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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
country
family
sports club
company
Culture, an iceberg …
SymbolsRituals
HeroesSocial practices
ValuesNormsBeliefs
Values …
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, mother
Baba (dada), amma (dadi)
Father’s father, father’s mother
Nana, nani Mother’s father, mother’s mother
Taaya, taayi Father’s/wife of father’s elder brother
Chacha, chachi Father’s/wife of father’s younger brother
Mama, mami Mother’s/wife of mother’s brother
Booa, fooa Father’s sister, husband of father’s sister
Mausi, mausa Mother’s/ husband of mother’s sister
Bahai Brother
Bhabhi Brother’s wife
Bhatija, bhatiji Brother’s son/daughter
Bahin 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)
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
