Understanding cross-cultural communication

1994 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 2-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R Thomas

The need for cross-cultural communication skills arises whenever people from different languages and cultures come into contact. With increased tourism, international business, students studying overseas, and increasing awareness of indigenous minority cultures there is concern to foster better communication among different cultural groups. In the present paper, examples of cultural differences in communication in Australia and New Zealand are presented. Two approaches to the training of cross-cultural communication skills are described: the cultural assimilator developed by Brislin, and McCaffery's “learning how to learn” orientation.

Author(s):  
Irina Onyusheva ◽  
Etiopia Elisa Changjongpradit

This paper discusses the expansion of cross-cultural communication in today’s business world along with the cultural structures from two main school of cross-cultural communication. The key aim was providing a clearer view on this problem so that to assist in dealing with cultural differences in work places and in business environment overall. The authors investigated the factors that cause issues in a multicultural workplace and how organization management should approach these matters along with why it is important to have such knowledge and promote cross-cultural communication. Detailed recommendations are also provided on how to minimize communication conflicts in the international business settings.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s897-s898
Author(s):  
C. Maddock ◽  
F. Kelly

IntroductionThe proportion of international medical graduates (IMGs) in Ireland has increased from 13.4% in 2000 to over 33% in 2010. Many of their countries of origin have different cultures, expectations of the doctor–patient relationship and communication styles than Ireland. These differences can adversely impact on the quality of care provided by IMGs. There is a lack of research on the impact of cultural differences on communication in the Irish context.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 IMGs in Drogheda Department of Psychiatry. Transcripts were analysed using nVivo10, a specialised computer programme for conducting qualitative analysis and analysed thematically.ResultsGeneral themes emerged relating to IMG experience of cultural differences in medicine and psychiatry and cultural differences in communication. IMGs did not find their proficiency in English to be a barrier to communication but did find accents, culture-specific sayings and non-verbal cues to be challenging. Differences in doctors’ status relative to patients and different expectations of the doctor–patient relationship were challenging and, at times, frustrating and annoying. It was generally recognised that training in cross-cultural communication skills would be beneficial to new IMGs although a small minority recognised no such issues. Significant differences in attitude to patient confidentiality in Ireland versus the country of origin were identified.ConclusionsConsideration should be given to providing specific cross-cultural communication skills training for all IMGs training in Ireland focusing not just on verbal and non-verbal communication but also differences in the doctor–patient relationship, patient and relative expectations and medical confidentiality requirements.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Rosen ◽  
Erica S. Spatz ◽  
Annelise M.J. Gaaserud ◽  
Henry Abramovitch ◽  
Baruch Weinreb ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
В.И. Казаренков ◽  
М.М. Карнелович

Проблема межкультурного взаимодействия приобретает особую актуальность в связи с процессом интернационализации высшего образования. В ситуации межличностного взаимодействия студенты — представители разных культур являются субъектами самопрезентации их этнической идентичности. В связи с высокой прикладной значимостью проблемы эффективного и толерантного взаимодействия студентов в условиях поликультурной образовательной среды была выдвинута и подвергнута эмпирической проверке гипотеза о связи этнической идентичности и самопрезентации студентов, являющихся представителями разных культурных групп — русской, белорусской, туркменской и индийской. Цель работы — эмпирически выявить специфические особенности взаимосвязи типа этнической идентичности и тактик самопрезентации у студентов разных культурных групп в межличностном взаимодействии. В исследовании определены содержание и направленность связи между типами этнической идентичности — позитивной, нигилистичной, индифферентной, фанатичной, эгоистичной — с защитными и ассертивными стратегиями самопредъявления студентов. Предлагается обзор программы тренинга самопрезентации, направленного на коррекцию неадаптивных способов самопредъявления и формирование эффективных стратегий самопрезентации студентов в межличностном взаимодействии с представителями иных культурных групп. Результаты исследования представляют интерес для специалистов в области кросс-культурной коммуникации, этнической психологии и психологии личности. The issue of intercultural communication is gaining relevance because of the process of higher education internationalization. In situations of interpersonal communication, students, representatives of different cultures, define themselves and their ethnic identity. The investigation of students’ efficient and tolerant interaction in the conditions of multicultural learning environments enables the authors of the research to put forward a hypothesis that students’ ethnic identity is closely related to their self-presentation in multicultural groups (Russian, Belorussian, Turkmen, and Indian). The aim of the research is to empirically single out some specific peculiarities of students’ ethnic identity and self-presentation strategies in interpersonal communication. The research defines the content and the interconnection between ethnic identity — positive, nihilist, indifferent, fanatical, selfish — and protective and assertive strategies of students’ self-presentation. The article presents an overview of a self-presentation training course aimed at the correction of nonadaptive means of self-presentation and the formation of efficient strategies of self-presentation in interpersonal communication with representatives of other cultural groups. The results of the research may be useful for specialists in the sphere of cross-cultural communication, ethnic psychology and personal psychology.


Author(s):  
Hyemin Chung ◽  
Henry Lieberman

The need for more effective communication between people of different countries has increased as travel and communications bring more of the world’s people together. Communication is often difficult because of both language differences and cultural differences. Attempts to bridge these differences include many attempts to perform machine translation or provide language resources such as dictionaries or phrase books; however, many problems related to cultural and conceptual differences still remain. Automated mechanisms to analyze cultural similarities and differences might be used to improve traditional machine translators and as aids to cross-cultural communication. This article presents an approach to automatically compute cultural differences by comparing databases of common-sense knowledge in different languages and cultures. Global- Mind provides an interface for acquiring databases of common-sense knowledge from users who speak different languages. It implements inference modules to compute the cultural similarities and differences between these databases. In this article, the design of the GlobalMind databases, the implementation of its inference modules, as well as an evaluation of GlobalMind are described.


2020 ◽  
Vol 164 ◽  
pp. 12013
Author(s):  
Tatiana Baranova ◽  
Aleksandra Kobicheva ◽  
Elena Tokareva

In this paper we examine the development of students’ intercultural communication skills as a result of participation in the Erasmus Mobility Program. For the analysis both quantitative and qualitative methods are used. The results of survey show that students’ level of knowledge, skills and attitudes are much higher than before the program, especially in the skills category. According to the interview with students it can be concluded that students regard the experience of participating in the Erasmus Mobility program as positive primarily for learning a foreign language and developing cross-cultural communication skills. Thus it allows us to confirm the positive impact of Erasmus on intercultural communication skills of Russian students.


Author(s):  
Yu. Balahovskaya

The article focuses on ESP textbook evaluation to develop effective cross cultural communication skills. The core elements of the ESP textbook for teaching and learning Military English are: intercultural content, authentic and meaningful texts and task-based activities, simulating situations in professional communication settings.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-50
Author(s):  
Michael C. Budden ◽  
Connie B. Budden ◽  
Tará Burnthorne Lopez

The importance of effective communication skills in the workplace is widely documented and recognized as a success factor in many fields of endeavor.  As the workplace becomes more diverse and more global in nature, the ability to communicate across cultures is gaining in importance.  A class exercise in which Panamanian educators and US students cross-interviewed each other is discussed with regard to its perceived impact on the communication process and on its ability to enlighten students on shopping behaviors of persons from another culture.


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