Cross Cultural Communication

1. Cross Cultural Communication

2. Topics

3. Introduction • No matter where you come from, we need food, shelter, love, knowledge, a listening ear or a friend to laugh with. • But the food we eat, the homes we live in, the way we express our love, how we understand the world and the time we spend at work and at play may be very different.

4. So………. • We need to see the world through another’s eyes, ears and background!

5. What is Communication? • When someone responds to our behaviours – whether verbal or nonverbal; intentional or unintentional – and attribute meaning to them, communication has taken place.

6. What is culture? • The myths of every culture provide answers to four questions: • (1) Who am I? • (2) Who are we? • (3) What is the nature of the world in which we live? and • (4) What is the nature of the answers to these questions?

7. What is culture? • Culture is a complex, abstract and pervasive matrix of social elements that functions as an all-encompassing pattern for living by laying out a predictable world in which an individual is firmly oriented. • Culture enables us to make sense of our surroundings right from the time of birth.

8. Culture is: • the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe at large, and material objects and possessions passed down through the generations within a group of people.

9. Activity One: What shaped me to be who I am today? • The following are some questions that reveal more about your cultural upbringing:  • (i) When you cried or got upset as a child, what did your parents do to calm you down? • (ii) What do you do now when you are stressed or very upset? • How did your parents praise and reward you for good behaviour? • How did your teachers praise and reward you for good behaviour?

10. Activity One: What shaped me to be who I am today? • Are you publicly or privately praised? • How did your parents punish you for you did something wrong? • How did your teachers punish you for something you did wrong? • What did you like doing as a child but your parents / adults discouraged you from doing? Why?

11. Activity One: What shaped me to be who I am today? • How are you supposed to behave in people are around: • Grandparents • Aunties and uncles • Teachers and authority figures • People you’ve never met before / Foreigners • Guests • Do you help to set the tables or clear the dishes during meal times? • (i) Did you hug your parents when you were a child? • Do you hug your parents now that you’ve grown up?

12. Activity Two: What is important to us? • Get into groups of 4 or 5, where at least 3 different cultures are represented. • First make a list of events, festivals, people, food and locations which have special meanings in your culture. (Don’t show your friends yet!) • Now compare your lists with your group members and make a new list of the common items. • Rank these items in order of importance. • Finally, write a short paragraph of all that your group finds important, based on top 4 items. • Share what you’ve written with the class.

13. What is Cross Cultural Communication? • Cross cultural communication occurs whenever a message that must be understood is produced by a member of one culture for the consumption by a member of a different culture. • We view our world through categories, concepts and labels that are products of the specific culture we are born into

14. Be aware: • How we communicate, when we communicate, the language and language style we use to communicate and our nonverbal behaviours are defined by our cultures. It is not until we meet someone outside our own culture who behaves differently from us that we realise the rest of the world doesn’t work, think and speak like we do.

15. We and They • Father, Mother, and Me, • Sister and Auntie say • All the people like us are We, • And everyone else is They. • And They live over the sea, • While we live over the way, • But – would you believe it? – They look upon We • As only a sort of They! • All good people agree, • And all good people say, • All nice people, like Us, are We • And everyone else is They: • But if you cross over the sea, • Instead of over the way, • You may end by (think of it!) looking on We • As only a sort of They!

16. Activity • The danger of thinking by categorising is that we often pigeonhole others into categories instead of looking at them as unique individuals. • Name the TWO categories mentioned in stanzas 1 and 2. • What is the description of “We” ? • What is the description of “They”? • Who are “They” as mentioned in the poem? • Where are “They” from?

17. Activity 6. “But – would you believe it? – They look upon We / As only a sort of They!” • What is the writer’s reaction? • Why does the writer react in this way? 7. Give TWO examples where people think like the writer in this poem: • Who are the “We” and who are “They”? • What did “We” do to / say about / think of / treat “They”? • Give ONE consequence of “We’s” attitude towards “They”.

18. Activity 8. Give ONE example where you were treated as “They”: • What happened? • Where did this take place? • Who were the people who treated you as “They” • How did you feel? 9. Write a paragraph on whether you agree or disagree with the writer’s feelings that “They” should not be mixed with “We”. Provide at least TWO reasons explaining your answer.