Analysis Of Barna's Stumbling Blocks In Intercultural Communication

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At home and in class, we have watched 3 videos related to intercultural communication problems that can happen in real-life. We also read about Barna’s Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication which is deeply in relate to the videos. The first video on the baseball player eating with a Japanese coach’s family had many examples of the “stumbling blocks.”
First of all, there is the assumption of similarities from the beginning of the video, which is the first and the longest stumbling block mentioned in the article. The assumption of similarities happens because we are all human with needs of food and shelter makes us into thinking we are all the same. In the first part of the video, every family member slurps Japanese somen with chopsticks. These people did not teach Jack, the baseball player, how to eat somen and assumed he can do the same. Once he tries slurping the somen making a huge sound and holding chopsticks like a spoon, all the Japanese family members stare at him. Another example of this stumbling block is when Hiroko, the coach’s sister, tries to serve him and holds up the plate, he does not understand what she is doing and just stare. This is Hiroko assuming that Jack knows what she is doing to serve him but he does not know that since he has grown up in a different culture where people do not serve others. This serving scene is also related to the third stumbling block, nonverbal misinterpretations. This block means that there are different

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