Cross-Cultural And Intercultural Communication Case Study

Understanding one’s own culture is an important aspect of cross-cultural and intercultural communication, by allowing people to adapt and relate to different cultures. Culture can be defined as, “…a learned meaning system that consists of patterns of traditions, beliefs, values, norms, meanings, and symbols that are passed on from one generation to the next and are shared to varying degrees by interacting members of a community” (Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2012, pg. 16). Culture impacts how people communicate. Western countries, such as the United State and France, communicate differently than eastern countries, like China and Japan. High versus low context culture, and the iceberg metaphor of culture consisting of surface, intermediate and deep

High context cultures such as China use context clues, few words and symbols that have a shared meaning. People speak indirectly, not explicitly saying what they mean, but expecting others to understand based off of context clues and the shared meaning of the language. Asian and Middle Eastern countries are more likely to have a high context culture due to their homogeneity and lack of diversity. Belonging to the in-group is important due to the necessity of a shared meaning behind the context clues and symbols. Low context cultures speak directly and clarify expressions by using more words. The usage of symbols and context clues are rare. Being a part of the in-group is less important due to the direct language. The United States practices low context culture by asking direct questions and using more words for explanations. Westernized countries are more diverse racially and ethnically compared to Asia. The United States is often referred to as a ‘melting pot’ in regards to the different cultures, races and ethnicities found inside the

The first level refers to surface level culture which refers to fleeting images represented in popular culture such as TV, film and music. The surface level is often times based on stereotypes. Crime shows such as NCIS and CSI follow crime scenes in major US cities and are exaggerated for dramatic purposes. The shows contain, “fast paced suspense drama, featuring attractive-looking actors…” (Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2012, pg. 17). TV producers place more merit on ratings than factual information. Music videos and movies also intensify the party scene found at American colleges. Asher Roth’s I Love College, illustrates a party school where people sleep until one and never go to class (2009). While partying and drinking does happen a lot on campus, most students also focus on their education in between. Outsiders who see that music video may assume American college students are drunk all the time, but that is