session: i ntercultural COMMUNICATION

SESSION: INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Internationalisation@home

Intro: Intercultural competence Definitions: communication, culture,

intercultural communication What causes communication

problems in an intercultural setting Verbal communication Non-verbal communication

Richard Lewis’ model of intercultural communication

Introduction to assignment

Contents

Intro: Intercultural competence

“The 21st century is upon us. As inhabitants of this post-millennium world, you no longer have a choice about whether to live and communicate among many cultures. Your only choice is whether you will learn to do it well...”Lustig, Koester & Taylor

Intro: Intercultural competence

The imperative for intercultural competence

Demographic imperative Technological imperative Economic imperative Peace imperative Interpersonal imperative

What is communication? Verbal and non-verbal (90%)

Culture Culture

Person

A

Person

B

Send/Receive Messages through Various Channels

Encode/ Decode Encode/ Decode

Noise Noise Noise

What is culture?

The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another.

A learned set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, norms and social practices which affect the behaviours of a relatively large group of people

Layers of Culture National Regional Educational Professional Gender Class Religious Generational Ethnic Corporate Personal

countryfamily

sports clubcompany

Culture, an iceberg …

SymbolsRituals

HeroesSocial practices

ValuesNormsBeliefs

Values …

Symbols…

Heroes…

Rituals …

What is intercultural communication?Intercultural communication is a symbolic, interpretive, transactional & contextual process in which people from different cultures create shared meanings. It occurs when large and important cultural differences create dissimilar interpretations and expectations about how to communicate competently

Sender & receiver have different cultural backgrounds

WHAT CAUSES COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS IN AN

INTERCULTURAL SETTING?

Verbal and Non-verbal communication

Cultural differences in communication

SENDER

RECEIVER

MESSAGE

MASSAGE

Non-native speakers (often at least one of them) One-on-one translations Translation of jokes, sayings, a pun …

often not possible Time relativity in a global

perspective Use of other measures

gallon, mile, ounce, …

What can go wrong – verbal (1)

WASHINGTON (AP) — “Failure to convert English measures to metric values caused the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter, a spacecraft that smashed into the planet instead of reaching a safe orbit, a NASA investigation concluded Wednesday. […]An investigation board concluded that NASA engineers failed to convert English measures of rocket thrusts to Newton, a metric system measuring rocket force. One English pound of force equals 4.45 Newton. A small difference between the two values caused the spacecraft to approach Mars at too low an altitude and the craft is thought to have smashed into the planet’s atmosphere and was destroyed.”

What can go wrong – verbal (2)

Pronunciation of words “Sh” cannot be pronounced in Finnish The English “th”

Different vocabulary Snow (Inuit) Green (Zulu)

What can go wrong – verbal (3)

Verbal communicationHindi English Baap (pitagi), maa Father, motherBaba (dada), amma (dadi)

Father’s father, father’s mother

Nana, nani Mother’s father, mother’s motherTaaya, taayi Father’s/wife of father’s elder

brotherChacha, chachi Father’s/wife of father’s younger

brotherMama, mami Mother’s/wife of mother’s brotherBooa, fooa Father’s sister, husband of father’s

sisterMausi, mausa Mother’s/ husband of mother’s

sisterBahai Brother Bhabhi Brother’s wifeBhatija, bhatiji Brother’s son/daughterBahin Sister ….

Politeness Vous / tu – u / jij - you First names Japan: “I” is different in different

contexts Grammar

Existence of present tense Past tenses (was/has been)

My grandfather never went abroad ≠ has never gone abroad

Le subjonctif n’existe pas en néerlandais

What can go wrong – verbal (4)

Irish Mist

What can go wrong - examples

What can go wrong – examples GM Chevy NOVA

What can go wrong – examples Mazda Laputa

Slogans Parker Pen

"It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you" translated into "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant” in Spanish

Pepsi "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation"

translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese

What can go wrong – examples

Body-language Nodding = YES or NO ??? Laughing = happiness or insecurity ??? Avoiding eye contact = respect or shame ??? Physical distance - touching each other - kissing

What can go wrong – non-verbal (1)

Colours Red = political colour of …

EU: left-sided political parties US: Republicans

White = colour of … EU: marriage Catholics: joy China, Muslim: death

What can go wrong – non-verbal (2)

Symbols Different meanings Not understandable outside the group

What can go wrong – non-verbal (3)

Thumbs up = OK, …

but offensive in Greece

Values: nudity

What can go wrong – non-verbal (4)

Values: diseases

What can go wrong – non-verbal (5)

What can go wrong - non-verbal (6)

Values: religion

Direction in which we read Left to right, top to bottom, …… problems if the message is read from

right to left

What can go wrong – (non)verbal (7)

Our usual perspectivehttp://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/index.html

RICHARD LEWIS’ MODEL

www.howest.be

Richard Lewis’ model of Cultural Categories

National Communication Patterns– Italy –

National Communication Patterns– Finland –

National Communication Patterns– Germany –

National Communication Patterns– UK –

Listening Habits– Belgium –

‘Tolerance, intercultural dialogue and respect for diversity are more essential than ever in a world where people are becoming more and more closely interconnected.’

Kofi Annan

Conclusion