Understanding Cultures for Effective Communication
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine the many different cultural backgrounds as a whole and come to the realization and conclusion that other cultures have the exact same fears and misguided interpretations that we have and face today. To understand the vast many beliefs and traditions that each culture represents, so as to further advance our own culture and nation.
Understanding Cultures for Effective Communication
We all have an internal list of those we still don't understand, let alone appreciate. We all have biases, even prejudices, toward specific groups. Fears usually include being judged, miscommunication, and patronizing or hurting others unintentionally; hopes are usually the possibility of dialogue, learning something new, developing friendships, and understanding different points of view. At any moment that we're dealing with people different from ourselves, the likelihood is that they carry a similar list of hopes and fears in their back pocket.
From Waging Peace in Our Schools,
By Linda Lantieri and Janet Patti (Beacon Press, 1996)
We communicate with others all the time, in our homes, in our workplaces, in the groups we belong to, and in the community. No matter how well we think we understand each other, communication is hard. Just think, for example, how often we hear things like, "He doesn't get it," or "She didn't really hear what I meant to say." "Culture" is often at the root of communication challenges. Our culture influences how we approach problems, and how we participate in groups and in communities. When we participate in groups we are often surprised at how differently people approach their work together.
Culture is a complex concept, with many different definitions. But, simply put, "culture" refers to a group or community with which we share common experiences that shape the way we understand the world. It includes groups that we are born into, such as gender, race, or national origin. It also includes groups we join or become part of. For example, we can acquire a new culture by moving to a new region, by a change in our economic status, or by becoming disabled. When we think of culture this broadly, we realize we all belong to many c...
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...6) Recent popular works demonstrate that our own society is paying more attention to previously overlooked ways of knowing.
As you enter into multicultural dialogue or collaboration, keep in mind, the six fundamental patterns of cultural differences. Next time you find yourself in a confusing situation, and you suspect that cross-cultural differences are at play, try to review the list and ask yourself how culture may be shaping your own reactions, then try to see the world from others' points of view. These descriptions point out some of the recurring causes of cross-cultural communication difficulties and give you the ways in which cultures, as a whole, tend to vary from one another.
References
Avruch, Kevin. Culture and Conflict Resolution Washington, DC: United States Institute for Peace, 1998. http://www.peacemakers.ca/bibliography/bib3culture.html
Lantieri, L. Waging Peace in Our Schools (Beacon Press, 1996) http://www.esrnational.org/lantieri/publications_waging.htm
Rushworth, Kiddler. Finding an Ethical Common Ground. (1998-99) http://zeus.uwindsor.ca/courses/comm.stud/machiorlatti/notes.htm
How does one define what culture is? Culture is defined as the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with, their world and with one another - transmitted from generation through learning. This is particularly meaning a pattern of behavior shared by a society or group of people; with many things making up a society’s ‘way of life’ such as language, foods etc. Culture is something that molds people into who they are today. It influences how people handle a variety of situations, process information and how they interact with others. However, there are events when one’s own culture does not play a significant role in the decisions that they make or how they see the world. Despite
Differences among among culture has sparked conflict for centuries because humans fear change. They fear difference. They fear it because nothing is scarier than being told your life is a lie. Years ago people conquered other people through force. Now, with lots of leaders against war, culture is one of the strongest ways to unify and achieve a sense of
“Communicating can be a very complex and intricate process involving the exchange of messages between interactants, both verbally and nonverbally” (2013).When effectively communicating in a culturally diverse workplace; it is important to understand the people in the different culture may not communicate in the same manner as another would. Each cultur...
If you are a European American traveling in Italy, the cultures will seem very different. One of the biggest is the concept of time! Italians will usually be late to appointments and not think anything of it. Americans are always frantically running. They don’t want to be late to work or an event. Even if they are on time, they feel late so they need to come earlier. Neither is right or wrong, it is the culture that makes them different. Communicating across cultures is challenging. Each culture has set rules that its members take for granted. Few of us are aware of our own cultural biases because cultural imprinting begins at a very early age. And while some of a culture's knowledge, rules, beliefs, values, phobias, and anxieties are taught, most of the information is learned subconsciously. The challenge for communication has never been greater. Worldwide business organizations have discovered that intercultural communication is very important, not just because of increased globalization, but also because domestic workforce is growing more and more diverse, ethnically and culturally. We are all individuals. No two people belong to the same culture and they are not going to respond in exactly the same way. However, generalizations are valid to the extent that they provide clues on what you will most likely encounter when dealing with members of a particular
What is culture? Many people ask themselves this question every day. The more you think about it the more confusing it is. Sometimes you start leaning to a culture and then people tell you you’re wrong
Many people who go to visit or work in another country suffer some misunderstanding from the local people, because they have a different culture. Different culture will cause disparity points of view about almost everything. In the article, Intercultural Communication Stumbling Blocks by Laray M. Barna, there are five stumbling blocks mentioned that are seen in a cross-culture communication. These blocks are: language, nonverbal signs and symbols, preconceptions and stereotypes, the tendency to evaluate and high anxiety. Barna wants to use these stumbling blocks to show the common blockades between different cultures. I agree with what she thinks about the language, nonverbal signs and symbols, preconceptions and stereotypes, and the tendency
Culture has a variety of meanings in our daily lives. Culture is defined as objects created by a society as well as the ways of thinking, acting, and behaving in a society (Macionis). Culture has a variety of elements that is important in understand. To grasp culture, we must consider both thoughts and things. Culture shapes not only what we do, but also what we think and how we feel.
Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving. Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people…Culture in its broadest sense of cultivated behavior; a totality of a person’s learned, accumulated experience which is socially transmitted, or more briefly, behavior through social learning (http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/choudhury/culture.html).
One way to be a competent communicator is to be aware of things that can affect the way you communicate. For example, your environment. Personal experiences and your personal cultural background can affect the way you think about others, which can resultantly affect the way you communicate. While you might think something you do is right and ethical, while another person might find it wrong and unethical, or vice versa. This can make communication more of a challenge or impossible. One way to eliminate this problem is to try to be more understanding to someone’s background, to put yourself into their shoes and to understand that everyone has different backgrounds and different ways of perceiving what is right and wrong. It is important to remember that people from different backgrounds often can share enough common ground to make an effective relationship which can lead to effective communication.
When interacting with a person from a different culture, there are many obstacles that one may, and probably will, face during the time spent together. Laray Barna, author of Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication, refers to these obstacles as “Stumbling Blocks” and states the six main ones in her article. These main stumbling blocks faced are the following: assumption of similarity, language difference, nonverbal misinterpretation, preconceptions and stereotypes, tendency to evaluate, and high anxiety. Every one of these blocks create feelings of unease when faced, specifically the feelings of misunderstanding and frustration. Learning to overcome these blocks is the key to having successful interaction with different cultures.
Since communication affects almost all aspect of our life, it is important to enhance the skills of communication. Difficulty in expressing or conveying your message may lead to your communication becoming unaffected. And, ineffective communication will lead to your message becoming confused and misunderstand. Thus, recognizing the barriers in communication is the first step in improving communication. There are many factors that cause the failure in communication such as language, gender, culture, and interpersonal barrier. However, it is clearly that the different culture has a different pattern in transferring message and has a strong influence in our communication skills. To avoid the barrier in culture, this paper will try to analyze the differences in culture between Asia and America that impact on the two ...
Humans have been communicating since four million years. On the other hand, the birth of culture is estimated to have taken place about 35,000 years ago. Today, both culture and communication have evolved considerably and have become interdependent of one another, to the point that communication is considered to be a product of culture. Thus, our own culture has a deep impact on our thoughts and behaviors. Since each culture has its distinct aspects, intercultural communication can be the cause of conflict and disorder. There are three main issues which are at the root of the problem of intercultural miscommunication : language as a barrier, cultural diversity and ethnocentrism. I will analyze these three notions in situations in which intercultural communication is frequent such as : the workplace, the classroom and vacation trips.
Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects and behavior. It includes the ideas, value, customs and artifacts of a group of people (Schaefer, 2002). Culture is a pattern of human activities and the symbols that give these activities significance. It is what people eat, how they dress, beliefs they hold and activities they engage in. It is the totality of the way of life evolved by a people in their attempts to meet the challenges of living in their environment, which gives order and meaning to their social, political, economic, aesthetic and religious norms and modes of organization thus distinguishing people from their neighbors.
1. What is Culture? What I personally think is that our culture is the foundation of who we really are in life. It identifies the lifestyle and pursuits that are practiced in the group of people we relate with in our society. In other words, an important concept to understand is that cultural beliefs, values, and practices are learned from birth first at home, in church, and other places where people meet. Some practices and beliefs in human culture include religion, music, sports, food, health beliefs, and art which represent the values we have in life. Also, our own culture is diverse and it is significant to look with in and identify what we value the most, what is essentially needed, and how we see the world. It is our remaining tool and we don’t even realize it is needed to communicate and socialize with others.
The term “culture” refers to the complex accumulation of knowledge, folklore, language, rules, rituals, habits, lifestyles, attitudes, beliefs, and customs that link and provide a general identity to a group of people. Cultures take a long time to develop. There are many things that establish identity give meaning to life, define what one becomes, and how one should behave.