PURPOSIVE COMMINCATION

MODULE 5: Activity 4-5

Activity 4:

Situation: Have you talked to people of diverse linguistic and cultural

backgrounds? Have you experienced any difficulty? If so, how did you manage the
conversation? What strategies did you employ?

It was Christmas break when we had a reunion with my aunt and cousins who
are Canadian citizens and decided to go back and spend their holiday in the Philippines
after almost six years. It was most probably, the reunion which I had the most culture
shock especially, that I used to be very close with these cousins when we were still
young, yet that day, it seems that they are a different person with the way they speak
and behave. Nonetheless, me and my siblings still tried my best to catch up with them,
after all, we shared the same blood and a lot of memories together back then. At first, it
was difficult to communicate with them since I am not that very fluent in English yet,
during those time, compared to them who even adapted the Canadian accent. But, as
time goes by and after several stories we shared, we somehow managed to have a
comfortable conversation as if we haven’t seen each other for a long time. Looking
back, I think what helped us have an effective cross-cultural communication is mainly
because we keep the conversation simple yet entertaining, we tried to be open, and we
had this mutual awareness that indeed, we have different linguistic backgrounds. We
also became sensitive to what we say and avoided using slang words to understand
each other better.

Activity 5:

Judging from the way I communicate with other people who have different
cultural backgrounds, I think I would rate myself as "3" or "good" as an intercultural
communicator. The main reason was because every time I was in this type of situation, I
think I always managed to meet the purpose of the conversation, considering that I can
communicate using the universal language comfortably. Another reason was that I think
I am not that intimidating for other people to approach me, and I always try to be
respectful and attentive to whatever they say. However, even with this, I recognized that
I still have minimal issues when it comes to this, especially that as an introvert, it’s hard
for me to socialize, think of topics that would keep the conversation longer, and pick up
with the context or the person’s body language.