FOREWORD

The Cross Cultural Understanding course is one of the compulsory courses for students from
various majors including the majors in English Literature, English Education, Indonesian Language
and Literature, Japanese Literature, French Literature, German Literature, and several other majors
based on Language, Literature and Culture throughout Indonesia.

This Cross Cultural Understanding course must be studied because as a student who will
surely be involved in a very multicultural world of work, of course, he must have sufficient
knowledge and understanding to be able to adapt well. What is meant by Cross Cultural
Understanding here is of course not only about cross-cultural understanding between Indonesian
culture and foreign culture, but also how to understand various local cultures in Indonesia itself. As
we all know, Indonesia is one of the countries with a rich variety of regional cultures, which are then
united into a national cultural wealth.

This module will describe certain themes such as Cross Cultural Understanding, how to form
cross-cultural communication and interaction, the stages of acceptance / rejection of a person when
adapting to an environment that has a different culture, cross-cultural types in the world of work,
regarding culture shock, verbal and non-verbal communication, to cultural examples both in Indonesia
and around the world.

This material is designed in a simple and straightforward language style so that it will be
easily understood by novice readers. Each meeting (chapter) is made sequentially starting from the
introduction stage to the stage of applying theory in examples of everyday life. This textbook is very
suitable as a guide in studying cross-cultural studies for beginners.

CHAPTER I (Meeting 1)

WHAT IS CROSS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING?

Definition of Culture and Cross-Cultural Communication

Talking about cross cultural understanding means that we also have to talk about cultural
understanding first. Based on the opinion of Levine (1992), the notion of culture is: "a shared
background (for example, national, ethnic, religious) from a common language and communication
style, customs, beliefs, attitudes, and values". Cultural studies is always an unfolding discourse that
responds to changing political and historical conditions and is always marked by debate, disagreement
and intervention. For example in the late 1970s when the centrality of class in cultural studies was
first confused by the affirmation of feminism on the importance of gender equality.

So culture is not only about music, art, food, clothing styles, and certain works of writing.
Culture can be something informal, abstract, and part of the interactions, expressions, and points of
view of people who come from the same culture. In this sense, culture can be very complex and
universal. More detailed explanations can be read in the following chapters with various topics and
different themes.

In analogy, culture can be likened to an iceberg where there are parts that are visible on the
surface of the sea and parts that are hidden below the surface of the sea. Like an iceberg, the results of
this external influence on culture cannot be seen or in other words not easy to interpret. It is precisely
these hidden parts of culture that play the most role in determining a person's attitude and character in
their interactions with other people.

Abstract things such as how to communicate, ways of thinking, beliefs, attitudes, characters,
values, and one's point of view are examples of the hidden parts of an iceberg. We will not know a
person's character or way of thinking just by looking at their outward appearance. To explore these
abstract things, we must first get to know and continue to interact with that person. Even if we have
known someone for a long time, we may not fully know the person's character. It may be that in some
cases we can judge someone correctly, but in other cases we may be misjudged. Because of the
difficulty of this recognition, abstract things are called the deepest part of an iceberg that is not visible
at sea level.

Case in point: Indonesia is known throughout the world as a country with the largest Muslim
population in the world. This implies that all state policies will favor this majority group, even though
the interests of non-Muslim community groups are also well accommodated. When there is an event
deemed insulting Islam, the reaction of the Indonesian people will be much more provoked and
provoke the anger of a number of Muslim groups. But the interesting thing is that not all Muslims are
also provoked by anger and they see it from a different perspective which is the opposite of the
previous view. This is where we can see how a person's character is very fluid and very difficult to
predict and interpret. In other words, there are Muslims who are very fanatical about their religion and
there are Muslims who have liberal / secular views. The last category explains that they are Muslim,
they love their religion, they love their nation, but they have out of the box thoughts that are often
considered controversial. That is what is called the dynamics of cultural issues.

Meanwhile, the meaning of cross-cultural communication is communication (both verbal and

non-verbal) between people who come from different cultures; communication that is influenced by
cultural values, attitudes, and behavior; cultural influences on the reactions and responses of a group
of people to another group of people.

There is no such thing as "wrong" and "right" in the meaning of this textbook, only cultural
differences. What is considered appropriate in one culture may not necessarily be appropriate in
another. It could be that what is considered appropriate in one culture is considered inappropriate in
another culture. For example, the culture of kissing the cheek on the left and right when meeting
someone (of either the same sex or of the opposite sex) is considered appropriate in America and most
Western countries, but the same culture is considered inappropriate in Indonesia, Arabia, and several
countries in the Asian region.

Every culture basically has values and attitudes where its members think that these values are
something that is true and acceptable according to them. However, often a person's attitudes and
behavior may not always reflect these values. For example, egalitarianism is a very strong value in
American society, but reality makes it clear that the attitudes and behavior of many Americans are not
in line with these egalitarian values.

Learning about culture is fun and makes you "rich" (in the sense of being rich in experience).
The more a person learns about another culture, the more and more clearly that person is able to
understand and know his own culture. By learning about something that is against their culture, they
will gain a better understanding of how culture affects individual attitudes and behavior and how they
communicate with others.

In learning about cultural differences, of course there are many things that must be taken into
consideration. And these things are not only about the way of dress, language, special food, and other
things that can be seen; but also involves other abstract things (ways of communicating, beliefs,
attitudes, behaviors, characters, values, perspectives, and ways of thinking) which are very difficult to
interpret. Even when we feel that we know someone very well, it doesn't mean that we really know
about this (hidden) abstract part.
 QUESTION:

It is not an easy thing not to be trapped in stereotypes and generalizations of a particular

cultural form. Often we do not intend to make prejudices against other people's cultures, but
sometimes we are not aware that we have been caught in the prejudices that we have taken to be true.
Based on an understanding of cross-cultural communication, students are then expected to be able to
answer the following questions about their own culture. Try to be neutral and impartial in order to be
able to tell the truth.

1. In your opinion, what are the things that cause the most serious problems in cross-cultural
communication?
2. What are the cultural conflicts that usually occur in heterogeneous societies?

(After answering these 2 questions you need to answer the next question(s) given by your lecturer.)

3. ........ (next)
4. ........ (next)