Intracultural, Intercultural, Cross-Cultural, and

International Communication: Whats

the Difference?
Today I want to answer a question Ive had myself, and one I believe other communication, sociology,
anthropology, political science, international relations, and students of other related disciplines might
have.
What is the difference between intracultural, intercultural, cross-cultural, and international
communication?
They may all seem to be talking about the same thing, but when scheduling your classes, you might
see one intercultural class, one cross-cultural class, and another international communication class. If
you are already in a related class, you might be reading studies or chapters that use all of these terms.
From a communication perspective, these terms DO NOT represent the same thing. While they all
might be underneath a similar roof, they describe entirely different rooms. The differences in the
meanings have to do with the perspective researchers take when studying a certain phenomenon, and
the type of research they decide to do. Also, the differences have to do with what factors are
influencing the communication. Knowing the differences between these terms will help you in future
class projects or in conversations with nerdy people such as this author (Im blogging about
definitions, cant hide the nerdiness if I wanted to). At the very least, knowing these differences might
help you at the local bar trivia night one day!
To answer this question, I turn to the textbook Intercultural Competence by Myron Lustig and
Jolene Koester. They clearly define each term in Chapter Two of their text.

Intracultural Communication
For this term, note the intra as compared to the inter I will discuss below. Intracultural
communication describes communication between at least two people who are from the same culture
or have culturally similar backgrounds. So, a conversation between two American citizens who both
grew up on the farms of Georgia would be intracultural because they will essentially have the same
background and cultural orientations.

Intercultural Communication
Intercultural communication describes communication between at least two people who are different
in significant ways culturally. For instance, a conversation between a man who grew up in Nepal and a
woman who grew up in Micronesia would probably be an intercultural conversation because we could
study how the different cultural backgrounds of the two people affect their communication strategies
towards each other.

Cross-Cultural
Cross-Cultural communication IS NOT the same thing as intercultural communication. While
intercultural communication deals with the interaction between at least two people, cross-cultural
communication describes the comparison of communication styles across cultures. For instance, a
paper about what happens when a Moroccan man speaks with a Hawaiian woman would be
intercultural, but a paper comparing the communication patterns of people from Morocco with the
communication patterns of people from Hawaii would be cross-cultural.

International Communication
This one is similar to intercultural communication because it also describes communication between
at least two people who are from different cultures. However, topics concerning international
communication dont really look at how cultural differences affect specific interactions between two
people because they are often focused on a larger picture. For instance, international communication
might describe how government offices from the U.S. communicate with government offices from
Turkey. Furthermore, they may describe communication between individuals who live in different
cultures, but have similar experiences (e.g., email communication between friends who both studied
together in the U.S. as exchange students but then went back to their own respective countries).
As with all things in the humanities, oftentimes concepts overlap with each other and change over
time. For instance, one paper you write might easily talk about both intracultural and intercultural
communication, or you may start a paper from the intercultural perspective and move up to a more
general cross-cultural perspective. Also, as people change, the communication between them changes.
Take the example of an intercultural friendshipits intercultural in the beginning because the two
people might be from different cultures. However, if that friendship lasts for many years, they will
learn enough about each others cultures to completely change the dynamic of the communication in
their relationship and make it an interpersonal one instead.

Definition

Example