Generally speaking, we as human beings live in groups, societies and communities. These societies or groups have certain forms of habits or behaviors and this is what is known as culture. One of the major components of the definition of culture is language; hence, David Crystal said ‘there ought to be a word languaculture . ’Therefore, it has been acknowledged that language is the instrument that is used to express feelings attitudes, assumptions or to convey messages. Thus, diversities within communities resulted in the difference within the languages that is used to address the needs and hopes of those societies, a matter which led to the existence of the so-called phenomenon of multilingualism which is an integral part of global citizenship.
Misunderstandings can take place in communication while it is done in an intercultural way. But intercultural communication can be analyzed beyond misunderstanding. Cultural misunderstanding is not always the only outcome of the interpretation of different languages. Intercultural communication can also help in understanding the culture of the people of the speakers of language. This book also deals with that language also helps people to know about the culture they are reading by the gesture of the speech such as their way of approach, point of view as a community and others.
Basic needs are sensitivity and self-consciousness: the understanding of other behaviors and ways of thinking as well as the ability to express one's own point or view in a transparent way with the aim to be understood and respected by staying flexible where this is possible, and being clear and transparent where this is necessary (Xu, 2009) . Intercultural competence is the ability for successful communication with people of other cultures. This ability can be existing already at a young age, or be developed and improved thanks to willpower and competence. The bases for a successful intercultural communication are emotional competence, together with intercultural sensitivity. Intercultural Competence is a set of cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills and characteristics that supports effective and appropriate interaction in a variety of cultural contexts.
Relationships are formed through communication. However, there are instances when communication becomes complex and multifaceted, which is believed to be part of its nature. At some point, there are several instances wherein a simple miscommunication and misunderstanding can heavily bring down a relationship or complicates everything. This does not solely account for communication and its nature alone, as there are also several factors that can hinder effective communication, such as the simple noise. Moreover, the point of the matter is that communication plays a vital part for people from different cultures, personalities or race to get to know each other.
Rather, it evokes a distinct sense of movement across social and/or ethnic boundaries. In this view, “language crossing involves code alternation by people who are not accepted members of the group associated with the second language that they are using” (Rampton 1995:485). He further argues “crossing is part of a complex process of self-assembly in which speakers signal their orientation towards the different voices they adopt. And this is concerned with secondary representation of people, groups and languages and the dynamics of the speakers’ orientation of the voice, the language and the social imagery they are
It is the vital way of communication performed among humans, has an important role in “defining and expressing the world that is around us.” It is how we send out a message to other people. Language is further defined as “the ability to acquire and use complex systems of communication, particularly the human ability to do so, and language is any specific example of such a system.” This paper aims to investigate the cultural aspect of communication which is referred to as pragmatics. Cutting (2008) “describes pragmatics as a field of linguistics which examines the language and language variations according to the contexts in which they are used. One of the most prominent contexts of the language is the cultural environment in which the language is used”. La Castro (2012) “states that actions such as asking someone to close the door or ordering coffee at a coffee shop are closely related
Language and gender Language and the way of speaking play a significant role on the way people reflect and position themselves in society. The way we use language and communicate indicate significantly the way we qualify ourselves on power and authority or it disqualifies us in such terms. On the past decades, language and gender as very influential factors have become a study for many scholars who try to explain the way man and women use language. However, gender is just the way male and female are constructed, while language differs much from gender as it consists of the way we maintain old meanings and work on constructing new ones. By this, we must look on the verbal interaction among two groups and see how they engage in organization of talk which is pretty much allocated differently among cultures.
For some culture, eye contact is seen as a sign of bravery and for others may be viewed as a threat. So if someone does not have appropriate knowledge about body language or facial expression, it might affect the communication process. Furthermore, concerning the workplace, in western culture, individuals are encouraged to be self dependent and to be free to make any important decision whereas in other cultures group decision making is considered as essential as the view of each member counts. This can be a cultural barrier. In addition, religion is also viewed as a cultural barrier.
Simply put one must take the fact that communicating with different people almost always must be approached differently. One must anticipate that how we say something with the tone of our voice but also who we say it to may turn out very different. 5. Defining the communication goal is not only the first step but also one of the most important. Thinking about what you would like to
There are rules of combining speech sounds of language, and some rules which are applicable to certain language might not be applicable to another language. Phonological rules are part of communication through language, whether spoken or written, and knowing what they are and why they exist can help us better understand our world. In order to understand the purpose of phonological rules, we need to understand what a phoneme is. According to the traditional phonological theories “a phoneme is the minimal unit in the sound system of a language” ( Crystal,1997, p. 287) . Phonological rules are the rules whether written or spoken that control how sounds change during vocal communication.