Non- Fiction: Cross Cultural Communication October 1, 2013

Cross Cultural Communication Human Communication is the ability to symbolize and use language which separates humans from animals. It is the vehicle by which people initiate, maintain and terminate their relationships with others. There are certain properties of communication upon which most communication scholars agree describe its nature: 1. Process it is anything that is ongoing, ever-changing and continuous 2. Dynamic it is considered active and/or forceful 3. Interactive- transactive it occurs between people 4. Symbolic It is arbitrarily selected and learned stimulus that represents something else 5. Intentional It exists when two or more people consciously engage in interaction with some purpose

6. Contextual communication is dependent on the context in which it occurs. A context is the cultural, physical, relational, and perceptual environment in which communication occurs. 7. Ubiquitous It means communication is everywhere. 8. Cultural culture shapes our communication and communication is culture bound. People from different culture communicate differently. The verbal and nonverbal symbols we use to communicate with our friends and families are strongly influenced by our culture Cross Cultural Communication is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds endeavor to communicate. This occurs when a person from one culture sends a message to a person from another culture. However, there are many instances that miscommunication exists. The greater the differences between the senders and the receivers cultures, the greater the chance for cross cultural miscommunication. Likewise, this occurs when the person from the second culture does not receive the senders intended message. Listed below the causes of miscommunication and misunderstanding: MISPERCEPTION Perception is the process by which each individual selects, organizes and evaluates stimuli from the external environment to provide meaningful experiences for

Non- Fiction: Cross Cultural Communication October 1, 2013 himself or herself. Perceptual patterns are neither innate nor absolute. They are selective, learned, culturally determined, consistent and inaccurate. And when our perceptual filters are distorted, miscommunication may likely happen. This causes us to see things that do not exist. MISINTERPRETATION Interpretation occurs when an individual gives meaning to observations and their relationships; it is the process of making sense out of perceptions. Interpretation organizes our experience to guide our behavior. Based on our experiences, we make assumptions about our perceptions so we will not have to rediscover meanings each time we encounter similar situations. For example, we make assumptions about how doors work, based on our experience of entering and leaving rooms; thus we do not have to relearn each time we have to open a door. Similarly, when we smell smoke, we generally assume there is a fire. Our consistent patterns of interpretation help us to act appropriately and quickly within our day- to- day world. But when we use our own culture as basis to interpret other cultures, misunderstanding occurs. MISEVALUATION Even more than perception and interpretation, cultural conditioning strongly affects evaluation. Evaluation involves judging whether someone or something is good or bad. Cross- culturally, we use our own culture as a standard of measurement, judging that which is like our own culture as normal and good and that which is different as abnormal and bad. Our own culture becomes self- reference criterion: since no other culture is identical to our own, we judge all other cultures as inferior (substandard). Evaluation rarely helps in trying to understand or communicate with people from other culture. Activity 1: Determine the root word of each word 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Miscommunication Misevaluation Misevaluation Misperception Intercultural

Activity 2: Answer the following. Choose the following words (reference, language, process, context, judge) 1. It is an instance of directing and referring 2. It makes decision authoritatively

Non- Fiction: Cross Cultural Communication October 1, 2013 3. Set of circumstances that surround the event 4. It is used by humans to understand others 5. It involves step- by- step system

Activity 3: Match the Column A to Column B. Write the answer in the space provided before the number

Column A _____1. Communication is considered forceful _____2. Communication is everywhere _____3. It is bounded in our manner of communicating _____4. It occurs when we use our own culture as basis to give meaning to others culture _____5. Communication occurs between people _____6. Communication represents something arbitrary _____7. It occurs when our perceptual filters are distorted _____8. It separates from human to animals. _____9. It consciously engaging themselves in communication _____10. Communication is ongoing and continuous

Column B a. Process b. Ubiquitous c. Communication d. interactive- transactive e. symbolic f. misperception g. misevaluation h. misinterpretation i. j. cultural intentional

h. dynamic

Non- Fiction: Cross Cultural Communication October 1, 2013