| At the moment it is time to pass the oncoming motorcycle, you will choose a side to pass that seems "right." |
| When people get together from different cultures, with different dance steps, inevitably there will be some sore toes. |
| Most animals, including humans, can communicate certain messages such as "I am afraid" or "I will bite you" because they share a background on the most basic level -- they are animals. |
You will learn to communicate effectively with people from other cultures.
No two human beings are exactly alike, and so you are unique. Yet from the moment you were born,
the people who raised you and the people around you have been training you to fit in to prescribed
roles and to meet certain expectations. The roles you have been trained to fit in are, for example,
boy/girl, daughter/son, student, friend, man/woman, citizen, and many others. In each of these roles
your have learned what is expected of you in terms of thought, speech and behavior. You may have a
unique personality to some degree, but even that has been shaped by the people around you. In
short, the influence of the group of people into which you were born -- your culture -- is all-pervasive;
humans are cultural animals, and you are a product of your culture. And so am I a product of my
culture.
No two human beings are exactly alike, and so you are unique. Yet from the moment you were born,
the people who raised you and the people around you have been training you to fit in to prescribed
roles and to meet certain expectations. The roles you have been trained to fit in are, for example,
boy/girl, daughter/son, student, friend, man/woman, citizen, and many others. In each of these roles
your have learned what is expected of you in terms of thought, speech and behavior. You may have a
unique personality to some degree, but even that has been shaped by the people around you. In
short, the influence of the group of people into which you were born -- your culture -- is all-pervasive;
humans are cultural animals, and you are a product of your culture. And so am I a product of my
culture.
...will learn to communicate...
The largest step toward our communication has already been taken by you. You have studied
English as a foreign language, and we are communicating now because we have "common ground,"
we share a background: we both have familiarity with English. No communication takes place
apart from some kind of shared background.
Most animals, including humans, can communicate certain messages such as "I am afraid" or "I will
bite you" because they share a background on the most basic level -- they are animals. Humans can
communicate happiness, anger or fear to each other simply by making facial expressions. The more
background people share, the more effectively they can communicate. Twins, for example, are likely
to communicate very well because they share a nearly identical background. A Siberian man and a
Zimbabwean woman, being products of different cultures and genders, will find their very different
backgrounds make communication difficult. Moreover, It would be much easier for you and me to
communicate if we were raised speaking the same language and sharing a culture. You have my
sincerest respect and appreciation of your efforts to read these materials written in my native
language and out of my cultural background.
Human communication encompasses every situation in which messages are sent and received. This
includes movies, books, songs, TV shows, newspapers, e-mail, post-it notes, graffiti, billboards, and
on and on. Because we are cultural creatures, all of this communication is only properly understood
in the context of its cultural background.
The largest step toward our communication has already been taken by you. You have studied
English as a foreign language, and we are communicating now because we have "common ground,"
we share a background: we both have familiarity with English. No communication takes place
apart from some kind of shared background.
Most animals, including humans, can communicate certain messages such as "I am afraid" or "I will
bite you" because they share a background on the most basic level -- they are animals. Humans can
communicate happiness, anger or fear to each other simply by making facial expressions. The more
background people share, the more effectively they can communicate. Twins, for example, are likely
to communicate very well because they share a nearly identical background. A Siberian man and a
Zimbabwean woman, being products of different cultures and genders, will find their very different
backgrounds make communication difficult. Moreover, It would be much easier for you and me to
communicate if we were raised speaking the same language and sharing a culture. You have my
sincerest respect and appreciation of your efforts to read these materials written in my native
language and out of my cultural background.
Human communication encompasses every situation in which messages are sent and received. This
includes movies, books, songs, TV shows, newspapers, e-mail, post-it notes, graffiti, billboards, and
on and on. Because we are cultural creatures, all of this communication is only properly understood
in the context of its cultural background.
...with people from other cultures.
I have used the word "culture" a dozen times on this page already, and have assumed the reader
knows what it means. Many shelves are lined with thick, dusty books crammed with countless words in
small print dedicated to the definition of culture. One such book, Culture: A critical review of concepts
and definitions, published in 1952, contains more than 100 definitions of the word. It can be as simple
or as complex a subject as you care to make it. I will approach it simply: I use the term "culture" to
mean the total way of life of a group of people; it is the way people organize life and meet basic
needs; it is anything widely shared among a group of people.
Here is a useful way to look at cross-cultural communication: From earliest times, human societies
have sought to develop ways to get along with each other, to respect one another, and to decide who
may do what with whom, when and where, etc. In short, societies have developed rules for interaction,
and each society has developed a somewhat different set of rules. These rules are like dance steps:
Members of a society know the steps, so they won't step on each other's feet. But when people get
together from different cultures, with different dance steps, inevitably there will be some sore toes!
Studying culture -- other cultures as well as your own -- will help you in your cross-cultural dance.
I have used the word "culture" a dozen times on this page already, and have assumed the reader
knows what it means. Many shelves are lined with thick, dusty books crammed with countless words in
small print dedicated to the definition of culture. One such book, Culture: A critical review of concepts
and definitions, published in 1952, contains more than 100 definitions of the word. It can be as simple
or as complex a subject as you care to make it. I will approach it simply: I use the term "culture" to
mean the total way of life of a group of people; it is the way people organize life and meet basic
needs; it is anything widely shared among a group of people.
Here is a useful way to look at cross-cultural communication: From earliest times, human societies
have sought to develop ways to get along with each other, to respect one another, and to decide who
may do what with whom, when and where, etc. In short, societies have developed rules for interaction,
and each society has developed a somewhat different set of rules. These rules are like dance steps:
Members of a society know the steps, so they won't step on each other's feet. But when people get
together from different cultures, with different dance steps, inevitably there will be some sore toes!
Studying culture -- other cultures as well as your own -- will help you in your cross-cultural dance.
| On this page: An understanding of people -- yourself included -- as cultural beings is necessary for effective cross-cultural communication. |
| Where should we go from here? Part 2 of this introduction |
| The more background people share, the more effectively they can communicate. |
...effectively...
It is a difficult and admirable task to learn a foreign language. Yet millions of language students who,
after years of study, have an opportunity to go abroad and practice their language with native
speakers, are surprised and disappointed to find that the language they struggled to learn at home
hardly resembles what they hear spoken in its native land! This is not only because people speak fast
and use a lot of idioms, but because there is much more involved in communication than the spoken
language. There is probably nothing in life more nuanced and subtle than face to face
communication. Words -- together with tone of voice, facial expressions, silences -- are heavy with
attitudes, values and beliefs which can only be discerned in their cultural context.
Words and the way they are spoken are only one of the modes through which messages are sent.
People communicate using...
gesture, movement and posture (often called body language or kinesics, including facial
expressions)
personal space (how close or far apart people sit or stand, called proxemics)
time (called chronemics; for example, calling someone at an appropriate time, or making someone
wait)
touch (who may touch whom when and on what part of the body, called haptics)
implicit understanding (understandings people share that don't need explanation, called high/low
context communication)
... and all of these modes of communication are shaped by culture.
Effective communication across cultural boundaries, then, requires at least an awareness of what is
involved in the process of communication. It is one thing to be able to watch a foreign movie or read a
news item in a foreign language, and it is quite another thing to recognize the deeper, richer
meanings embedded in the dialogue or text which can only be correctly interpreted in terms of its
connections to its larger context -- its cultural background.
It is a difficult and admirable task to learn a foreign language. Yet millions of language students who,
after years of study, have an opportunity to go abroad and practice their language with native
speakers, are surprised and disappointed to find that the language they struggled to learn at home
hardly resembles what they hear spoken in its native land! This is not only because people speak fast
and use a lot of idioms, but because there is much more involved in communication than the spoken
language. There is probably nothing in life more nuanced and subtle than face to face
communication. Words -- together with tone of voice, facial expressions, silences -- are heavy with
attitudes, values and beliefs which can only be discerned in their cultural context.
Words and the way they are spoken are only one of the modes through which messages are sent.
People communicate using...
gesture, movement and posture (often called body language or kinesics, including facial
expressions)
personal space (how close or far apart people sit or stand, called proxemics)
time (called chronemics; for example, calling someone at an appropriate time, or making someone
wait)
touch (who may touch whom when and on what part of the body, called haptics)
implicit understanding (understandings people share that don't need explanation, called high/low
context communication)
... and all of these modes of communication are shaped by culture.
Effective communication across cultural boundaries, then, requires at least an awareness of what is
involved in the process of communication. It is one thing to be able to watch a foreign movie or read a
news item in a foreign language, and it is quite another thing to recognize the deeper, richer
meanings embedded in the dialogue or text which can only be correctly interpreted in terms of its
connections to its larger context -- its cultural background.
You can find people from very different backgrounds -- different personalities, gender, ages -- right in
your own culture, but there is a subtler level of difference that you encounter when crossing cultural
lines. Culture to a human is like water to a fish: The influence of culture is all-pervasive, shaping people
and the social roles they play. Differences between cultures are mostly out of awareness and are many.
Take proxemics (from the word "proximity") -- the study of how people use space -- as one example of
something you do that is out of awareness. When you are walking on the street, and you stop to talk to
someone, how close to that person will you stand? If you know the person, will you stand at the same
distance as if you don't know the person? If the person is of your gender, will that affect how close or far
apart you will stand? Chances are good that you have never really thought about this before, and it is
out of awareness. But studies show that there are definite rules to the distances people keep between
themselves, and these rules are different from culture to culture. In Arab cultures, for instance, the
appropriate distance apart for men to stand while they are talking is close enough so they can smell
each other's breath. If you, as a Taiwanese, found yourself talking to a man from an Arab culture, you
might feel uncomfortable and not know exactly why. Or perhaps the Arab man would feel uncomfortable
with you because you require too much personal space!
As another example of unwritten rules (also called norms) that are out of awareness, consider what you
do when you are riding your motorcycle on the right side of the road, and a motorcycle comes toward
you (riding on the right, going the opposite direction). I am sure this has happened to most Taiwan
motorcyclists, and at the moment it is time to pass the oncoming motorcycle, you will choose a side to
pass that seems "right." Fortunately, both motorcyclists have the same idea of which side they should
pass on; otherwise there would be more accidents. In sum, people are cultural animals, and the roots of
culture are very complex and deep in each of us. A cross-cultural encounter brings with it possibilities for
conflict and misunderstanding -- many of which are unanticipated, or out of awareness. Effective
cross-cultural communication requires a developed cultural awareness.
your own culture, but there is a subtler level of difference that you encounter when crossing cultural
lines. Culture to a human is like water to a fish: The influence of culture is all-pervasive, shaping people
and the social roles they play. Differences between cultures are mostly out of awareness and are many.
Take proxemics (from the word "proximity") -- the study of how people use space -- as one example of
something you do that is out of awareness. When you are walking on the street, and you stop to talk to
someone, how close to that person will you stand? If you know the person, will you stand at the same
distance as if you don't know the person? If the person is of your gender, will that affect how close or far
apart you will stand? Chances are good that you have never really thought about this before, and it is
out of awareness. But studies show that there are definite rules to the distances people keep between
themselves, and these rules are different from culture to culture. In Arab cultures, for instance, the
appropriate distance apart for men to stand while they are talking is close enough so they can smell
each other's breath. If you, as a Taiwanese, found yourself talking to a man from an Arab culture, you
might feel uncomfortable and not know exactly why. Or perhaps the Arab man would feel uncomfortable
with you because you require too much personal space!
As another example of unwritten rules (also called norms) that are out of awareness, consider what you
do when you are riding your motorcycle on the right side of the road, and a motorcycle comes toward
you (riding on the right, going the opposite direction). I am sure this has happened to most Taiwan
motorcyclists, and at the moment it is time to pass the oncoming motorcycle, you will choose a side to
pass that seems "right." Fortunately, both motorcyclists have the same idea of which side they should
pass on; otherwise there would be more accidents. In sum, people are cultural animals, and the roots of
culture are very complex and deep in each of us. A cross-cultural encounter brings with it possibilities for
conflict and misunderstanding -- many of which are unanticipated, or out of awareness. Effective
cross-cultural communication requires a developed cultural awareness.
| Words -- together with tone of voice, facial expressions, silences -- are heavy with attitudes, values and beliefs which can only be discerned in their cultural context. |
| There is much more involved in communication than the spoken language. |
