Communication Skills ELE205

1. Communication SkillsELE205 Chapter Two Communication Diversity Mohammad R. Rawashdeh emrawhi@yahoo.com Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

2. Outline • Diversity definition. • Acknowledge intercultural interdependence. • Principles of intercultural Communication • Intercultural Communication styles • Barriers to intercultural Communication • Tools of diversity Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

3. Diversity definition • Diversity is defined as: the condition of being different. • In other words, it means: dissimilarity and variance between things. The differences could be in size, weight, age, texture, and so on. • In communication, diversity could be in: cultural values, race, national origin, religion, habits, gender, origin, accents, stereotypes and so on. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

4. Acknowledge intercultural interdependence • Movement toward a global economy • When OPEC raised the Price of oil in the 1970, people in the whole world had to sit in waiting lines at gas station ; • Many of our jobs directly or indirectly dependent on foreign trade. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

5. Acknowledge intercultural interdependence • Movement toward a global economy • Many of our jobs are directly or indirectly dependent on foreign trade. • We are not just interacting with people different from us, we rely on them in ( health, education, food) Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

6. Acknowledge intercultural interdependence b) Increase in ethnic/ language minorities The 2000 U.S genus's Data characterized 12.5% of U.S population is Latino, 12.3% are African, 10% others (Indian, Asian,…) in addition to Bi-racian. In short: 1 from 3 American can be classified as ethnic minority Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

7. Acknowledge intercultural interdependence b) Increase in ethnic/ language minorities Actually they are not numbers. They are people we know, care about, and depend upon. They enrich our lives, because of their differences and they help us to imagine new ways of thinking and behaving Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

8. Acknowledge intercultural interdependence c) Variation in communication styles Differences in communication styles can make the sender of the message appear to be pushy, rude, aggressive, passive, etc. Factors involved in this are volume and rapidity of speech, tone of voice, and emphasis on key words Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

9. Acknowledge intercultural interdependence c) Variation in communication styles For example, much has been written a bout differences in gender. Best seller book in 1993 is “Men are from Mars and women Are from Venus” Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

10. Cross-Cultural Communication(Picture Intercultural Communication) • Is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavor to communicate across cultures. • Understanding these different perspectives about how communication works is a necessary first step in communicating cross-culturally. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

11. Picture Intercultural Communication Sender, Enryo 1…2…3…4 Receiver, Sasshi 6…7…8…9 5 Feedback (traditions, cultures) Enryo:reservation, restraint, coyness, regard, deference, hesitation, diffidence Sasshi: conjecture, summarize, guess, understanding, consideration. sympathy, Not all cultures view communications at the same way. For example the American way is different than Asian one . Enryo-Sasshi Communication: is certain to the image to the image of Japan as a passive society & homogenous, where people wok to avoid conflict. 1- Sender’s potential experiences. 2- Sender’s chosen ideas (enryo filtering) 3- Sender’s encoding (filtering) 4- Narrow, limited sending (filtering) 5- Channel 6- Wide, open receiving 7- Receiver's decoding 8 Receiver's expanded ideas (sasshi) 9- Receiver’s experience Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

12. principles of intercultural Communication • The greater the cultural/linguistic difference, the greater the likelihood of communication breakdown. • For example communicating with customer from France is more difficult than communication with Arabs. • Differences in world-view, values, and communication styles leads to misunderstanding Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

13. principles of intercultural Communication • Communication breakdowns are most often attributed to cultural differences • Also think about personal differences or any of the breakdowns described in chapter 1 (gaps, gossips,…) Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

14. principles of intercultural Communication • Cross-cultural communication makes us more conscious of our own communication. • Choose our words carefully • Clarify our questions • Refrain from discussing some topics. • Fear from misinterpretation of nonverbal. This increased awareness can make us uncomfortable when communicating with people from other culture. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

15. principles of intercultural Communication • Cultures vary with their “do’s and taboos” • The effective cross-cultural communicators is learns what they are and respectful them. Example: dietary, which is forbidden or not for different culture. • A strong social prohibition (or ban) relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is forbidden based on moral judgment and sometimes even religious beliefs. Example: giving small gift to Japanese visitor. Any other examples?? Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

16. principles of intercultural Communication • Learning about cultural norms and variation in communication styles helps ensure understanding. Cultural norms are behavior patterns that are typical of specific groups. Such behaviors are learned from parents, teachers, peers, and many others whose values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors take place in the context of their own organizational culture. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

17. principles of intercultural Communication • Barriers are more easily overcome if people see each other as friendly, cooperative and trustworthy. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

18. Outline diversity definition. Acknowledge intercultural interdependence. principles of intercultural Communication intercultural Communication styles Barriers to intercultural Communication Tools of diversity Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

19. Recognize intercultural Communication styles • Variation in spoken language: begin with the value cultures place in language it self • Variation in nonverbal communication: Nonverbal communication is the sum total of our body's communication. It is how our body communicates or sends a message. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

20. intercultural Communication styles • Variation (differences) in spoken language: • values placed in language: American generally value the power of the spoken word, other cultures are skeptical of language. Some cultures (American) use the power of spoken words to communicate with people, for example: the live talk shows just like: Oprah Winfrey can communication with millions. Other cultures (Japan): use the power of silence and believe that language can never revel the truth, more comfortable with silence. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

21. intercultural Communication styles • Variation (differences) in spoken language: • Purpose of language • American are concerned with language that accomplish tasks to get the point quickly. In Mexico, talk about family, friends, .. Before considering the task. • In USA, even a professor or president, he says to you: please call me “ Peter”. • Here in Arab world: Please call me: Excellency : 36oftk.. • Accomplish tasks, get to the point quickly. • Strengthening relations. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

22. intercultural Communication styles • Variation in spoken language: • Purpose of language: • Pay attention to the language variation help us to learn how people regards relations. • For example in English we use the word “you” for friend and boss, while in Spanish they use “Su” for Boss and use “tu” for informal relations. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

23. intercultural Communication styles • Variation in spoken language: • Structure of language: format used for communicating in English. In Spanish order of words doesn’t matter. • Subject- verb –object↔ She hit the ball Classes of words (parts of speech), meanings of words (semantics). • How words are organized in relation to each other (syntax) Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

24. intercultural Communication styles • Variation in spoken language: • Structure of language: • How words are formed (morphology) • The study of sounds of words (phonology) : • There are overall 800 sound in human languages, in English the is 45 sound and in Hawaiian there is 18 sound Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

25. intercultural Communication styles • Variation in spoken language: • Structure of language: • In English : she hit the ball • In Spanish; she the ball hit, the order of words dose not matter Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

26. intercultural Communication styles • Variation in spoken language: • Structure of language: • In English : we don’t know how to pronounce word start with “ng” or “ts” but can read them at the end of word “for example: cats, meaning”. • In Spanish; words don’t begin with “sp” but begin with “es”. Spanish speaker will read “speech as espeech” Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

27. intercultural Communication styles • Variation in spoken language: • Word meanings: • Denotative : in English chair means the object you sit in & the head of a department, but in Korean different words would be used. • Connotative: differences refer to emotional meaning come with words. In English we describe a woman supervisor as “aggressive” but a man supervisor as “assertive” . Both words used to convey same behavior. • Example: Propaganda: negative meaning in English and not in Spanish. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

28. intercultural Communication styles • Variation in spoken language: • Word meanings: • Figurative speech: Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something by comparing it with something else. • Snake, time flying. • Green hands • Fish sleeping • You are just like palm tree… Tall person Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

29. intercultural Communication styles • Variation in spoken language: • How to use language (pragmatics): - Where and with whom we are communicating • Person talks while you are talking • Respond to a question by telling a story that irrelevant to the topic • Remember that use of language is culture- specific Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

30. intercultural Communication styles • Variation in spoken language: • How to use language (pragmatics): An individual with pragmatic problems may: • Telling a story that is completely irrelevant to the topic & in a disorganized way. • Ignore the ‘turn-taking’. • Say inappropriate or unrelated things during a conservation. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

31. intercultural Communication styles • Variation in spoken language: Where & with whom we are communicate with?? • As a result; • We tend to make modification to our communication depending on where we are and with whom. In class or in coffee shop. • We change depending on informal or formal relationship • How we think people will respond to our use of slang or regional variation in dialect. • Talking louder and slower when talking with children or non-English speakers. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

32. intercultural Communication styles 2. Variation in nonverbal communication: is the hidden dimension of our communication • Use of time: chronemics How we regard time • Use of personal space: proxemics • Use of eye contact: oculesics • Use of gestures (kinesics), touch (haptics) and voice (vocalics) Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

33. Intercultural Communication Styles 2. Variation in nonverbal communication: • Use of time: chronemics • Time is important for Americans “ losing time, killing time, saving time, time is money,..etc” • In contrast to time orientation is relationship orientation where the quality of the interaction indicates how much time will be spent. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

34. intercultural Communication styles 2. Variation in nonverbal communication: • Use of personal space (physical ): (proxemics): Refers to the distance we stands when we talk to another one. • People in middle east have shorter distance and people from England have large distance. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

35. intercultural Communication styles 2. Variation in nonverbal communication: • Use of eye contact: oculesics • American: like soft eye contact where people look at them, from time to time, look away. Intense stars makes most Americans feel very nervous. • Other cultures is very little eye contact • Others like intense eye contact with short distance • For middle Easters the eye is the window of the soul, they can read eyes. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

36. intercultural Communication styles 2. Variation in nonverbal communication: • Use of gestures (kinesics: the interpretation of  body language  such as facial expressions and gestures  or, more formally, non-verbal behavior related to movement, either of any part of the body or the body as a whole.) Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

37. intercultural Communication styles 2. Variation in nonverbal communication: Use of touch (haptics: the means by which people communicate via touching. Touch is an extremely important sense for humans; as well as providing Information about surfaces and textures it is a component of  nonverbal communication in interpersonal relationships, & vital in conveying physical intimacy. ) Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

38. intercultural Communication styles 2. Variation in nonverbal communication: • Use of gestures (kinesics), touch (haptics), body language and voice (vocalics) • Some cultures talk too loud in conservation, and others tend to vocal volume. • Hand gestures are by no mean universal • Hug is a typical greeting even among strangers in Latin America. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

39. Examples of hand gestures Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

40. Examples of Gestures made with other body parts Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

41. Outline diversity definition. Acknowledge intercultural interdependence. principles of intercultural Communication intercultural Communication styles Barriers to intercultural Communication Tools of diversity Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

42. Barriers to intercultural Communication We will identify four barriers to Effectiveness in intercultural Communication: • Walking on eggs • Hot buttons • Container myth • Language, vernacular and accent bias Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

43. Barriers to intercultural Communication • Walking on eggs: When someone says they feel like they are walking on egg, what is that telling you? It's telling you : • that they can no longer be themselves in your presence. • that they fear your reaction whenever they speak. • that they are stuck, that they cannot move in either direction, for fear of upsetting you. • It is also telling you that they need to stop this feeling that is tearing them apart. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

44. Barriers to intercultural Communication • Walking on eggs: If you are walking on eggs, you are being very careful not to offend someone or do anything wrong Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

45. Barriers to intercultural Communication • Walking on eggs: • Certain topics create tension for ethnic minorities • This tension can make those communication with ethnic minorities hesitant to approach these topics. • It is difficult to know exactly what these topics are? • Example is ethnic jokes ( you have to avoid them) Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

46. Barriers to intercultural Communication • Walking on eggs: Several things can help with this barrier: • Remember that these topics are profoundly personal. • Have implication for how people feel and think about themselves. • Learn to handle defensiveness and to support for ethnic minority people. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

47. Barriers to intercultural Communication • Walking on eggs: Several things can help with this barrier : • May be its work to invite these ethnic minority people to discussion and to share their perception of the topic at hand . • Remember that listening is vital link in any constructive communication interaction. • Finally, and the best is to avoid these topics, until stronger relationship (trust) is established. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

48. Barriers to intercultural Communication • Hot buttons: • Hot buttons are words that invoke an emotional response in other person. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

49. Barriers to intercultural Communication • Hot buttons: • Sometimes words simply is misunderstood • Swearing can become hot button • Derogatory words used for people from specific groups. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh

50. Barriers to intercultural Communication • Hot buttons: To avoid: • Identify the hot button for you and for others then try to avoid them • If they are used then try to control your emotional reaction • When tension is minimized talk about why and how these words bother you. • When tension is minimized talk about why and how these buttons produce that reaction ,the other will cease from using these hot buttons next time. Mohammad R. Rawashdeh