For many, establishing relationships with persons from cultures different from ourselves can be

challenging. One of the challenges is learning new customs and traditions. This can be a fun and
exciting experience to have because you are learning something new about another member of
the world. A second challenge of relating with persons different from us is identifying fears,
prejudices, and stereotypes that not only guide our social interactions and contribute to
misinformation about members of various cultural groups, but help to perpetuate various social
inequities.
Culture as an onion
Think of culture as an onion. Many, many layers make up an onion. Culture is similar, in
that our values and behaviors have many different layers. Draw the diagram below on the
board and then ask participants to draw a mind map that describes their own layers.
Inner layer: Cultural identity
Second layer: Race, gender, religion, ethnicity, social class, sexuality, age, mental and
physical ability
Third layer: Communication, motivation, perceptions, attitudes, personality
Fourth layer: Occupation/career, religion, education, citizenship, generation (1st, 2nd, 3rd),
language, political ideology, region (province), urban/rural, immigrant status and age at
immigration, majority/minority group membership
Saville-Troike (1978, in Taylor, 1990) suggests a set of questions and topics to guide those who
seek to understand another culture. These may be used as a basis for class discussions,
cultural searches, intercultural projects and autonomous study and include:
Family structure,
Life cycle,
Roles,
Interpersonal relationships,
Communication,
Decorum and discipline,

 Religion,
Health and hygiene,
Food, holidays and celebrations,
Dress and personal appearance,
Values,
History and traditions,
Education,
Work and play,
Time and space,
Natural phenomena,
Pets and animals,
Art and music,
Expectations and aspirations,
For me, As Pakistani National this intercultural experience is so much fruitful. I started
searching through goolge to get better understanding about the behaviors and about their
habits. I got very good methods and tricks to get understand other cultures.
Hey, I'm Saloua El Boukri, a Moroccon muslima but born in Belgium. Even I live here my whole
life I see that there are always some cultural differences. Differences in the way of thinking, the
way of eating, in point of views about religion etc. But no matter what the differences are we all
treat each other with respect. On my blog you will find some experiences I had in Saudi Arabia
and experiences during this school year. I hope you will enjoy it.
Stages of cultural awareness (Storti, 1999)
Unconscious competence
(spontaneous sensitivity) No longer have to think about what you are doing in order to be culturally
sensitive (in a culture you know well); culturally appropriate behaviour comes naturally; you can trust
your intuition because it has been reconditioned by what you know about cross-cultural interactions

Conscious competence
(deliberate sensitivity)
Know there are cultural differences, and what some of them are; try to modify your own behaviour to
be sensitive to differences; Have to make a conscious effort; know you can figure out what to do if you
can remain objective
Conscious incompetence
(troubling ignorance)
Realize there are cultural differences; unsure of what the differences are and how numerous or deep
they may be. Unsure of your intuition.
Unconscious incompetence
(blissful ignorance)Unaware of cultural differences; Unaware of the possibility of making cultural
mistakes or misinterpreting others behaviour. Have no reason at this stage not to trust your intuition.
(quoted from Mellinger, 2003)