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Name: Trivedi Hezal K.
Roll No:
39
PG Reg. No. PG15101040
M.A. – English Regular, Semester-3
Year: 2016
Paper No. 12: An
English Language Teaching-1
Unit-1: The Role of English in India
Assignments Topic- Intercultural
Communication
Submitted to: S.B. Gardi Department of English
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
(Gujarat – India)
What is culture?
Culture is the
characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by a everything from
language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and art. Today, in the United
States as in other countries populated largely by immigrants, the culture is
influenced by the many group of people that now make up the country.
Types of cultural communication:
1) Cross
cultural communication
2) International
communication
3) Multicultural
communication
4) Intercultural
communication
Origins of the Intercultural
communication :
Intercultural communication stretches
back into antiquity. It all began when people from different cultures started
to meet together and communicate with each other. First, it was promoted by
missionaries, merchants or diplomats. As
an academic field of study and research it has been popular since 1950s. The
term “Intercultural communication” was first used when the American
anthropologist Edward T. Hall, Ruth and John Useem began to explore how
people from different cultures can successfully communicate. During the past
decades the growth of globalization, immigration and international tourism has
involved large number of people in Intercultural communication. This has led to
an increased desire and need for knowledge regarding how people from different
cultures, beliefs and religions come together to work and communication with
each other.
What is Intercultural
communication:
Intercultural communication
occurs when people from two or more cultures interact. Intercultural
communication refers to the effective communication between people / workers /
client of different cultural background. Intercultural communication is a
symbolic, interpretive, transactional and contextual process in which people
from different culture create and shared meaning. It also includes managing
thought patterns and non verbal communication. Intercultural communication
transpires everyday and pretty much everywhere : like in work, school, and
other places people may have to interact. Intercultural communication is no
longer an option, but a necessity.
Example for cultural
differences:
Arabic language is written
from right to left and almost all other languages are written from left to
right. And another example is that in America, people shake hands, and even hug
each other. But in India we just join hands to say Namaskar.
Need for intercultural communication:
Need for intercultural communication:
§ Success
of any international business
§ Allows
workers from different cultures to work together as a group.
§ Worldwide
marketing campaign.
§ An
increase in international business.
Two trends for Intercultural
communication:
1) Globalization
( term)
2) Multicultural
workforce ( phrase)
Firstly, The term
“Globalization” is widely used in various sources of literature. Globalization
refers to the reduction and removal of barriers between national borders in
order to facilitate the flow of goods, capital, services and labour
Secondly, The phrase “Multicultural
Workforse” refers to the changing age, gender, ethnicity, physical ability, and
race of employees across all types and places of work.
Do’s of intercultural communication:
·
Avoid assumptions, jokes which are
misunderstood.
·
Use symbols, diagrams and pictures.
· Avoid using slang and idioms, choosing words
that will convey only the most specific denotative meaning.
· Investigate their culture’s perception, take
cultural and local differences into account.
·
Use understandable language and find out what
cultural factors.
Don’ts of Intercultural communication:
·
Using the same approach world – wide.
·
Considering traditional knowledge and
practices as ‘Backward’.
·
Letting cultural differences become a source
of conflict that hinder the process or work.
·
Fail to ignore culturally – dependent
enabling and counteracting forces.
·
Fail to take language barriers into account.
Ex: North American view direct eye contact
as a sign of honesty and the other side Asians view direct as a form of
disrespect.
In America and most of
Europe the thumbs up sign means that something is good, or that you approve.
This sign is considered rude in many Asian and Islamic countries.
The importance of
Intercultural communication:
The world today is
characterized by an ever growing number of contacts resulting in communication
between people with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
The theories developed by
the researchers and academics can and have been applied to many field such as
business, management, marketing, advertising and website design. Intercultural
communication developing a positive attitude towards otherness and increased
international, national, and local commerce. As business become more and more
international, many companies need to know how best to structure their companies
manage staff and communicate with customers. Intercultural communication gives
them an insight into the areas they need to address or understand.
Intercultural communication theories are now also used within the education, health
care and other public services due to growing multicultural populations.
Effective intercultural
communication helps to eliminate communication obstacles like language,
barriers, and stereotypes from international business. Effective global communication
can be achieved through learning about other cultures and implementing
communication strategies such as reflective listening and being open – minded.
Intercultural communication competence:
Ability to interact with the
people of different cultures to bring about successful outcome. A successful
outcome is the result of intercultural interaction which is acceptable to all
parties involved. Therefore, intercultural communication competence presupposes
some linguistic competence, and intercultural awareness and sensitivity are its
minimum prerequisites.
Skills required : - Cognitive
– ability to recognize cultural differences.
Two types of communication:
1)
Verbal : - refers to use of language
2)
Non – verbal: - refers to the use of
gestures, facial expressions, and the other body movements.
A language used as a medium
of communication by people whose native languages are different. First, Verbal
communication is direct communication and verbal communication is when the
meaning of the message is communicated mainly via words.
Secondly, nonverbal
communication is indirect communication and Non – verbal communication consists
only of nonverbal language using the body, including paralanguage. And
nonverbal communication varies so much and it carries so much meaning. So, it
needs close attention to decode and get a message across effectively. Eye
contact people from all cultures carry their cultural attitude toward eye contact
with them.
EX: - United states v/s
Japan
Culture and language :
Their is very close relationship between culture
and language. Culture plays an immeasurable role in language use because it
encompasses the way in language is structured and used. Cultures provide people
with ways of thinking and interpreting thus, the same words can mean different
things to people from different cultures. And there are 3 function of
intercultural language is that,
1)
Foreign language roles
2)
Language for internal communication
3)
Language for external communication
Language is a means of human
communication, the language is basically made up of words or terminology and
stank is. Whereas stank is a way to
arrange the words / terms in the word to express the meaning or meaningful.
Foreign language usage
inside the company is a form of internal communication that employees need to
interact between themselves and with co – workers, and employers. It is
important to use the correct grammar, syntax and spelling in order to promote
understanding and to maintain the image of the organization.
Foreign language usage
outside the company is a form of external communication (Grosse, 2004), such
as, when the sales manager deals with the salespeople. They use foreign
language as a means of communication for the products or services of the
organization, to provide information and to persuade customers to purchase
products or services.
Body language & Silent language:
Body language is a form of
Non – verbal communication, which consist of body posture, gestures, facial
expressions and eyes movement. Body language may provide clues to the attitude
or state of mind of a person. Silent or indirect communication doesn’t always
show disinterest, but could be a sign for respect.
Intercultural communication
in terms of Business Action:
The term “Intercultural
communication” is often used to refer to the wide range of communication issue
that inevitably arise within an organization of individuals from a variety of
religious, social, and educational backgrounds. Each of these individuals
brings a unique set of experiences and value to the workplace, many of which
can be traced to the culture in which they grew up and now operate. Business
that able to facilitate effective communication – both written and verbal –
between the members of these various cultured groups will be far better
equipped to succeed than will those allow conflicts that arise from internal
cultural differences to fester and harden. The failure to address and
culturally based conflicts and tensions will inevitably show up in the form of
diminished performance and decreased productivity.
High – context & Low – context:
“Communication varies
according to its degree of field dependence, and that it can be classified into
two general categories = High – context and Low – context”
-
Le Baron, 2003
“High – context and Low –
context communication refers to the degree to which speakers on factors other
than explicit speech to convey their message”
-
Hall, 1971
High - context: Primary
purpose of communication is to form and develop relationship; contextual
information is needed.
Low – context : Primary
purpose of communication is the exchange of information, facts and opinions.
Hall’s framework:
High – context culture
1)
Implicit manner
2)
High commitment to long term relationship
3)
Merge
4)
Not kept separate
5)
Relaxed about time
Low – context culture
1)
Explicit manner
2)
Focused on requirements
3)
Avoid merging of issues
4)
Precise
5)
Punctuality
High – context cultures,
verbal messages have little meaning without the surrounding context, which
includes the overall relationship between all the people engaged in
communication.
Low – context cultures
exclude many of those stimuli and focus more intensely on the object
communication event. The message itself means everything.
-
McDowell, 2003
Cross – cultural
communication & Marketing :
Cross - cultural communication means implies a comparison
of and contrast between particular aspects of communication between cultures.
“ It’s no cultures that
meet, but human individuals who are influenced by a complicated interplay of
personal, situational and of course, cultural factors. Therefore a particular
difficulty with cultural overlap situations resides in precisely the structural
uncertainly as to what the factor “Culture” actually means. “ (2005 : 91 -92)”
Intercultural/ cross
cultural communication sharing of information different levels of awareness
control between people with different backgrounds, where different cultural
backgrounds include both national cultural difference and differences which are
connected with participation in the different activities that exist within a
national unit.
Cross – cultural marketing
can be seen as the strategic process of marketing among customers whose culture
differs from that the marketers’ own culture. Consumption research is an
essential precondition for appropriate product design. All market behaviours
are culture – bound, so the marketers need to understand the culture and match
marketing mix with consumer preferences, purchasing behaviour and product –
used patterns in a potential market.
CONCLUSION:
Diversity is a challenge as well
as an opportunity which can have positive as well as negative influence. Acknowledging,
understanding, accepting, valuing and celebrating differences among people to create equal
employment opportunities. To send the right message, to the person at the right
time is the key of intercultural communication of marketing. Most of us are
unaware that we are communicating in many different ways even when not
speaking. So, culture plays an important part in communication in that it tells
us how to manipulate time in order to communication different message. And
communication shapes culture and culture shapes communication.
Works
Cited:
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