POTENTIAL CROSS-CULTURAL MISUNDERSTANDINGS
Cross-cultural means communication between people with different culture or in between people that have no similarities in communication which has different nationality, accent, race, sexual orientation or their style of greeting. As each cultures has its own ways of living life. Each cultures have their own ways of communicating as well as their very own unique gesture of greeting their people. Cultures have their own ways of thinking, seeing, hearing and dealing with the world.
Cross-cultural misunderstandings can occur in first meetings and also in presentations. Both meetings and presentations will have language barriers as when languages are different and in order for individuals to communicate is to translate before delivering or receiving message and information, it is possible to occur language barriers. It will be hard for
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One can practice different cultures as it could improve communication and less misunderstanding will occur. Training for employees are needed to improve their communication skills with customers as it will not only be local customers coming to buy or sell goods and services. Employees could be dealing with customers from other country with different culture and has different meaning of gestures. A lot of communication with employees can help too, as employees may be from different culture therefore, they can help and teach other culture their culture. It is as if one culture is practicing another culture so that they can understand and respect each other’s culture that can be useful in the future for communicating. Individual need to respect each other’s culture too in order to avoid misunderstanding. Never give up on overcoming cross-cultural barriers as it is needed in life to improve communication skills. Always have an open heart to learn more cultures instead of just one
In the essay “The Cost of Diversity in Communication: Two Camels”, the author Eva Karlsson shows how the lack of speaking a common language and diverse cultural perspectives can cause misunderstanding and embarrassing situations. Karlsson tells us about a very unusual misunderstanding that happened to a couple from Sweden who were on a vacation in Tunisia. The author says, in Souse, where Sara and Larry were enjoying their time, they decided to go to a night club. While they were there, a Tunisian man came up to Sara’s boyfriend asking permission to dance with her. Larry approved.
Q 5 – Explain how diversity impacts on practices and experiences on person behaviour, interpersonal relationships, perception and social expectations of others. A – Acknowledge similarities and differences that exist between yourself, co-workers and clients. Culture plays an important part in a person’s behaviour, thoughts and how they relate towards others. An individual's cultural perceptions and expectations will directly impact on the way they work with each client and their co-workers; a failure to recognise cultural differences may cause serious problems when they are dealing with others in the workplace.
Another instance of misinterpretation hindered by noise and cultural difference is -when I am at home with my Nigerian roommate, I particularly choose to speak my native language because it is more convenient. For instance, if I am speaking to my roommate while my American girlfriend is present, I will respond to him in my native language. However, my girlfriend feels offended because she misinterprets our conversation; and believes that we are talking negatively about her. Moreover, I am only choosing to speak my language because the words form
In order for this to work both cultures need to first build the relationships and establish a sense of trust between each other. Then, they need to be empathetic towards each other. In this case it is not where you are sympathetic for someone who does not understand the new culture around them, but you put yourself in their shoes and try to understand the difficult circumstances that are in front of them to help close the gap and not make it
If a person does not speak English then they will need a translator to help them. Respect for culture An effective relationship can involve a professional respecting the individual for who they are this is can be seen as a positive thing because it is
As you can tell from the videos, without knowing anything at the beginning, it is impossible to understand what other cultures are, but I also felt that it is also impractical to overcome all of these 6 stumbling blocks of intercultural communication. For example, if you don’t assume something, you become anxious and that navigates us to another issue that she mentioned, which was stress. The misinterpretations of nonverbal communication are something that is linked with assumption. All of these issues are big issues that prevent us from communicating fully. However I believe there is something more important to us, for example like how fully interested we are in cultures, how optimistic we are to this subject, how much we realize that there are ubiquitous cultural conflicts to cultures in the world.
Also, it is important that we learn to respect ourselves as people and never do anything which we believe is inappropriate. We have to respect other cultures if we want others to respect ours. Lastly, we must understand that sometimes we have to change some features of our culture to give chance to new and fairer
Everyone should respect others culture and try to understand others culture goals and norms as it is important to live with different cultural people. As every culture have its own norms, goals, experiences and
A culture, by definition, is a set of shared beliefs within a society; learning how to interact with people from different cultures is important in order to communicate and work with each other. It helps us become understanding of one another and widens our perspective of what the world has to offer. To be able to cross cultural communicate with others, the first step is to be aware that every culture is complex and has its differences. While traveling to new countries and trying to understand each other, there is a large possibility of miscommunication, which can come in the form of misinterpreting messages or body language; therefore, it is crucial to keep an open mind whilst communicating. There are multitudes of factors in various cultures that play a role in decision making, so being aware of the expectations that are influenced by someone’s culture will help you understand their choices.
Up until now, I have had very little cross-cultural experience in the course of my life. Beginning with the fact that both of my parents are Dutch and the fact that I grew up here, made me a fully Dutch citizen, both in terms of origin and education. I am born and raised in a small village in the Netherlands, called Bodegraven. My parents have not provided me with a cross-cultural background as they both grew up on Dutch farms. However, they took me on holidays to several countries in Europe and to Canada and America once.
The interaction can be described as more interpersonal than intercultural as a result of the degree of interactant is drawing on personality traits, personal values and experience. When people from different cultural background become close to each other, their interactions typically move along the continuum from more intercultural to more interpersonal, though intercultural elements may always play a role. There is no doubt that no matter for casual or business communication, be sensitive to intercultural communication is always a key to achieve
There are countless reported negative American stereotypes and I honestly struggled tremendously to find a stereotype that I identified with. However, I would say cultural ignorance is a negative American stereotype I can actively work to address as our class travels internationally. Researching cultural ignorance more in-depth will aid in my understanding and appreciating diverse cultural perspectives, the importance of historical knowledge, and the complexity of communication amongst different cultures as I travel to Europe. Cultural ignorance is when an individual shows a lack of understanding of other cultures in terms of history, society, government, and much more. This lack of knowledge and understanding can easily be interpreted as a lack of respect for the culture or country and even ethnocentrism in the more extreme examples.
Cultural identity plays a very vital role in cross cultural communication, people from a particular culture communicate with partners and employees from many different cultures and in this situation every individual strives to keep their cultural and individual identity. According to Gardiner and Kosmitzki, identity is defined as “a person 's self-definition as a separate and distinct individual, including behaviours, beliefs, and attitudes” (Gardiner & Kosmitzki, 2008, p. 154). Also, Ting-Toomey defines identity as a "reflective self-conception or self-image that we each derive from our family, gender, cultural, ethnic, and individual socialization process"( Ting-Toomey, 2005). Both definitions bring out the generalisation of cultural identity
Abstract Communicating successfully with people from different cultures can be a real challenge. Cultural differences may lead to tensions, arguments, and even wars between peoples and nations. This paper deals with one of the most common problems in intercultural communication cultural shock, it introduces its concepts and basic traits, causes and symptoms, stages of adjustment and strategies of overcoming culture shock with the aim of improving intercultural communication competence for smoothing intercultural communication. Key words: Cultural shock; Intercultural communication; Stages of adjustment; Intercultural communication competence Wang, M. L. (2015).
These trainings certify valuable and effective communication among the employees (Nishii & Ozbilgin, 2007). Cross cultural training is very important for growth and development of business of the company having the cultural diverse workforce. Without having training and knowledge of the multi culture, it is difficult for employees to deal in the diverse cultural environment where they are working. Lack of cross cultural trainings may result in poor teamwork as well as collaboration in business matters which may results financial loss. Moreover, this may result miscommunication as well as frustration.