Intercultural Communication

It has become a widespread

notion that speaker’s use of
different languages results in
intercultural miscommunication
and misunderstanding. As
Scollon and Scollon (1995) state:
When we are communicating with
people who are very different
from us, it is very difficult to know
how to draw inferences about
what they mean, and so it is
impossible to depend on shared
knowledge and background for
Indeed, the lack of shared
knowledge and beliefs and
cultural diversity make it more
complicated to arrive at the
correct inference or
interpretation of meanings.
But it can also be argued that
English in now a global lingua
franca. In fact, with the ASEAN
integration, English has been
declared the official or
working language of ASEAN.
So with just one language to be
spoken or used by many
countries including the 10
member countries of the
ASEAN, what else can go
wrong?
It is thus important to
emphasize that the ownership
of English cannot be
attributed to just one country
or to those who use it as a
native or home language.
The varieties of English
spoken by different speech
communities have evolved for
a reason. They use it for
communal purposes.
These varieties have been heavily
influenced by the local culture
and its speakers. Recent studies
have shown that the problem of
misunderstanding is not overt and
can be traced to speech
perturbations, poorly managed
Turn taking, and non-aligned,
“parallel talk” (House,1999).
Meierkord (2000, as cited by
Kaur, 2016) emphasizes that
communication in English as a
lingua franca (ELF) is
“A form of intercultural
communication characterized
by cooperation rather than
misunderstanding”.
This she noted in her study
of participants coming from
17 different first language
backgrounds which yielded
the result that the
participants displayed
Communicative behavior not
generally associated with their
linguacultural backgrounds
making the talk cooperative
and supportive in nature with
few misunderstandings.
Note that misunderstanding in
intercultural communication may
not always be caused by verbal
utterances. Misunderstandings
may also occur due to wrong
interpretation of the non-verbal
code.
 Country or Region Type of Handshake
United States Firm Handshake

France Soft Handshake

Germany Firm handshake, for men, traditionally

accompanied by a slight bow
Japan Handshake with arm firmly extended,
accompanied by a bow
Middle East Handshake and free hand placed on the
forearm of the other person
Like handshakes, greeting
rituals also vary from culture
to culture. Japanese women
bow differently from
Japanese men.
The German bow which is termed
as diener means a bow to and in
recognition of an authority. Thus,
when a person bows, he/ she is
actually sending the message “at
your service”.
Kaur (2016) cites the
following as the sources
of misunderstanding:
1. Ambiguity – lack of
explicitness on the part of the
speaker on the form of
problematic reference and
ambiguous semantics in which
an utterance is open to different
interpretations.
2. Performance – related
misunderstanding – slips of
the tongue and mishearing
which may be due to
utterances spoken quickly and
unclearly.
3. Language – related
misunderstanding –
ungrammaticality of sentences.
4. Gaps in world knowledge –
gaps in content rather than
language.
5. Local Context – turns and the
turns within sequences produced
by the participants themselves,
and the orientation of the
participants as well as the repair
moves that follow the displayed
misunderstanding.
Why is there a need to
understand intercultural
communication?
It is easy to say that people
belong to diverse cultures,
hence the need to
understand others. But it is
easier said than done.
Some people take it for
granted to read about and
study first a country’s culture
before they go and travel to
the place.
There is a need to be aware of
conscious of other cultures
especially those that you will
visit so you can avoid
offending people.
Due to misinterpretations,
miscommunication occurs.
Likewise, it is suggested that
you become aware of cultural
identities and backgrounds as
it will broaden your horizon.
All cultures are equal and
though sometimes difficult to
understand, you need to
understand that no culture is
superior or inferior to another.
It is only through awareness
that you get to compare other
cultures with your own and
appreciate cultural diversities
and learn to live with them.
People have different
languages, lifestyle, and ways
of thinking, speaking, and
behaving. This is the essence
of cultural diversity.
To better understand the
concept of intercultural
communication, three
approaches as explained by
Martin and Nakayama (2010)
can be studied:
 Social Science Interpretative Critical
or Functionalist

Discipline on Psychology Anthropology, Various

which approach sociolinguistics
is founded
Research goal Describe and Describe Change behavior
predict behavior behavior

Assumption of External and subjective Subjective and

reality describable material

Assumptions of Predictable Creative and changeable

human behavior voluntary
Method of study Survey, Participant Textual analysis
observation observation, field of media
study

Relationship of Communication Culture created Culture as a site

culture and influenced by and maintained of power
communication culture through struggle
communication
Contribution of Identifies Emphasizes Recognizes the
the approach cultural that economic and
variations; communicatio political forces
recognizes n and culture in culture and
cultural and cultural communicatio
differences in differences n; asserts that
many aspects should be all intercultural
of studied in interactions
communicatio context are
n but often characterized
does not by power
consider
context