This picture to my left shows a picture of two people of different cultures (the hair) communicating with one another. Notice the blank speech bubble which is shaped in a jigsaw puzzle shape that can be pieced together nicely. From the look on their faces, it seems to me like a happy conversation that they are having. However, words cannot be seen and thus, we can use our creative imagination to think of the dialogue spoken between them.
As we all come from different cultures, there are many differences and miscommunication may occur. There are cultural barriers as well as attidudinal barriers to intercultural communication. First up is cultural barriers. There are 5 ways in which culture affects communication. Perception of reality, understanding of role relations, goal - oriented behaviours, sense of self and message making. In short, as each person comes from a different culture, what one person perceives to be right may not mean the same thing to another person. A person's beliefs will difer from that of another person. One may not fully understand or comprehend what the other party is saying, hence the blank speech bubble but with good relationship, the dialogue still can be pieced together.
As we all come from different cultures, there are many differences and miscommunication may occur. There are cultural barriers as well as attidudinal barriers to intercultural communication. First up is cultural barriers. There are 5 ways in which culture affects communication. Perception of reality, understanding of role relations, goal - oriented behaviours, sense of self and message making. In short, as each person comes from a different culture, what one person perceives to be right may not mean the same thing to another person. A person's beliefs will difer from that of another person. One may not fully understand or comprehend what the other party is saying, hence the blank speech bubble but with good relationship, the dialogue still can be pieced together.
Next, we have the attidudinal barriers. People tend to stereotype others from different cultural backgrounds. We all have a certain idea that those who come from say, China are all the same. But we are wrong, although they all come from China, within the country itself, there are many different cultures. Holding negative social attitudes towards members of other groups, also known as prejudices can cause conflicts within different cultures. One would tend to believe that one's culture group is far superior thatn others and we tend to judge others by what we believe in. This is a very wrong attitude to have towards others.
From the cartoon, we can see that when both cultures work together hand - in - hand, communication can be smooth sailing and one would be able to piece together nicely a good relationship as well as a good dialogue. If one is able to put aside the differences and understand those of different cultural backgrounds, we would all be able to communicate well with one another.
1 comment:
It is very good to know other people's culture. However, in fact there is one big problem that lead to poor intercultural communication. It is prejudice! We should not be biased towards other people. Otherwise, people will be biased to us. So why not put that away and celebrate the differences!!
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