Personal Reflection: The Definition Of Cross-Cultural Communication

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As I mentioned earlier, I thought I had very good understanding of cross cultural communication. I did not know if I would gain much in this class before I decided to take this class. For me, cross cultural communication was about talking with people with different cultures backgrounds. For example, two people are from two different countries; the communication between them is cross culture. However, I found that cross cultural communication is a more complex thing than I ever thought. The definition of cross cultural communication can be defined as the ability to successfully form, foster, and improve relationships with members of a culture different from one’s own. It is based on knowledge of many factors, such as the other culture’s values, perceptions, manners, social structure, and decision-making practices, and an understanding of how members of the group communicate—verbally, non-verbally, in person, in writing, and in various business and social contexts, to name but a few. I know this is a long definition. It is not as simple as I ever thought.
I am taking PRT class this semester as well. It is about global citizen. I found PRT class and this class have many things in common. When I see the materials form PRT class, I could always link it to cross cultural communication. I think the connection between two classes is putting you in global position. In order to do this, we need to understand the culture in different countries, and cultural awareness is the foundation of communication and it involves the ability of standing back from ourselves and becoming aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perceptions. In PRT class, I was taught that cultural awareness is central when we have to interact with people ...

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...eded. I wish I could take this class more early. When I saw the responses from classmates, the responses were very different because the experience of each classmate is different. Now, I realize how diverse the customers would be. Even though most of the customers were from United States, I am not from United States. I could not understand what they need in first place. I have seen some ads example showing how simply translating words is not enough. Pepsi Cola’s “Come Alive With Pepsi” campaign when it was translated for the Taiwanese market, conveyed the unsetting news that, “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave.” This shows that deeper understanding of the other culture is necessary to translate meaning effectively. In short, cross cultural communication is relatively important for me when I want to do business international or domestically.

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