|
|
This is only a preview of the paper
Click here to register and get the full text.
Existing members click here to login
|
|
|
Barriers in Intercultural Communication
Chapter I: Introduction
Before I talk about barriers in intercultural communication, I want to tell a story. ... This short story shows clearly that intercultural communication can problematic and troublesome.
To understand intercultural communication, we must first understand human communication. Understanding human communication means knowing something about what happens when people interact, why it happens, the effects of what happens, and finally what we can do to influence and maximize the results of that event. In Encyclopedia Americana, ¡°communication, in its most general sense, is a chain of events in which the significant link is a message. In its broadest humanizing sense, communication is a source and extension of imagination in forms that can be learned and shared.¡±(423) While intercultural communication, in its simplest sense, means communication between people from different cultures. Intercultural communication occurs ¡°wherever a message is produced by a member of one culture for consumption by a member of another culture, a message must be understood.¡± (Samovar and Porter 10) One conspicuous characteristic of intercultural communication is that sources and responses come from different cultures. We must take into account the role and function of culture in the communication. Since it is concerned about different cultures, intercultural communication can be problematic, because culture forges and shapes the individual communication.
Chapter II: Major Barriers in Intercultural Communication
The first major barrier is that sometimes we naively think we are all human beings; we share much more similarities than differences. ...
Language also poses a problem to intercultural communication. ...
Even when we grasp a foreign language, sometimes communication is still problematic. ... Next is a table I select from Culture and Social Behavior to show how harmful are stereotypes to intercultural communication. ...
(253)
Preconceptions are as harmful as stereotypes to a healthy intercultural communication. ... Actually this psychological barrier hinders all kinds of communication including intercultural communication. If we have such a barrier, communication may be filtered or blocked by attitudes, beliefs and values. ...
Chapter III: Conclusion
Intercultural communication is quite complicated. There are a lot of barriers. ... I hope my thesis will help us be aware of these barriers and make our intercultural communication more successful. ... We can train ourselves to meet intercultural encounters with more attention to situational details, using an investigative approach rather than preconceptions and stereotypes.
Approximate Word count = 1897
Approximate Pages = 7.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
|
|
|
|
|
|