intercultural communication In time when Western societies are becoming increasingly multicultural, it is important to understand the most basic principles of intercultural communication. There are many different points of view on what represents the essence of peoples ability to overcome cultural barriers, when it comes to understanding their fellow citizens that are affiliated with racial diversity. Most of them agree with the fact that, in order for the individual to be able to communicate his ideas to representatives of racial minorities, he will need to understand that persons racial affiliation often defines his ability to operate with abstract categories. The article Intercultural Communication Tips, which can be found on the site of Buzzle.Com., suggests that, trying to find a semantic meaning of intercultural messages with the mean of linguistic methods alone, rarely yields in practical results: Working across cultures is a new experience for many people. Intercultural communication can be a dynamic and creative affair but occasionally due to the inability to interpret people correctly it can be a challenge (Buzzle.Com. 2007).
In other words, the ability of people from different countries to learn a few words in English does not necessarily correspond to their ability to express their thoughts in logical and coherent manner.
In addition, the fact that people of European descent often experience problems, while trying to understand people from different ethnic backgrounds, does not necessarily mean that this is because of White peoples cultural arrogance. According to AskOxford.Com.: The Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words (AskOxford.Com. 2007).
The Term Paper on Intercultural Communication 2
... to understand how people from different countries and cultures act towards each other’s, communicate and perceive the world around them. Many people in intercultural communication ... most relevant part is the intercultural competency. Intercultural competence is the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately with people of other cultures. With a ...
At the same time, the language of cannibal from Papua New Guinea, for example, consists of 100-150 words. Therefore, the effective intercultural communication between him and the person of European descent is impossible in principle, because this term implies the inter-exchange of cultural knowledge, while it is very doubtful of whether the cannibal would understand the meaning of word culture, even if he learned how to pronounce it. The bulk of problems, when it comes to intercultural communication, arise from the fact that people, which belong to different cultures, have different capability of operating with highly abstract categories. For example, Black slang Ebonics, which promoters of political correctness define as separate language, contains twenty different synonyms for word cocaine and none for such words as spirit or metaphysics.
This is the reason why intercultural communication that involves overly complex matters can hardly be effective. In his article Is “intercultural” Communication a Moot Point?, Geoff Hart rightly suggests that: Good communication, in any language, is clear, concise, and precise. These three points alone make a good starting point for any intercultural communication (Hart).
English language has officially been adopted as language of international communication by UN. Therefore, it is only logical to conclude that the sphere of its usage is going to expand, as time goes by. However, this process is associated with English language loosing its semantic properties, because intercultural communication implies languages simplification. Thus, we can say that it is a semantic simplification of English language that makes intercultural communication more effective. At the same time, if this simplification is being brought to its logical conclusion, the intercultural communication is going to become impossible, because there will be no communicational means left in the first place. Therefore, it is hard to agree with the point Xiuzhen Ren and Hongwei Wang are making in their article A Study of Cultural Stereotypes in Intercultural Communication: Stereotyping creates problems in intercultural communication (Ren, Wang).
The Term Paper on Language And Words
1. Introduction A language is a system of symbols, generally known as lexemes and the grammars (rules) by which they are manipulated. The word language is also used to refer to the whole phenomenon of language, i.e., the common properties of languages. Language is commonly used for communication, though it has other uses. Language is a natural phenomenon, and language learning is common in ...
Quite contrary to that people from different cultures have different understanding of concept of effective communication stands for, therefore, it is possible for us to associate them with different levels of linguistic finesse, which it its turn, is objective category. Stereotyping makes it possible to get the message from individual, affiliated with diversity, even before he opens up his mouth. In its turn, this allows English language to remain intact, which is important, when it comes to preventing Western civilization from sinking into savagery.
Bibliography:
How Many Words are There in the English Language?. 2007. AskOxford.Com.
30 Nov. 2007. http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/abouten glish/numberwords?view=uk Hart, Geoff Is “intercultural” Communication a Moot Point?. 2007. Geoff-Hart.Com. 30 Nov. 2007. http://www.geoff-hart.com/resources/2007/intercult ural.htm Intercultural Communication Tips. 2007. Buzzle.Com. 30 Nov.
2007. http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/7-27-2006-103686. asp Ren, Xiuzhen and Wang, Hongwei A Study of Cultural Stereotypes in Intercultural Communication. 2006. Linguist.Org. 30 Nov. 2007. http://www.linguist.org.cn/doc/su200603/spdf.
