Intercultural Communication and Barriers of Communication Flashcards
Defined as communication that involves interaction between people whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems are distinct enough to alter the “communication event”
Intercultural communication
Studying intercultural communication is important because the world is increasingly becoming a _______.
“global village”
Reflects how a particular group interprets meaning or makes sense of the world
Culture
Also constitute a particular group’s language use and communication styles and practices
Cultural values
Present among people who live in the same community and speak the same language
Cultural differences
Cultural identities that influence how people think, behave, and interact with others:
Gender identity, age identity, class identity, religious identity, national identity
How one culture assigns different social roles to men and women; “the meanings and interpretations we hold concerning our self-images and expected other-images of femaleness and maleness”
Gender identity
Characterized to be more direct, competitive, aggressive, and controlling
Language of men
Tends to be more sympathetic, tentative, and emotional
Language of women
Involves behaving in a particular manner expected of one’s age; determines how one may present himself or herself in terms of appearance, clothing, and activities
Age identity
Defined by one’s social or economic status; affects how one interacts towards people
Class identity
Influences how one behaves (ethics, moral standards) and what one believes; may also be related to one’s racial or national identity, and influence one’s gender identity
Religious identity
Refers to one’s national citizenship or legal status in a country or nation
National identity
Barriers to intercultural communication:
Ethnocentrism, stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination
The belief that one’s own culture is better than the others; illustrated when people evaluate others based on their own cultural beliefs and practices
Ethnocentrism
Prefer your own culture over other people’s culture
Positive level of ethnocentrism
Involves the belief that one’s own culture is superior and that the behavior of others must be evaluated through one’s cultural standards
Negative level of ethnocentrism
Imposing your cultural beliefs on other people
Extremely negative level
Mental categorization or general, often inaccurate, representation of a particular group of people depending on one’s observations and experiences in interacting with its members; determine how you interact or behave among a certain group of people
Stereotyping
A positive or negative feeling held towards individuals belonging to a particular race, social class, religion, sexual identity, among others
Prejudice
Refers to negative behaviors that are caused by prejudice or stereotyping
Discrimination
Opposite of ethnocentrism
Xenocentrism
Ability to interact effectively with members belonging to another culture
Competence in intercultural communication
Five components of intercultural communication competence:
Motivation, cultural knowledge, communication skills, sensitivity, character
Refers to the desire to communicate and understand the culture of others
Motivation
One’s awareness and understanding of another culture’s rules, traditions, and behavior, as well as how to communicate appropriately
Cultural knowledge
Ability to listen, observe, and comprehend nonverbal and verbal symbols
Communication skills
Characterized by being open to cultures, demonstrating empathy, and having the ability to adapt to certain situations
Sensitivity
Evaluated through trustworthiness, respect, and honor among others
Character
Occurs when the message or the feedback is not sent or received properly
Breakdown in communication
Results when a sender and a receiver do not speak the same language, or even if they do, they speak at inappropriate levels; happens when there is wrong word choice, faulty syntactic structure, or mispronunciation
Semantic/language barrier
Happens when either one of them is easy to jump to conclusions about something without allowing the other to explain further; evidenced when either participants in the communication process does not give full attention to the source of information
Psychological/emotional barrier
The participants are prevented from using their skills at their maximum due to physical constraints; distributed by the environment they are in
Physical/environmental barrier
When our body becomes a hindrance to good communication; our bodily conditions that compromise our ability to send or receive a message; result from performance characteristics and limitations
Physiological barrier
Technical sources of interference in the communication process; stem from a problem in machinery or instruments used to transmit the message; also includes machine used by those with hearing or speech impairments
Mechanical barrier
