Lecture 1: A theoretical approach to intercultural
Lecture 1: A theoretical approach to intercultural
communication
When does communication become intercultural communication? What
distinguishes intercultural communication from communication that is
not intercultural? What does it mean to be a competent intercultural
communicator? I believe that intercultural communication can be
understood via the same basic variables and processes used to describe
other forms of communication. All communication occurs between
people who have varying degree of familiarity with each other. The key
factor of understanding intercultural communication is the concept of
the stranger. Different cultures (and subcultures) may have different
rules and norms in accordance to which I would point out that
understanding the other’s culture facilitates cross-cultural
communication. Attention is to be focused on the components and
characteristics of intercultural communication competence as well as
boundaries and common understandings about this central idea are to
be established.
Understanding communication
Strangeness and familiarity make up a continuum. As for William
Gudykunst and Young Yun Kim the term “stranger” is to refer to those
people at the most unfamiliar end of continuum.1 Thus anyone could be
considered a stranger, given a sufficiently foreign context. A stranger
has limited knowledge of their new environment – of its norms and
values. And in turn, the locals have little knowledge of the stranger – of
their beliefs, interests and habits. Generally speaking, communication
with another involves predicting or anticipating their responses. When
communicating with someone familiar we are usually confident in our
anticipation, and may not even notice that we are making such
predictions. In contrast, when we communicate with strangers we are
more aware of the range of their possible responses, and of the
uncertainty of our predictions. Communicative predictions are based on
data from three levels. First is the cultural level. This level involves
information about the other’s culture, its dominant values and
norms. This level involves information available when communicating
with a stranger. Even so, a better understanding of the stranger’s culture
yields better predictions.