What is the meaning of intercultural communication?

Intercultural communication refers to the communication between people from

two different cultures. Intercultural communication is a symbolic, interpretive,
transactional, contextual process in which people from different cultures create
shared meanings.

 Introduction

Cultural differences influence the way people communicate across different

cultures. The major cultural differences that affect intercultural communication
are in verbal and non-verbal communication.

The concept of communication

Among early communication scholars, communication was defined as a process of

conveying information form one person to another .Since the 1960s,
communication theorists have defined communication as the interpretation of
meaning through symbols and signs or as a meaning-making process heavily
influenced by culture Lusting and Koester(1993) summarized these (post)modern
definitions into a contemporary definition of communications as a ‘symbolic,
interpretive, transactional, contextual process in which people create shared
meanings’ .

What is intercultural communication?

Intercultural communication is a communication process in which people from

different cultures try to understand what others from different cultures try to
communicate and what their messages mean. In a tourism context, hosts want to
understand the tourists’ needs and deliver a product tourists want, and tourists
want to communicate their needs to hosts to receive the product they want.
Difficulties in intercultural communication

Introduction

The difficulties in intercultural communication are caused by cultural differences.

Tourists always experience communication difficulties in contact with hosts due
to the cultural differences. Cultural differences cause tourist-host friction,
misunderstanding, and often hostility Items

1. Verbal signals
2. Non-verbal signals
3. Relationship patterns
4. Conversation style
5. Interaction style
6. Values
7. Time orientation
8. Context orientation