Week 4 Obstacles Of Intercultural And Intracultural Communication Discussion
Week 4 Obstacles Of Intercultural And Intracultural Communication Discussion
When team members from different cultural backgrounds have trouble interacting with one another due to misconceptions or rejection of one another’s preferred methods of doing things, interpersonal conflicts can emerge.
Unfortunately, those who are bilingual or multilingual and can bridge cultural gaps in communication are in short supply. When two people from different cultural backgrounds have a conversation, they are said to be communicating “across” or “inter” cultures. Language barriers can arise even among members of the same culture. Tensions increase when people cannot interact with one another. When you include cultural variations, you exponentially increase the number of challenges you’ll face. Realizing that there are problems with communication between cultures is the first step to fixing them.
This article will discuss five difficulties that can arise while attempting cross-cultural communication.
Constraints of Ethnocentrism on Global Communication
The term “ethnocentric” refers to someone who views their culture as superior to others. This group has a hard time relating to people of other cultural backgrounds and often makes assumptions about them. People generally agree that racism and ethnocentrism go hand in hand. Most instances of ethnocentrism are not on purpose; they are the unexpected outcomes of actions or words taken without considering how they might affect individual capacity to comprehend or communicate with others. Preventative measures against ethnocentrism are doomed to fail because the problem is unanticipated. An open perspective can help lessen the prevalence of ethnocentrism secondly educate individuals on the various customs of other cultures.
Negative Stereotypes and Prejudices
Inaccuracies and bigotry about other cultures disrupt dialogue and hurt feelings. If you want to be understood and respected by people of different cultural backgrounds, you’ll need to get past the prejudice that divides them. Prejudice is the unjustified and unfavourable opinion of a person or group. It’s the snap judgment that people make about other people based on superficial characteristics like ethnicity, religion, or language.
Without a doubt, bias becomes an issue when people from different cultural backgrounds come together with people from other cultural backgrounds. In a cross-cultural situation, there is a lack of communication and interaction due to the prevalence of prejudgments.
Communication Disruptions Caused by Language Differences
Two people must first understand each other to start a conversation. This word refers to the ability of people from diverse origins to communicate, learn about, and respect one another’s cultures and values. To eliminate misunderstanding and stress caused by a lack of a common language, all participants in a cross-cultural engagement must be native or near-native speakers of the target language. Because of the language barrier, the discourse is difficult to follow. Multinational corporations have devised solutions to the challenge.
English has emerged as the universal language of business, facilitating effective communication between employees of different nationalities and cultures. For most positions in today’s international organizations, fluency in English is essential because it is rapidly becoming the de facto global business language. Using an interpreter team should assist in eliminating any remaining impediments. Intercultural interaction specialists should be consulted if communication challenges are impeding development. Training can increase the frequency and variety of a person’s native language. Breaking down barriers caused by language and culture is crucial.