CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

On a practical level, language has to do with sounds, symbols and gestures that a community puts in order and associates
so that they can communicate. On a deeper level, language is an expression of who we are as individuals, communities,
nations. Culture refers to dynamic social systems and shared patterns of behavior, beliefs, knowledge, attitudes and
values. Culture provides the environment in which languages develop, even as it influences how they are used and
interpreted. For example, in many European cultures a “good day” is a sunny day, while in many African cultures a “good
day” is a rainy day. Different culturally shared values provide the context for interpreting the term for “good”.
Languages and cultures merit study and celebration in their own right. Those who wish to promote local languages have
special reason to examine how those languages and cultures work in the first place. Then more effective plans can be made
for developing resources and competencies to maintain and even expand their use. Language and culture studies thus
provide a necessary foundation for successful language development work of all kinds. SIL International promotes and
shares the results of language and culture studies through multiple resources, and especially through Ethnologue. SIL also
offers consulting and training in various academic domains related to language development,
including Anthropology, Arts and Ethnomusicology, Language and Culture Documentation, Language and Culture
Learning, Linguistics, Literacy & Education, Translation, Sign Languages and Sociolinguistics.

LESSONS

A. Introduction to Culture and Communication

Every human being passes through a development period of enculturation. Traits and taboos are passively and actively
enculcated through childhood and adolescence. Though individual will curtails some habits, every individual learns at
least a part of their native culture. Some may live in interstitial communities, becoming both bilingual and bicultural while
others learn later in life how to move through the earth's diverse human populations. But regardless, we all carry our
culture with us and in our daily lives, enact culture. Culture, like communication, is a process.
Within communication theory, scientists often study the interaction of people from different cultures. As culture is not a
static concept, the very definition of culture becomes broader than you may have assumed. For instance, have you thought
of the separation of boys and girls as being a form of cultural separation? For years, Deborah Tannen has studied the
language and cultural differences of men and women, girls and boys, within American society. She has found a prevalence
of communication differences between genders, that often lead to miscommunication between the two. Consider the
difference in culture of people raised in agrarian (rural) and urban (city) environments. The 2004 U.S. Presidential
Electionshows both diversity and homogeneity of American voting habits. The dark blue areas, representing democrats,
mark the waterways and coastal regions of the U.S. The red areas show the geography of the U.S. with a low population
per square mile. While many point out the "purple" mixtures of heterogeneous voters, it is clear that there are vast areas of
America differentiated by vote. Might they be distanced in culture as well? Though English is the standard (not official)
language of the United States, there are many ways of speaking it and there are many regions where other languages are
dominant. Intercultural communication is not necessarily International communication. Nor must the interlocutors
necessarily belong to different regions or different towns. Within every context, we recreate culture (see: Adaptive
Structuration Theory) and redefine what our native culture actually is. It is when we come into contact with a person that is
separate from our own culture that we engage in intercultural communication, and forge a synthesis of cultures.

B. Interpersonal Communication, Language, and Culture

Communication plays a major role in all facets of an individual’s life. Everyday interactions with family,
friends and colleagues will either benefit from effective communication or will be difficult from
unsuccessful communication. Skills commonly associated with effectively communicating can be learned
by understanding the principles and misconceptions in effective interpersonal communications and
knowing the barriers to effective interpersonal interactions. Also, one must be able to assess their personal
communications and improve their communication competencies. By accomplishing these tasks and
constantly searching for ways to improve one can become an effective communicator.
To understand interpersonal communication it is imperative to understand that it is constantly changing
and should be adjusted for the audience. In effective interpersonal communication a sender and receiver
in a given setting must relay messages through different channels while attempting to minimize noise.
Thusly, to be an effective communicator one must understand the principles and misconceptions
associated with interpersonal communication (Weaver, 2007, p 14).

One on one communication is the most basic form of interpersonal communication. It can be a
conversation between friends or it can be an interview for a job. In this form, noise or interference that
keeps a message from being understood is at its lowest because the sender can see if the receiver is
distracted. Also, the opportunity for feedback is at its highest provided there are little distractions or
noise(Weaver, 2007, p15).

C. History and Cultural Patterns

any modern approaches to history assume there are no intrinsic differences between cultures – that history is
ultimately shaped by the brute forces of geography. The "geographic determinism" approach is a welcome
improvement on the old-style, triumphalist view that there was something innately superior in Western culture. But
it ignores important drivers of history that have been instrumental in constructing today's world.

The Patterning Instinct takes a different approach, proposing that cultures shapes values – and those values shape
history. Even if Zheng had discovered America, it argues, the Chinese would never have conquered the New World
as the Europeans did, because they were driven by a fundamentally different set of motivations.

As The Patterning Instinct unfolds, it reveals an underlying pattern to Western cognition that is responsible both for
its scientific and industrial revolutions, as well as its devastating destruction of indigenous cultures around the world
and our current global rush towards possible catastrophe.

By recognizing the importance of culture in history, we can better understand the patterns of thought that brought
the world to its current state. That understanding can empower us to consciously change some of those patterns...
and by doing so, shape our future.

D. Family Life: Romantic Relationships and Childrearing

Basic Stages of Traditional Family Life

Families are an important part of our society. Almost everyone is a member of, or identifies with, a family. Families are all
around us, in our personal lives and in media and entertainment. The concept of the family tends to be different across
cultures and has certainly changed over time. However, there is an expected familial pattern in our society that has
remained the same for hundreds of years: couples get together, marry, have children, and then age while their children
restart the cycle.
Obviously, not everyone goes through this process in the exact same order. Some people never experience this cycle at all.
However, these four steps, in this order, are considered the basic stages of traditional family life in sociology:

1. Courtship
2. Marriage
3. Child Rearing
4. Aging

Stage One: Courtship

Courtship refers to the stage of family life during which a couple develops a relationship before marriage. It is
specifically about finding someone to marry. In this lesson, we'll discuss the two most common types of courtship:
romantic love and arranged marriages.
In our society, we celebrate romantic love as the basis of marriage. For us, courtship is used to seek 'the one' - that special
person we are destined to love, marry, and spend the rest of our lives with. We find it hard to imagine a marriage without
love and passion, and popular culture - from fairy tales to television shows and movies - depicts them as the keys to a
successful marriage. However, a well-known statistic is that nearly half of American marriages end in divorce. This
suggests that romantic love can be a less stable foundation for marriage than the social and economic considerations
behind arranged marriages.
Arranged marriages may seem odd and outdated to modern Americans. However, in some cultures, courtship is considered
too important to leave up to the young. Arranged marriages, although more common during ancient times, still exist in
 some countries and even in some worldwide religions. They are often used to create an alliance between two families or to
provide a number of economic benefits. They tend to have a much lower rate of divorce and separation.
Regardless of the emphasis on romantic love or arranged marriages, homogamy is common in all societies. Homogamy is
a marriage between people with the same social characteristics. Potential mates who have similar backgrounds and other
characteristics are generally considered the most attractive. For example, arranged marriages typically occur between two
families who have similar social statuses. Likewise, even in couples who marry because of romantic love, it is extremely
common for individuals to find mates within their same social class.

Stage Two: Marriage

Regardless of how one finds a mate, the result of traditional courtship is marriage. Marriage refers to the stage of family
life during which a couple legally unite and begin a life together. In our society, not only do we idealize romantic love, but
we tend to also idealize marriage as 'happily ever after.' Fairy tales that are used over and over again, romance novels,
romantic comedies...many of them show marriage as the epitome of happiness. The wedding industry appears to profit
quite well from this. Not only is it booming, but the average cost of a wedding today is around $25,000!
After the wedding, of course, comes the honeymoon - a time of endless romance and sexual gratification. However, there's
a reason why 'the honeymoon is over' is a fairly popular phrase in depicting the reality of marriage. A fairly significant
percentage of marriages don't quite meet the high expectations of the ideal marriage once the 'honeymoon phase' ends.

E. Education and Diversity

ur society is evolving fasttowards great(er) diversity. Hence the schools - as a reflection of that society - evolve at
the same speed and in the same direction. We meet more frequently with (grand)parents from less obvious family
backgrounds or multicultural families. Gender issues influence strongly modern society and school life. More often
we encounter students with different ethnical-cultural,linguistic or religious backgrounds, students and teachers with
a disability, families with less fortunate financial means or who have no access to good schooling due to economic
status...

It becomes challenging to enable success for all learners, including children with different and diverse backgrounds.

In this course, participants will learn how to deal with diversity in an educational environment, they will experience
it within the course and will learn to consider it a meaningful challenge, for example by: strengthening collaboration
among all actors within schools, as well as with families, and other external stakeholders; supporting diversity
awareness and holistic approaches to teaching and learning and improving education by opening to inclusion.

F. Gender and Culture

cultural diversity. The equal participation, access and contribution to cultural life of women and men
are human rights as well as cultural rights, and an important dimension for guaranteeing freedom of
expression for all. A growing body of evidence from UNESCO programmes points to how gender
relations come into play in the transmission of knowledge on heritage and the fostering of creativity.
Indeed, ensuring that the spiritual, intellectual and creative expressions and interests of all members
of the community are reflected has proven to be an important enabler of inclusive development and
socio-economic empowerment.
Yet, access to culture can often be restricted to certain social groups, with women and girls in
particular facing complex barriers to participate in the cultural life of their communities. Unequal
opportunities for women to share their creativity with audiences; ‘glass ceiling’ for women to reach
management and leadership positions or to participate in decision-making processes; persistence of
dominant views on gender, negative stereotypes and limitations on freedom of expression based on
gender; and sex-specific challenges related to accessing specialized technical and entrepreneurial
training as well as financial resources. Recognizing these challenges, UNESCO works closely with
governments, civil society and communities to ensure that women’s and men’s roles in cultural life
are equally encouraged, valued and visible.
UNESCO’s Culture programmes support and empower women and men to equally enjoy, participate
in and contribute to culture through:
 The Culture Conventions
 The MDG-F Programme

G. Class and Culture

n recent years, the gap between the rich and the poor has grown to an unprecedented ratio. Upper-income families now
have an average net worth that is nearly 70 times greater than that of lower income families. In working to uncover the
underlying drivers of this ever-growing wealth gap, social scientists have realized that one of the key psychological
sources of this growing inequality seems to lie in the differences between the culture and norms of the middle class, which
are institutionalized in American society, and those of the working class, which are not.
Just as cultural psychologists have studied the ways in which an individual’s nation of origin serves as a source of personal
identity, psychologists of social class have begun to unpack the ways in which individuals’ class position contributes to
their sense of self. The results of this growing body of research on the psychology of social class suggest that, in addition
to considering visible markers such as gender and race or ethnicity, so too should social class be incorporated into the
larger dialogue about culture and diversity in the United States.

The culture of the middle class is consistent with the classic ideals championed in the quotes opening this article: our
ability to make choices, pave our own paths, and voice our ideas and opinions. For individuals from middle- or upper-class
backgrounds, these norms make sense. They tend to live in a relatively certain world where their basic needs are met.
Whether they can afford to have a roof over their heads and a meal on the table is rarely an issue.

The culture of the working class looks quite different. Rather than primarily highlighting independence, it also heavily
centers on interdependence: the ability to adjust to the situation, build community, and be responsive to others. Again,
researchers emphasize that these norms make sense for working-class individuals. Unlike their middle- and upper-class
counterparts, working-class individuals tend to live in a more uncertain world. They are more likely to be living paycheck
to paycheck, without a financial safety net, so their social relationships are key to their survival..

H. Public Life: Media and Recreation

Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time.[1] The "need to do something for recreation" is an
essential element of human biology and psychology.[2] Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement,
or pleasure and are considered to be "fun".

Religion, Morals, Customs, Values

Morality and religion is the relationship between religious views and morals. Many religions have value frameworks
regarding personal behavior meant to guide adherents in determining between right and wrong. These include the Triple
Gems of Jainism, Islam's Sharia, Catholicism's Canon Law, Buddhism's Eightfold Path, and Zoroastrianism's "good
thoughts, good words, and good deeds" concept, among others. [1] These frameworks are outlined and interpreted by
various sources such as holy books, oral and written traditions, and religious leaders. Many of these share tenets
with secular value frameworks such as consequentialism, freethought, and utilitarianism.
Religion and morality are not synonymous. Morality does not necessarily depend upon religion, though for some, this is
"an almost automatic assumption."[2] According to The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics, religion and morality
"are to be defined differently and have no definitional connections with each other. Conceptually and in principle, morality
and a religious value system are two distinct kinds of value systems or action guides." [3] In the views of others, the two can
overlap. According to one definition, morality is an active process which is, "at the very least, the effort to guide one's
conduct by reason, that is, doing what there are the best reasons for doing, while giving equal consideration to the interests
of all those affected by what one does."[2]

I. Social Capital and Connections

Social capital broadly refers to those factors of effectively functioning social groups that include such things as
interpersonal relationships, a shared sense of identity, a shared understanding, shared norms,
shared values, trust, cooperation, and reciprocity. However, the many views of this complex subject make a single
definition difficult.
The term generally refers to (a) resources, and the value of these resources, both tangible (public spaces, private property)
and intangible ("actors", "human capital", people), (b) the relationships among these resources, and (c) the impact that
these relationships have on the resources involved in each relationship, and on larger groups. It is generally seen as a form
of capital that produces public goods for a common good.