Prof. Dr.

Tatjana Panova-Ignjatovik
Ido not want my house to be walled in on
all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I
want the cultures of all the lands to be
blown about my house as freely as
possible. But I refuse to be blown off my
feet by any.
– Mahatma Gandhi
Intercultural communication is:

communication between at least two people

from different cultures.

 intercultural communication involves interaction

between people whose cultural perceptions and
symbol systems differ enough to influence the
communication event.
 People tend to enjoy and feel comfortable
with the familiar.
 When communicating with close friends you
usually know how to act and what to expect.
 It is the same with being a member of a
particular culture.
 Put in slightly different terms, culture
contributes to a feeling of familiarity.
 The identification of communications of a
shared system of symbolic verbal and
nonverbal behavior that are meaningful to
group members who have a sense of
belonging and who share traditions,
heritage, language, and similar norms of
appropriate behavior.
 Cultural identity is a social construction.
 M. Fong, “Identity and the Speech Community,” in
Communicating Ethnic and Cultural Identity (2004: 6.)
 Today an Internet search on the topic of
intercultural communication or cross-
cultural communication yields over 100 000
results.
 Fast travel, international media, and
the Internet have made it easy for us to
communicate with people all over the world.
 The process of economic globalisation means
that we cannot function in isolation but must
interact with the rest of the world for survival.
 Intercultural communication is no longer an
option, but a necessity.
 Individuals who deal with people from other
cultures want to learn how to improve their
performance through improving their
communication skills.
 Business services provide consultation for
improving the conduct of international business;
 universities and other educational institutions
offer programs or degrees in Intercultural
Communication;
 and researchers have established international
journals and academic societies specialising in
research on intercultural communication.
 In fact, intercultural communication has become
a business in itself.
 Lack of knowledge of another culture can
lead, at the best, to embarrassing or amusing
mistakes in communication.
 At the worst, such mistakes may confuse or
even offend the people we wish to
communicate with, making the conclusion of
business deals or international agreements
difficult or impossible.
 Simply translating words is not enough—deeper
understanding of the other culture is necessary to
translate meaning effectively:
 Some examples from the advertising world:
 A General Motors auto ad with "Body by Fisher"
became "Corpse by Fisher" in Flemish.
 A Colgate-Palmolive toothpaste named "Cue" was
advertised in France before anyone realized
that Cue also happened to be the name of a widely
circulated pornographic book about oral sex.
 Pepsi Cola's "Come Alive With Pepsi" campaign, when
it was translated for the Taiwanese market, conveyed
the unsettling news that, "Pepsi brings your ancestors
back from the grave."
 For those that deal with the public in multi-
cultural societies, knowledge of different
ethnicities, religions and cultures is
important in breaking down barriers.
 As Martin Luther King once said,
"Men hate each other because they fear each
other, and they fear each other because they
don't know each other.."
 "...the single greatest barrier to business
success is the one erected by culture." Edward
T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall
 Understanding and appreciating intercultural
differences ultimately promotes clearer
communication,
 breaks down barriers,
 builds trust,
 strengthens relationships,
 opens horizons
 yields tangible results in terms of business
success.
 Culture shock is a part of the process of
trying to adjust and adapt to a new culture.
 Specifically, culture shock is a mental state
caused by the transition that occurs when
you go from a familiar cultural environment
to an unfamiliar one
 and discover that your normative,
established patterns of behavior are
ineffective.
 The reactions associated with culture shock
may vary widely among individuals and can
appear at different times.
 When confronting some of the effects
associated with culture shock, it is not
uncommon for people to experience:
 a sense of disorientation,
 feelings of rejection,
 homesickness,
 withdrawal,
 irritation, and physical and mental fatigue.
 The first phase, the exhilaration stage, is
usually filled with excitement,
hopefulness, and even a feeling of
euphoria.
 People see their cultural experience as a
time to explore everything from new
foods to a different pace of life.
 Disenchantment stage- begins when they
recognize the reality of the new setting,
 start to encounter some difficulties, and
adaptation and communication problems
begin to emerge:
 difficulties of language, inadequate schools
for the children,
 poor housing, crowded transportation,
chaotic shopping…
 Confused and baffled by their new
surroundings, people can easily become
irritated, hostile, impatient, angry, and even
lonely.
 The adjustment stage, the third phase, is
when the sojourner gains some cultural
insight
 and gradually begins to make some
adjustments and modifications in coping with
the new surroundings.
 In the final phase, the effective functioning
stage, people understand the key elements
of the new culture (special customs,
behaviors, communication patterns, and
such)
 and feel comfortable in the surroundings
 Enculturation= the process of learning the
culture of your birth.

 The name given to the process of learning to

live in a new culture is acculturation.
 Berry defines acculturation as “the dual
process of cultural and psychological change
that takes place as a result of contact
between two or more cultural groups and
their individual members…”
 Ralph Waldo Emerson: “No man should travel
until he has learned the language of the
country he visits. Otherwise he makes
himself a great baby—so helpless and so
ridiculous.”
 Lack of language skills is a strong barrier to
effective cultural adjustment and
communication,
 whereas lack of knowledge concerning the
ways of speaking of a particular group will
reduce the level of understanding.
 Ethnocentrism = a conviction that one’s own
culture is superior to all other cultures.
 Problems adapting to a new culture are often
hindered by ethnocentrism,
 and excessive ethnocentrism can lead to
prejudice,
 which in turn results in mistrust, hostility,
and even hate.
 Developing a fund of knowledge about other
cultures is a useful first step toward improving
intercultural communication.
 Culture shock and adaptation may be less
troublesome if you become aware of the fundamental
characteristics of the culture in which you will be
living.
 Cultural awareness refers to understanding the
culture’s religious orientation,
 Historical background,
 political system,
 key values and beliefs,
 verbal and nonverbal behaviors,
 family organization, social etiquette, and other
similar aspects.
 How would you respond if someone
embarrassed you in front of others, put you
down, or treated you as if you were
insignificant?
 The answer is obvious: Your feelings would
range from anger to emotional hurt.
 Confucius has much the same message
concerning the ethical treatment of others
when he tells us that:
 “Without feelings of respect, what is there
to distinguish men from beasts?”
 In intercultural interactions this means that
you must reach beyond your own cultural
norms and respect the norms of other
cultures.
 The world’s great religious traditions have
also recognized the values that bind people
and make for a more just society.
 They all offer tutoring to their followers -
correct moral precepts.
 For example, they all denounce murder,
stealing,
 bearing false witness, adultery, and the like.
 In addition, these traditions also agree on
the significance of the “Golden Rule.”
 the wisdom contained within the words is
universal>
 Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways you
yourself would find harmful.”
 Christianity: “All things whatsoever ye would
that men should do to you, do ye even so to
them.”
 Confucianism: “Do not do unto others what
you would not have them do unto you.”
 Hinduism: “This is the sum of duty: Do
naught unto others which would cause you
pain if done to you.”
 Islam: “No one of you is a believer until he
desires for his brother that which he desires
for himself.”
 Judaism: “What is hateful to you; do not to
your fellow man. This is the law; all the rest
is commentary.”
  “All people have the right to be equal and
the equal right to be different.”
Former President Shimon Peres of the State of Israel

 While seeking commonalities you need to be

aware and respectful of cultural differences.
 Keep in mind: People are both alike and
different.
 Aim of the course:
 You should be convinced of three important
points:
1. First, learning how to become successful in
your future intercultural interactions is a
necessary and worthwhile pursuit.
2. Second, venturing in and out of cultures
different from your own can involve culture
shock and other issues related to
acculturation.
3. And third, the study of intercultural
communication requires that you develop a set
of ethical standards because your interactions
with other people will influence them in both
minor and major ways.
 Specifically, we need to offer three warnings
that will clarify the crucial link between
culture and communication.
 These qualifications deal with:
 (1) the uniqueness of each individual,
 (2) the perils of generalizing, and
 (3) the need for objectivity.
 Your genetic makeup,
 social group experiences,
 language,
 gender, age,
 individual and family history,
 political affiliation,
 educational level,
 perceptions of others,
 the region and neighborhood where you grew up,
 your religious experiences,
 and many other aspects are at play every moment of
your life.
 All of these factors (along with culture) form your
individual personality.
 all Americans wear baseball caps everywhere
they go and eat mostly fast food =
generalizing.
 When Americans conclude that Germans and
Irish spend most of their time drinking beer
and singing old folk songs in beer halls and
pubs, they are generalizing.
 And when people say that Muslims do not
have time to do anything but pray because
they pray five times a day, they are also
generalizing.
 When we generalize, we are allowing a few
instances to represent an entire class of events,
people, or experiences.
 It is easy to fall into the trap of employing
generalizations.
 E.g. after meeting someone from India who is
studying computer science, you conclude that all
students from India only want jobs working with
computers.
 In intercultural communication, this means
ascribing characteristics to a larger group of
people based on attributes displayed by a
smaller group.
 differfrom generalizations in that they may
not be based solely on assumption and
usually appeal to the audience’s positive or
negative emotions.
 For example, “all Asian students make good
grades” is a stereotype.
 A generalization would be “Records indicate
that Asian students are likely to make good
grades.”
 You even see a somewhat consistent pattern
in something as simple as greeting behavior.
 For example, in Mexico people usually
embrace,
 in India people bow,
 in the United States people typically shake
hands.
 These kinds of behaviors are recognizable
because of their consistency over an
extended period, usually involving generation
after generation.
 Conclusions and statements about cultures
should be qualified so that they do not appear to
be absolutes, but only cautious generalizations.
 E.g. if the culture is somewhat homogeneous,
such as that of Japanese or Koreans, references
to group characteristics tend be more accurate.
 However, heterogeneous cultures, like the
United States, are far more difficult to
generalize about
 because of the variety of backgrounds, religions,
ethnic groups, and the importance placed on
each person’s individuality.
 definition of objectivity- “The state of being
objective, just, unbiased and not influenced
by emotions or personal prejudices”.
 The method of using your own culture as an
anchor for assessing other cultures is called
ethnocentrism.
 Ethnocentrism is “the belief that one’s
culture is superior to all other’s.”
 E.g. An American might believe that the
family organization of the Watusi (of East
Africa) is immoral because a husband may
have several wives.
 To reject someone simply for having a
different skin color, living in a different
country,
 advocating a different worldview,
 or speaking another language diminishes
them and keeps you from having new
cultural experiences.
 Objectivity promotes learning to interact
with and value distinct groups of people
 regardless of their culture, race, ethnicity,
religion, country, or gender.
 Now we are ready to begin the process of
improving your interactions with people of
cultures different from your own!
 Lectures - topics:
 examine values and cultural patterns that shape
the perspectives and behaviors of people.
 Numerous cultural comparisons illustrate the link
between cultural patterns and intercultural
interaction.
 Cultural identity—the way it is formed and its
impact on perception and communication.
 This lecture demonstrates how cultural identity,
when misused, can lead to stereotyping,
prejudice, racism, and ethnocentrism.
 the symbols of intercultural interaction.
 how language is used in intercultural
communicative exchanges and the ways it is
often employed differently depending on the
culture.
 the effects of cultural diversity on nonverbal
communication and how nonverbal messages
support verbal communication in a variety of
cultures.
 The importance of two communication
principles:
1. first, that communication is rule governed,
2. second, that those rules are often tied to a
particular cultural context.
 Specifically, our investigation turns to
cultural variations in the business setting.
 Coping with culturally unique concepts -
linguistically represented items that pose a
problem in translation because they do not exist
in the target culture or have a different value.
 Cultural knowledge and cultural differences have
been a major focus of translator training and
translation theory.
 The main concern has traditionally been with
words and phrases that are so heavily and
exclusively grounded in one culture that they are
almost impossible to translate into the terms –
verbal or otherwise – of another.
 METHOD OF EVALUATION

Intercultural Research and Analysis Project 30%

Group Presentation on Course Topic 20%

Examination 50%
TOTAL 100%
 Working in teams of 4-5 individuals, groups
will investigate a particular intercultural
situation,
 present their project to the class,
 and produce a report that summarizes the
project.
 At the end of each class presentation, the
other class members will be asked to provide
feedback to the group about their
presentation.
 The six topics are: (+ ideas - from ACTIVITIES – textbook
Communicating Across Cultures, pp. 212, 243, 264, etc.

 1. Verbal communication
 2. Nonverbal communication/ Nonverbal misinterpretations:
Nonverbal messages and signals are located within cultures
and patterns of behavior and, therefore, cannot be learned
through mere language acquisition.
 3. Intercultural relationships
 4. Preconceptions and stereotypes: Intercultural
communication takes place in the backdrop of preconceptions
and stereotypes deriving from initial contacts with other
cultures.
 5. Intercultural conflict. Roots of misunderstanding
 6. Cultural translation. Coping with culture specific items
(CSIs)
 1. Communicating Between Cultures, Eighth
Edition, by Larry A. Samovar, Richard E.
Porter, Edwin, R. McDaniel & Carolyn S. Roy.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2013
 2. Readings and Lecture notes made
available throughout the semester by
handout or sent by e-mail.
 “Examples of culture shock.”
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT0kzF4
A-WQ
 What we have to do … is to find a way to
celebrate our diversity and debate our
differences without fracturing our
communities. HILLARY CLINTON