Before even attempting to ponder about fostering intercultural communication, it would be a good start to evaluate what culture is. I would use anthropology to define culture as the total sum of ways of living built up by a group of people and transmitting these ways (or not) from one generation to the next. This includes the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture, you name it.
Now that I have established the rudiments of what culture is to me, I would say that intercultural communication is a broad term that involves relating one culture with another. This could be as simple as parent-child communication to as complex as advocating religious harmony amongst various faiths. However, one thing is sure. Effective communication is key to such intercultural transactions and what we have learnt thus far may be put to good use. Take a scenario I have observed between two persons, one from ‘generation dinosaur’ and the other a youth of today – My mother and brother:
My brother had pestered mother into accompanying him to the mall to sign the papers for a new phone. Whilst at the mall, brother seemed rather embarrassed to be around mother as she seemed lost in the large new mall and was walking rather slowly perhaps to adapt to the strange new surroundings. Mother also wanted to take time to explore the mall but brother, being in the fast paced and instant result-seeking generation could not tolerate mother’s mannerisms of generation baby-boom. Brother then shouted at mother (unnecessarily rude at that I might add) and told her to pick up the pace. After completing what they had set out to do, brother decided to ignore mother for a week while mother, perhaps having her mind still lost in the mall, could not figure out what she had done wrong.
From this scenario, I have observed how important it is to want to establish communication before even thinking of fostering it. What happened between my brother and mother was largely due to the difference in culture. Without a proper understanding of each others’ principles, mutual compromise could not be established and the result is conflict. Had my brother been more rational and mature, he would have put himself in my mother’s shoes and made up for the difference in culture. The ending would have then been happier. What I have observed was just a culture difference between two persons but such culture clashes do occur at larger scales - between two ethnic groups, between religious groups, between nations. Although the level of interaction and the scale of conflict may be different, the fundamentals are the same - Effective communication.
From my perspective, intercultural and interpersonal communications are similar – conveying ideas and feelings across the culture barrier while avoiding any possible cause for conflict by understanding the intricacies of the culture we are relating too. For example, as cited in our lesson, the Japanese slurp their noodles as a means to ‘say’ the food is good while silent sips indicate otherwise. As for Chinese, the culture is opposite but by understanding this particular Japanese culture, I would be sure not to offend the chef of the Japanese eatery if I were to ever visit Japan. This is the punch line - It is paramount to place everything in the correct context before any effective communication can eventually take place, especially so when it comes to intercultural communication.
I would have to admit that it is difficult to foster intercultural communication partly because each one of us has at least one form of biasness towards our own beliefs, culture and conduct of which these can vary vastly from culture to culture. No man is an island and we live in an inevitable mix of cultures. Intercultural communication is therefore important. Living in Singapore, a country that is full of different culture owing to our multi-ethnicity and cosmopolitan nature, it is especially important to maintain or even perhaps improve the harmony we have now by fostering intercultural communication.
Hi Elaine,
First of all, what a lengthy post! Haha. Anyway, this is something new. What comes to my mind with the word 'intercultural' is people of different ethnicity or geographical origin but never the idea of generation gap.
Nevertheless, you brought up a very relevant example. I find it intriguing that intercultural conflict can actually occur at home between family members. We may share the same language, religion, race or bloodline but without effective communication, differences can easily surface.
Hi Elaine!
That happens in my family too! My brother always get impatient of my mother's nagging while on the other hand my mother gets impatient when my brother does not take action to her instructions by the second time. It will always end up with arguments. My brother always talk back at my mother :"You don't understand then don't anyhow say!!!" which will lead to a heated argument thereafter.
Indeed many times the different mind set and perception of different generation leads to conflicts.
Hey elaine!~~ a very interesting description of the story happened between your mother and brother. Though it is a bit shameful, but i have to confess that i have also treated my parents like your brother does before. Now i am mature enough to put myself in their shoes. thus conflicts no longer exit.
I would like to share, interculture communication comes from respect or even appreciation. But it is knowledge, understanding and skills that secure an effective interculture communication.
I believe that one day, your mother will understand your mother like you do. I believe oneday everyone from one culture group can understand those from another. Culture globalisation will be reached.
But Elaine, i have a question to ask back. As people from different background interact more nad more often, is it a worry that we may lose our own culture?
Lastly, thanks for sharing your story.
Hi Fahmi,
Thanks for your comment. I like this sentence that you have mentioned, "We may share the same language, religion, race or bloodline but without effective communication, differences can easily surface." This is so true! Therefore, once again, I stress the importance of having effective communication so as to avoid conflicts.
Hi Li Su,
Thanks for sharing a real-life example of the conflict between your brother and mother. Indeed, as the society evolves rapidly, the mind sets of people will gradually change and this will inevitably result in different perceptions on various issues. Hence, these differences will eventually lead to conflicts.
Thanks.
Hi Aoyun,
Thanks for sharing your insightful thoughts. Intercultural communication indeed comes about from mutual respect and appreciation, which I'm sure is not easy to achieve. But as long as one is able to understand such cultural differences and is willing to accept it, intercultural conflicts could be avoided.
I believe that interactions between people of different backgrounds may not result in a loss of their own individual culture as each culture is unique to the way of life of each group of people. However, I do understand the point you are coming from and I feel that an infusion of cultures may also result due to such interactions.
Thank you! (: