Intercultural communication

CONTENTS

1.	Contents……………….……………………..…………..
2.	Unit 1. Intercultural communication……………….
3.	Unit 2. Understanding how culture affects communication….................................................
4.	Unit 3. Globalization…………………………........................
5.	Unit 4. Americanization: for better or for worse?………………………………............................
6.	Unit 5. Russia: a blend of cultures and religions………………………………………….............
7.	Unit 6. The role of languages in our life………………………………………….....................
8.	Unit 7. Intercultural communication and lawyers in the USA………………………………………….........
9.	Unit 8. Intercultural communication and law enforcement………………………………………….......
10.	Sources…………………………………………………….
11.	Appendix 1………………………………………………..
12.	Appendix 2………………………………………………..
13.	Appendix 3………………………………………………..
14.	Appendix 4………………………………………………..

UNIT 1

Task 1.1 Warming-Up Activity

1. Have you ever travelled in another country?

2. If yes, were you ever in a situation where you felt culturally unprepared? In other words, did you ever feel like you did something inappropriate because you did not know about the culture? Share your stories.

3. What do you understand as “culture”?

4. Look at the picture below – how do you understand it? Discuss it with a partner, then share your ideas with your class and teacher.

Figure 1. Culture: An iceberg metaphor

Task 1.2 Read the text

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

With rapid changes in global economy, technology, transportation, and migration policies, we feel the growing need to increase our understanding of people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. We find ourselves in increased contact with people who are culturally different, working and living side by side with us. Those people can have an unfamiliar accent, way of speaking, way of doing things, and way of nonverbal communication. They bring with them different work habits and cultural practices. They also may look and move differently. In order to achieve effective intercultural communication, we have to learn to manage differences flexibly and mindfully.

Intercultural communication is sometimes used synonymously with cross-cultural communication. In this sense it seeks to understand how people from different countries and cultures act, communicate and perceive the world around them. It studies situations where people from different cultural backgrounds interact. Aside from language, intercultural communication focuses on social attributes, thought patterns, and the cultures of different groups of people. It also involves understanding the different cultures, languages and customs of people from other countries.

Intercultural communication plays a role in social sciences such as anthropology, cultural studies, linguistics, psychology and communication studies. Intercultural communication is also referred to as the base for international businesses.

There are many practical reasons for studying intercultural communication. We offer three reasons here: global diversity trends, domestic diversity trends, and interpersonal learning opportunities.

Successful business today depends on effective globalization. Effective globalization, in part, depends on dealing with a diverse workforce. Factors that contribute to the diversity of the workforce on the international level include the development of regional trading blocs (e.g., the European Union; the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA), communication technology (e.g., fax, E-mail, the Internet), immigrant worker and guest worker policies on the international level. In this era of global economy, it is inevitable that employees and customers from dissimilar cultures are in constant contact with one another.

Beyond global business, increased number of individuals are working in overseas assignments such as government service, humanitarian service, peace corps service, and international education. Acquiring the knowledge and skills of mindful intercultural communication is a necessary first step in becoming a global citizen.

In a domestic society learning to understand cultural differences will serve as a major step torward building a more harmonious, multicultural community.

On the interpersonal level direct contacts with dissimilar others in our neighborhoods, schools, and workplace are an inescapable part of life in the 21^st century. Whether we are embarked abroad on a student exchange program or are going overseas for business reasons, we will be meeting with people who are different from us, with unfamiliar experiences and values unlike our own. Our ability to communicate effectively with cultural strangers will help us to uncover our own diversity and “worthiness”.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-26