Definition and Nature of

Intercultural Communication
What is Culture?

 Culture isn’t only intellectual happenings like arts, festivals, traditional

foods, heritages or literature, but refers to daily lifestyle of general
population or a group of people or an individual.

 Culture is created by humans and can be different from place to place.

It creates a human environment with  shared meanings within a society .

 Culture defines how a person behaves, interacts and gives meaning to

actions.
What is Intercultural Communication?

 Intercultural is something that occurs between people of different

cultures including different religious groups or people of different
national origins.
 Communication is the imparting or exchanging of information.

 Intercultural communication is a discipline that studies communication

across different cultures and social groups, or how culture affects
communication.
 Happens when individuals interact, negotiate, and create meanings
while bringing in their varied cultural backgrounds (Ting-Toomey, 1999).

 Takes place when people draw from their cultural identity to

understand values, prejudice, language, attitudes, and relationships
(Gudykunst & Kim, 2003).

Simply put, Intercultural communication is the sending and receiving of

messages across languages and cultures.
 Types of Intercultural Communication

 Verbal Communication
Consist of messages being sent and received continuously with the speaker
and the listener, it is focused on the way messages are portrayed.

 Nonverbal Communication
It is a behaviour that communicates without words—though it may often be
accompanied by words.
Importance of Intercultural Communication
 Lacking in intercultural communication can lead to insult
of the culture and people involved.

 When you speak, your speech is continuously accompanied

by gestures, facial expressions and other body movements
that add to what you are saying in different ways.
Example: Nodding
In the Indian subcontinent , Iran, most of Europe, Latin
America, & North America, nodding means “yes”.
However, in Greece, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Turkey,
Macedonia, Bulgaria, & Albania, nodding indicates
disagreement.
The Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity
 Offers a structure that explores how people experience
cultural differences. According to Bennett & Bennett
(2004), it has six stages. These are the following:

STAGE 1: Denial. The individual does not recognize cultural

differences.
An individual in the denial stage might be heard saying:
“All cities are the same; they all have tall buildings, fast
food chains, and coffee shops.”
STAGE 2: Defense. The individual starts to recognize
cultural differences and is intimidated by them,
resulting to either a superior view on own culture or
an unjustified high regard for the new one.
An individual in the defense stage might be heard
saying:
“This culture does not view life the way we do; our
culture is certainly better.”
“Their ways are better than my own ; I wish I were
one of them”
STAGE 3: Minimization. Although individuals see
cultural differences, they bank more on the
universality of ideas rather than on cultural
differences.
An individual in the minimization stage might
be heard saying:
“Once we see through the cultural difference,
we really are just the same!”
STAGE 5: Adaptation. The individual is very open to world
views when accepting new perspectives.
An individual in the adaptation stage might be heard
saying:
“To address our issue, I have to adjust my approach to
consider both my own and my counterpart’s background”
STAGE 4: Acceptance. The individual begins to appreciate
important cultural differences in behaviors and eventually
in values.
An individual in the acceptance stage might be heard
saying:
“These people and I have different values and
experiences, and I think we can learn from each other.”
STAGE 6: Integration. Individuals starts
to go beyond their own cultures and see
themselves and their actions based on
multifarious cultural viewpoints.
An individual in the integration stage
might be heard saying:
“I can look at things from the
perspective of various cultures.”
Once you understand these stages, you may apply it to:
1. Recognize communication behaviors which differ from
your own,
2. Take into account what can influence these types of
behaviors, and
3. Try to analyse how linguistic and cultural communities
differ in terms of communication behaviour and
influencing factors (Allwood, 1985).
 Characteristics of Competent Intercultural Communicators
World Bank (2010) identifies the following traits that define a
competent intercultural communicator.
1. Flexibility and the ability to tolerate high levels on uncertainty
2. Reflectiveness or mindfulness
3. Open-mindedness
4. Sensitivity
5. Adaptability
6. Ability
to engage in divergent thinking (or thinking creatively)
and systems-level thinking (or thinking how each one in a
system or organization influence each other)
7. Politeness
Note that in addition to culture, other elements such as gender, age,
social status, and religion must also be taken into consideration when
communicating with others. Refrain from showing a bias when talking to
someone by the following tips below.
1. Avoid stereotypes, i.e., generalizations about a certain group.
2. Challenge gender norms; avoid using ”he” and “man” to refer to a
general group of people. To remedy this, you may use plural pronouns
or rewrite a sentence to avoid using pronouns. The use of his/her is
also acceptable.
3. Do not talk down on younger people and the elderly.
4. Be sensitive to the religious practices of others.
5. Be polite at all times; do not belittle people you perceive to be a
lower social class than you.