Communication in Multicultural Settings

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Determine culturally-appropriate terms, expressions, and images (sensitivity to gender,
race, class, etc.)
2. Adopt cultural awareness and sensitivity in communication of ideas
3. Identify the culturally related terminologies

In this module, we will be discussing about:

 Terminologies
 A world of diversity
 The global community
 Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity
 Gender Sensitivity
 Political Correctness

LOCAL & GLOBAL COMMUNICATION IN MULTICULTURAL SETTING

Cultural related terminologies

 Culture in this context means a set of learned values, internalized practices, and shared
beliefs among a group of people

 Multicultural communication situation- When people from multiple backgrounds, with

different ways of communication, coexist without really interacting deeply

 Intercultural communication acknowledges the coexistence of multiple cultures in a

single space. However, it goes one step further by focusing on the productive encounters
that are constantly taking place between cultures. 

 Cross-cultural communication is the comparison between two (or more) cultures

The Global Community

Refers to the people or nations of the world, considered as being closely connected by modern
telecommunications and as being economically, socially, and politically interdependent

Examples:

 Major offices and some homes linked with optical fiber systems
 Global multimedia services
 Satellite transmissions
Cultural Awareness

 is knowing that there are multiple different cultures

 based on religion, ethnicity, nationality, and other factors- that have different attitudes
and outlooks.

Cultural Sensitivity

 Cultural sensitivity refers to a set of skills that allows you to learn about and understand
people whose cultural background is not the same as yours.

Gender Sensitivity

 Gender sensitivity refers to the aim of understanding and taking account of the societal
and cultural factors involved in gender-based exclusion and discrimination in the most
diverse spheres of public and private life.
 Gender-sensitivity language is the realization of gender equality in written and spoken
language. Gender equality in language is attained when women and men and those who do
not conform to the binary gender system are made visible and addressed in language as
persons of equal value, dignity, integrity and respect. (http://eige.Europa.eu (Links to an
external site.))

Usual Language Gender-Sensitive

Terminology
Forefathers Ancestors/ forebears
Manmade Artificial/ manufactures
Common man Ordinary person/ average
Chairman Chairperson/ coordinator
Lady liked Cultured
Freshman First year
Congressman Legislator

Political Correctness
 Political correctness is used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended
to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society
 Politically correct as agreeing with the idea that people should be careful to not use
language or behave in a way that could offend a particular group of people. (Molloy, 2015)

Usual Language Politically Correct

Terminology
Fat Chubby
Cheating Academic Dishonesty
Ugly Aesthetically Challenge
Bald Comb-free
Drug Addict Drug Dependent
Old Elderly
Stupid Intellectually Impaired
Communicating Across Cultures
High context culture
 Mediterranean, Slav, Central
European, Latin America, African,
Arab, Asian, American-Indian
 Leave much of the message
unspecified, to be understood
through context, nonverbal cues,
and between the lines
interpretation of what is actually
said.
Sequential cultures
 North American, English German,
Swedish, and Dutch
 As a linear commodity to “spend”,
“save” or “waste”.; business people give
full attention to one agenda item after
another.
Affective
 Readily showing emotions
 Italy, France, U.S., Singapore
Low context culture
 Germanic and English-speaking
countries
 Expect messages to be explicit and
specific.
Synchronic cultures
 South America, southern Europe and
Asia
 Viewed time as a constant flow to be
experienced in the moment, and as a
force that cannot be contained or
controlled; time as a sort of circle
(past, present, future); for long term
planning
Neutral
 Normal business activities, neutral
cultures are more careful to monitor
the amount to emotion they display.
 Japan, Indonesia, UK, Norway,
Netherlands