1. session: intercultural COMMUNICATION

2. Contents Intro: Intercultural competence
Definitions: communication, culture, intercultural communication
What causes communication problems in an intercultural setting
Verbal communication
Non-verbal communication
Richard Lewis’ model of intercultural communication
Introduction to assignment
Gewoon overlopen van de inhoudstafel van de presentatie

3. Intro: Intercultural competence
“The 21st century is upon us. As inhabitants of this post-millennium world, you no longer have a choice about whether to live and communicate among many cultures. Your only choice is whether you will learn to do it well...”
Lustig, Koester & Taylor

4. Intro: Intercultural competence
The imperative for intercultural competence
Demographic imperative
Technological imperative
Economic imperative
Peace imperative
Interpersonal imperative

5. Send/Receive Messages through Various Channels
What is communication?
Verbal and non-verbal (90%)
Culture
P e r s o n A B
Send/Receive Messages through Various Channels
Encode/ Decode
Noise

6. What is culture?
The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another.
A learned set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, norms and social practices which affect the behaviours of a relatively large group of people

7. Layers of Culture family country sports club company National Regional
Educational
Professional
Gender
Class
Religious
Generational
Ethnic
Corporate
Personal
country
family
sports club
company

8. Culture, an iceberg … Heroes Symbols Rituals Values Norms Beliefs
Social practices
Values
Norms
Beliefs

9. Values …

10. Symbols…

11. Heroes…

12. Rituals …

13. What is intercultural communication?
Intercultural communication is a symbolic, interpretive, transactional & contextual process in which people from different cultures create shared meanings. It occurs when large and important cultural differences create dissimilar interpretations and expectations about how to communicate competently
 Sender & receiver have different cultural backgrounds

14. What causes communication problems in an intercultural setting?
Verbal and Non-verbal communication

15. Cultural differences in communication
MESSAGE
SENDER
MASSAGE
RECEIVER

16. What can go wrong – verbal (1)
Non-native speakers (often at least one of them)
One-on-one translations
Translation of jokes, sayings, a pun … often not possible
Time relativity in a global perspective
Use of other measures
gallon, mile, ounce, …

17. What can go wrong – verbal (2)
WASHINGTON (AP) — “Failure to convert English measures to metric values caused the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter, a spacecraft that smashed into the planet instead of reaching a safe orbit, a NASA investigation concluded Wednesday. […] An investigation board concluded that NASA engineers failed to convert English measures of rocket thrusts to Newton, a metric system measuring rocket force. One English pound of force equals 4.45 Newton. A small difference between the two values caused the spacecraft to approach Mars at too low an altitude and the craft is thought to have smashed into the planet’s atmosphere and was destroyed.”

18. What can go wrong – verbal (3)
Pronunciation of words
“Sh” cannot be pronounced in Finnish
The English “th”
Different vocabulary
Snow (Inuit)
Green (Zulu)

19. Verbal communication Hindi English Baap (pitagi), maa Father, mother
Baba (dada), amma (dadi)
Father’s father, father’s mother
Nana, nani
Mother’s father, mother’s mother
Taaya, taayi
Father’s/wife of father’s elder brother
Chacha, chachi
Father’s/wife of father’s younger brother
Mama, mami
Mother’s/wife of mother’s brother
Booa, fooa
Father’s sister, husband of father’s sister
Mausi, mausa
Mother’s/ husband of mother’s sister
Bahai
Brother
Bhabhi
Brother’s wife
Bhatija, bhatiji
Brother’s son/daughter
Bahin
Sister ….
Verbal communication

20. What can go wrong – verbal (4)
Politeness
Vous / tu – u / jij - you
First names
Japan: “I” is different in different contexts
Grammar
Existence of present tense
Past tenses (was/has been)
My grandfather never went abroad ≠ has never gone abroad
Le subjonctif n’existe pas en néerlandais

21. What can go wrong - examples
Irish Mist

22. What can go wrong – examples
GM Chevy NOVA

23. What can go wrong – examples
Mazda Laputa

24. What can go wrong – examples
Slogans
Parker Pen
"It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you" translated into "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant” in Spanish
Pepsi
"Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese

25. What can go wrong – non-verbal (1)
Body-language
Nodding = YES or NO ???
Laughing = happiness or insecurity ???
Avoiding eye contact = respect or shame ???
Physical distance - touching each other - kissing

27. What can go wrong – non-verbal (2)
Colours
Red = political colour of …
EU: left-sided political parties
US: Republicans
White = colour of …
EU: marriage
Catholics: joy
China, Muslim: death

28. What can go wrong – non-verbal (3)
Symbols
Different meanings
Not understandable outside the group
Thumbs up = OK, …
but offensive in Greece

29. What can go wrong – non-verbal (4)
Values: nudity

30. What can go wrong – non-verbal (5)
Values: diseases

31. What can go wrong - non-verbal (6)
Values: religion

32. What can go wrong – (non)verbal (7)
Direction in which we read
Left to right, top to bottom, …
… problems if the message is read from right to left
Our usual perspective
tml

33. Richard lewis’ model

34. Richard Lewis’ model of Cultural Categories

36. National Communication Patterns
– Italy –

37. National Communication Patterns
– Finland –

38. National Communication Patterns
– Germany –

39. National Communication Patterns
– UK –

40. Listening Habits
– Belgium –

41. Conclusion
‘Tolerance, intercultural dialogue and respect for diversity are more essential than ever in a world where people are becoming more and more closely interconnected.’
Kofi Annan