Intercultural communication

CULTURE
•What is culture for you?
•What does it involve?
•What shapes culture?
Origin of the word culture
(Latin) cultus = growing or cultivating a crop
or a plant → something which has always
and will always be changing and modifying
itself.
 CULTURE
Think about:
• how culture is created – by geography,
climate, history, coincidence?
• what groups of people can be said to have
a culture – races, countries, companies?
• in what ways you see, hear or experience
it – by behaviour, attitudes, gestures?
 CULTURE
When mass media began, people assumed
that we would all converge upon one global
culture, but complete homogenization has
not occurred. And it will not. While some
values spread and are adopted en-masse,
cultures form within the mass culture to
differentiate smaller groups of people.
 CULTURE
•“the learned and shared values, beliefs and behaviors of
a group of interacting people.”
M. Bennett
• a set of symbolic systems that serve not only to define
and identify the cultural and social structures, but also to
articulate the synthesis of ethos and world view. (Geertz
1973)
•“those deep, common, unstated experiences which
members of a given culture share, which they
communicate without knowing, and which form the
backdrop against which all other events are judged” (Hall
cited in Beamer and Varner 2001:3);
• a “silent language” (Hall 1959, 1966, 1976, 1983, 1985)
 Intercultural communication

Anthropologist E.T. Hall first introduced the

term intercultural communication by
analysing the relationship between
communication and context and developed
the concept of low-context and high-
context cultures.
 Intercultural communication
The term low-context describes those
cultures characterized by the need for
explicit verbally expressed communication,
where information is all in the verbal
message. High-context cultures, instead,
make much use of implicit messages and
indirect expressions and are highly
dependent on the context or non-verbal
features.
 Intercultural communication

Hall also examined cultural differences in

relation to time, distinguishing between
monochronic cultures, predominant in
individualistic, low-context cultures and
polychronic, predominant in group-based,
high-context cultures.
 Intercultural communication
Polychronic cultures tend to perform tasks
simultaneously and to give more importance
to the involvement of people and the
completion of transactions rather than
schedules. In monochronic cultures,
instead, people tend to do things one at a
time and in a sequence and to separate
socioemotional time from task-oriented time.
 Hall’s theory→ corporate
communication

High context Low context

• Implicit • Explicit
communication style communication style
• Less emphasis on • Emphasis on the
written exact meaning of the
communication and written word
more on verbal • Message is direct, to
communication the point
• Message is circular
 Hall’s theory→ corporate
communication
High context Low context
• Context is very important • Context is less important
• Communication is more • Communication is a way
of an art form, a way of of exchanging
engaging people information, ideas and
• Face-to-face relationships opinions
are important, with an • Decisions and tasks are
emphasis on one person focused on what needs to
having authority be done; responsibilities
• etc. are divided
• etc.
 Culture shock

• negative connotation?
• a disease ?
• a subcategory of a more universal
construct called transition shock (cf.
change in familiar environment)?
 Culture shock
A psychological disorientation that most
people experience when living in a culture
markedly different from one’s own. It occurs
when our "...cultural clues, the signs and
symbols which guide social interaction, are
stripped away. ...A difficult part of this
process for adults is the experience of
feeling like children again, of not knowing
instinctively the ‘right’ thing to do." (Piet-
Pelon & Hornby, 1992, p.2).
 Culture shock
The shock (of moving to a foreign country) often
consists of distinct phases:
•Honeymoon Phase - differences between the old
and new culture are seen in a romantic light,
wonderful and new. Most people are fascinated by
the new culture (food, fashion, social customs…)
and feel joy and enthusiasm. But this stage
eventually ends when people experience
difficulties with language, housing, friends, school,
work.
 Culture shock

• Negotiation Phase - differences between

the old and new culture become apparent
and may create anxiety. That sense of
excitement will eventually give way to new
and unpleasant feelings of frustration and
anger.
Culture shock and adjustment

• Adjustment Phase – one grows

accustomed to the new culture and
develops routines and knows what to
expect in most situations and the host
country no longer feels all that new.
 Culture shock - examples
Strange as it may seem, it's ice cubes that
sometimes make me want to go home. That's
right: ice cubes. When I'm out away from home for
a weekend or occasionally just for the day, I miss
iced drinks ... how I miss them! I sometimes think I
must be as addicted to those little squares of
frozen water as smokers can get to cigarettes.
While Coca-Cola is always available, it always
comes in a glass without one sliver of ice. And
tea? Yes, they have cold tea, even cold coffee, in
the summertime ... without ice. Or cold water ...
without ice.
 Culture shock - examples
I knew I was in culture shock when I tried to
order Thousand Island Dressing for my
salad at every restaurant -- knowing
beforehand they wouldn't have it ... or the
French, or the Russian, or the New Orleans,
or any of the other alternatives that I also
asked for. Here, it's either vinegar and olive
oil or dry.
 Culture shock - examples

I knew I was in culture shock one day when I

opened my mouth to say something, and I
couldn't think of any words in either English
or Italian.
 REFERENCES
• Stokes Thomas A. One Message, Many Cultures: Best practices for global
communication http://www.iabc.com/cwb/archive/2008/0408/Thomas.htm
• Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books.
• Geertz, C. (1983). Local knowledge: further essays in interpretive
anthropology.
anthropology New York: Basic Books. Hall, E.T. (1959). The Silent
Language, New York: Doubleday
• Hall, E.T. (1966). The Hidden Dimension, New York: Doubleday
• Hall, E.T. (1976). Beyond Culture, New York: Doubleday
• Hall, E.T. (1983). The Dance of Life, The Other Dimension of Time, New
York: Doubleday
• Hall, E.T. (1985). Hidden Differences: Studies in International
Communication, Hamburg: Grunder and Jahr
• Hall, E.T. (1990). Hidden Differences: Doing Business with the Japanese,
Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/ Doubleday
• Hall, E.T. (1990). Understanding Cultural Differences, Germans, French and
Americans, Yarmouth: Intercultural Press