of
    familiar cues from the home culture. (Linell
    Davis)

129
Obstacles to Intercultural Communication
  • Ethnocentrism
  • Stereotypes
  • Prejudice
  • Discrimination
  • Racism
  • Lack of Knowledge,
  • Motivation, Skill

130
Definition of Ethnocentrism
  • Definition
  • the view of things in which ones own group
    is the center of everything, and all others are
    scaled and rated with reference to it (William
    G. Sumner)
  • Examples
  • China is a country with a long history.
  • arranged marriage

131
Reason for ethnocentric ideas
  • All cultures have the tendency to use the
    categories of ones own culture to evaluate the
    actions of others.
  • If people believe that their culture is the
    only true culture, they will discriminate against
    people who manifest cultural norms that fail to
    correspond to their values and behaviors.

132
Stereotypes
  • Definition
  • Stereotypes are a form of generalization about
    some group of people, or a means of organizing
    images into fixed and simple categories that are
    used to stand for the entire collection of
    people. (Walter Lippmann)
  • Reasons
  • Human beings have a psychological need to
    categorize and classify.

133
Group Work Stereotyping them
  • College professors
  • Teenagers
  • Bankers
  • People from Northern China
  • Fat people
  • Millionaire
  • Mother
  • American old people

134
Positive or negative?
  • Stereotype a culture as being very efficient
  • Stereotype a culture as being very rigid and
    inflexible in their business relationships

135
Why are they barriers ?
  • Stereotypes fail to specify individual
    characteristics.
  • They assume that all members of a group have
    exactly the same traits.
  • They are oversimplified, over generalized, and/
    or exaggerated.
  • They are based on half-truths, distortions, and
    often untrue premises but often taken as
    truth.

136
As a result
  • Stereotype inaccuracy can lead to errors in
    interpretations about the behaviors of others.
  • It can also lead to errors in interpretations
    about the future behaviors of others.

137
Right attitude
  • Intercultural competence requires an
    ability to move beyond stereotypes and to respond
    to the individual. Previous experiences should be
    used only as guidelines or suggested
    interpretations rather than as hard and fast
    categories.

138
Prejudice
  • Definition
  • It refers to negative attitudes towards other
    people that are based on faulty and inflexible
    stereotypes. It is an unfair, biased, or
    intolerant attitude towards another group of
    people. ( Lusting Koester)
  • Examples
  • Example 1 Those Germans did it once, so I
    can never trust any of them ever again.
  • Example 2 Dont pay the Mexicans very
    much. They dont have any education and will work
    for almost nothing.

139
Discrimination
  • It refers to the behavioral manifestations of the
    prejudice, it can be thought of as prejudice in
    action. ( Lusting Koester)

Racism
The belief that race accounts for differences
in human character or ability and that a
particular race is superior to others.
140
Unit 8
  • Intercultural Communicative Competence

141
  • Grammatical Competence
  • _at_ mastering the linguistic code of a language
    (sentence level)
  • Discourse Competence
  • _at_ forming a meaningful whole out of a series of
    utterances.
  • (inter-sentential relationships)

142
  • Sociolinguistic Competence
  • _at_ knowledge of the socio-cultural rules
    (appropriateness of utterances)
  • Strategic Competence
  • _at_ verbal and nonverbal communication strategies
    that may be called into action to compensate for
    breakdowns in communication due to insufficient
    competence.

143
Intercultural Competence
  • cognitive dimension get to know the culture
  • affective dimension be willing to learn the
    culture
  • behavior dimension experience the culture with
    appropriateness and effectiveness

144
Improve ICC
  • The Behavioral Assessment Scale for Intercultural
    Competence (BASIC) by Jolene Koester and Margaret
    Olebe
  • . Display of respect
  • . Orientation to knowledge
  • . Empathy
  • . Task role behavior
  • . Relational role behavior
  • . Interaction management
  • . Tolerance for ambiguity
  • . Interaction posture

145
Description, Interpretation, and Evaluation
  • John Richardson has been sent by his U.S.-based
    insurance company to discuss, and possibly to
    sell, his companys products with an Argentinean
    company that has expressed great interest in
    them. His secretary has set up four appointments
    with key company officials. John arrives promptly
    at his first appointment, identifies himself to
    the receptionist, and is asked to be seated. Some
    30 minutes later he is ushered into the offices
    of the company official, who has one of his
    employees in the office with whom he is
    discussing another issue.

146
  • John is brought into the office of his second
    appointment within a shorter period of time, but
    the conversation is constantly disrupted by
    telephone calls and drop-in visits from others.
  • At the end of the day, John is very discouraged
    he calls the home office and says, This is a
    waste of time, these guys arent interested in
    our products at all! I was left cooling my heels
    in their waiting rooms. They couldnt even give
    me their attention when I got in to see them.
    There were constant interruptions. I really tried
    to control myself, but Ive had it. Im getting
    on a plane and coming back tomorrow.

147
Descriptive statements
  • My appointments started anywhere from 15 to 30
    minutes later than the time I scheduled them
  • The people with whom I had appointments also
    talked to other company employees when I was in
    their offices.
  • The people with whom I had appointments accepted
    telephone calls when I was in their offices.

148
Interpretations
  • Company officials were not interested in talking
    with me or in buying my companys products.
  • Company officials had rescheduled my appointments
    for a different time, but they neglected to tell
    my secretary about the change.
  • In Argentina, attitudes toward time are very
    different than they are in the U.S., although
    appointments are scheduled for particular times,
    no one expects that people will be available at
    precisely that time.
  • In Argentina it is an accepted norm of
    interaction between people who have appointments
    with each other to allow others to come into the
    room, either in person or by telephone, to ask
    their questions or to make their comments.

149
Evaluations
  • I dont like waiting around and not meeting
    according to the schedule I had set , but maybe I
    can still make this important sale.
  • Some of the people here are sure interesting and
    I am enjoying meeting so many more people than
    just the four with whom I had scheduled
    appointments.

150
Success
  • The tool of description, interpretation, and
    evaluation increases your choices for
    understanding, responding positively to, and
    behaving appropriately with people from different
    cultures.

151
Intercultural adaptation
  • 1 cultural modification of an individual,
    group, or people by adapting to or borrowing
    traits from another culture
  • also a merging of cultures as a
    result of prolonged contact
  • 2 the process by which a human being
    acquires the culture of a particular society from
    infancy

152
1. The adaptation process
  • Confusion when faced with the hidden aspects of
    culture
  • Frustration when old ways of dealing with
    situations fail to work
  • Growing effectiveness as new skills are acquired
  • Appreciation as new skills and attitudes enable
    the person to live more fully in the new
    situation
  • Increased ability to deal with new and novel
    situations
  • ----
    Linell Davis
  • Excitement about the new situation

153
Stages of adaptation to a new culture
5 appreciation
6. New cultural experiences
1 excitement
2 confusion
4 effectiveness
Time in the new culture
3 frustration
154
  • 1) Excitement (honeymoon)
  • curiosity, fascination and excitement
  • viewing the new environment from our own cultural
    perspective
  • neglecting differences and reinforcing
    similarities

155
2) Confusion
  • Typical problems newcomers often misread or
    misinterpret the behavior and speech of the local
    people because they interpret meanings according
    to the home culture grammar.
  • Solution retreat to an enclave (special
    communities made up of people from the home
    culture)
  • Danger interfere with or delay adaptation to the
    new culture.

156
3) Frustration
  • More negative attitude about the new culture
    blame the new culture and its people for his
    difficulties.
  • Learning to cope pay more attention to what the
    people around him are actually doing.

157
4) Effectiveness
  • Gaining intercultural skills, the sojourner
    has more positive feeling about the new culture
  • sojourner
  • n. temporary resident, one who lives in a
    particular place for a relatively brief period of
    time

158
5) Appreciation
  • An attitude of appreciation develop a more
    personal understanding of the new culture and
    values it (more creative, expressive and able to
    take initiative and responsibility)
  • Go native get rid of ones home culture identity
    ( a rejection of the self)

159
  • Unit 9
  • Intercultural Communication and Business

160
  • Communication challenges in business setting
  • A. work-related values
  • 1) individualism vs. collectivism
  • case study American boss vs. Japanese
    employee
  • 2) work and material gain
  • case study Saudi Arabian vs. Japanese

161
  • 3) Quality vs. efficiency
  • case study German vs. American
  • 4) Task vs. relationship priority
  • case study American vs. Chinese

162
  • B. Communication styles
  • Indirect vs. direct
  • case study American vs. Chinese
  • 2) Honesty vs. harmony
  • case study Australian vs. Korean
  • 3) Formality vs. informality
  • case study British vs. American

163
  • 2. Intercultural negotiation
  • A. negotiation process
  • 1) four components
  • policy formulation
  • interaction
  • deliberation
  • outcome

164
  • 2) 12 variables
  • basic concept of negotiation
  • selection of negotiators
  • role of individual aspiration
  • concern with protocol
  • significance of type of issue
  • complexity of language
  • nature of persuasive argument
  • value of time
  • bases of trust
  • risk-taking prospensity
  • internal decision-making system
  • form of satisfactory agreement

165
  • B. Negotiating successfully
  • 1) be a perfect negotiator
  • 2) set up goals and plan negotiation time
  • 3) genuinely communicate ones own strengths
  • 4) pick the right moment
  • 5) be fair and objective
  • 6) listen attentively, ask questions, repeat
    key points and summarize
  • 7) visualize your argument
  • 8) use clever phrases and appropriate nonverbal
    behaviors
  • 9) make a good ending

166
  • 3. Business etiquette and protocol
  • A. appointment seeking and business meeting
  • B. Greeting etiquette and non-verbal
    behaviors
  • C. Giving gifts
  • D. Dining etiquette
  • E. Dressing etiquette
  • case study
  • in China
  • in the USA
  • in Germany
  • in Japan

167
  • Unit 10
  • Intercultural communication and tourism

168
  • Communication challenges in tourism contexts
  • A. Social norms
  • B. Culture shock
  • C. Language and food challenge

169
  • 2. Intercultural communication and tourism
  • A. Relationship between hosts and tourists
  • The attitudes of hosts toward tourists
  • retreatism
  • resistance
  • boundary maintenance
  • revitalization
  • adoption

170
  • B. Characteristics of tourist-host encounters
  • 1) transitory
  • 2) lack spontaneity
  • 3) unbalanced

171
  • C. Relationship between tourism and culture
  • Active effects on culture
  • 1) reinforces communication and understanding
    between cultures
  • 2) helps to maintain and develop the local
    culture, both in material and spiritual way

172
  • Negative effects on culture
  • 1) Tourism may intrude the privacy of local
    residents and diminish their cultural images.
  • 2) residents often do not share equally in
    the profits from revitalization and marketing of
    culture.
  • 3) Tourism may bring harm to the
    environment to the local culture and consequently
    affects the culture itself.

173
  • THE END
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