LOCAL AND GLOBAL

COMMUNICATION IN
MULTICULTURAL SETTINGS
GATCHALIAN,EVANGELISTA JOSHUA,MARAYAG,
BSIT-1D
Global Communication

■ Global Communication can be defined just as any

communication can, a message that is sent from one
person or group to another anywhere in the world.

■ When it comes to communicating globally, it is usually in the

encoding and decoding that problems occur. As with any
communication, ensuring that the message is received as it
was intended is the responsibility of the sender.
Global Communication

■ Global communication examines how information is exchanged across

geographical and social divides, as well as how communication both impacts
and is influenced by culture, politics, media, economies, health, and
relationships in the age of globalization. Its strategies and practices allow
marketers and creative directors, public relations specialists, political
consultants, market researchers, journalists, non-profit leaders, and other
professionals in foreign or international industries to develop and share
messages that reach audiences across borders, whether to resonate
politically, help sell a product, or expose illegal labor practices. Global
communication can take various forms, including global advertisements,
political speeches, journalistic news stories, social media posts, press
releases, books and traditional print publications, and
Global Communication (Process)

■ 1. A person or an organization in one country sends a message.

■ 2. The message is encoded.
■ 3. The message travels through a channel or medium.
■ 4. The receiver in another country decodes the message.
■ 5. The recipient receives the message.
Examples of Global communication
■ Global communication can take various forms, including global
advertisements, political speeches, journalistic news stories, social
media posts, press releases, books and traditional print publications,
and more.

■ Most common global communication is the use of E-mail.

Examples of Global communication

■ When someone from another country reads your company's web page,
this too is an example of global communication. The message is
written and encoded in HTML, uploaded to a server, which is then
accessed across the internet and decoded by a web browser – and
perhaps a translation plugin – before the recipient reads it.
■ noise can distort the message or make it undecipherable. In
electronic communication, noise can include anything from typos that
change the context of a sentence to a failed internet connection,
which could make it appear that you are not communicating anything
at all.
Barriers in Global Communication

■ With global communication, encoding and decoding the

message can be more complicated than when you are
communicating with someone in your own country due to
differences in language and culture. If either the sender or
receiver isn't proficient in the language being used to send the
message, translation issues can add noise, distorting the
message. Even small cultural differences can add noise. While
most Americans, for example, associate the word "cheers" with
drinking, someone from the UK may informally use the word as a
way of saying thank you, or goodbye.
Barriers in Global Communication

■ Whenever you are communicating with someone in their

language, it is your responsibility to ensure that the words
you use are correct. This includes advertising and
marketing. Over the past several decades there have been
many large and successful companies that have made
mistakes when translating what they wanted to say to a
different language, often with offensive, or even hilarious,
results.
LOCAL COMMUNICATION

■ Local communication is being able to communicate with the

members of your local area. It can either be in your local
language (mother tongue), or a common language that you
speak within your town.

■ Best example of this is when speaking with your local

neighbors.
Cultural Barriers to Communication

■ The prime dynamics of culture are the mutual social perceptual set
with coordinated, meaning and action, and cultural variance. The
differences in communication recital and the diverse forms of
communication can create diversity among various cultures. People
who live in various cultures and historical epochs communicate
differently and have different patterns of thought. A Cultural barrier in
communication occurs mainly when communication happens between
two different cultural backgrounds. We encounter cultural barriers in
everyday life. In the age of globalization and digital media,
Cross cultural communication

■ Dealing with or offering comparison between two or more different

cultures or cultural areas.” This simple definition works as cross-
cultural researchers study and compare cultures. Cross-
cultural communications explore the different communication styles
of cultural groups.
Intercultural communication

■ The study of different styles is cross-cultural, and the study of cultures

interacting with one another is intercultural. Intercultural is used to
describe cultures meeting, clashing, and making adjustments.
According to the Oxford Dictionary intercultural is defined as “taking
place between cultures, or derived from different cultures.”
Importance of cross-cultural
intercultural communication
■ Cross-cultural and Intercultural communication is very important in
the contemporary world. The increase in multinational companies and
firms, globalization, improved international relations, and the internet
culture are the seeding agents for this demand. In a heterogeneous
cultural workforce and the community, it is vital to bring a
homogeneous work culture and result.
Sources of Cross Cultural Barriers

■ Language (Semantic): Language is considered as the most

crucial barrier in cross-cultural communication. Since verbal
communication is important in every context, the
understandings of the meaning of words are also important.
The language barrier occurs not only because of differences
in language but also in the forms of a variety of dialects. The
examples are of Chinese and Russian language where
different dialects are used in several parts of the country.
Sources of Cross Cultural Barriers

■ Cultural norms and values: Each culture hold its own values,
meaning and norms different from another. This difference
is caused because of truth, belief and judgment through
which they acquired knowledge about society and culture.
For example, in eastern countries like India, Pakistan,
Srilanka the meaning of physical proximity is different from
that in western countries
Sources of Cross Cultural Barriers

■ Stereotypes: Stereotypes are any negative image or

preconceived notions on a particular community and
identity. These are created through mass media and their
content agenda. For example, the status of transgender is
considered in the different level of standard in various
cultures. Same like the role and respect for women also
varies from culture to culture. In social psychological
viewpoint, positive stereotypes are also considered as the
cultural barrier.
Sources of Cross Cultural Barriers

■ Body language and gestures: Body language and

gestures are another elements of the cultural barrier. It
is impossible to communicate without body language
and gestures. It provides meaning and justification for
communication. In conservative societies like Arab and
African countries, greeting opposite gender by shaking
hands or hugging is considered as ill-manner or even
moral crime. But in the western world it is common
practice to shake hands while we meet people.
Overcoming Cultural Barrier

■ It is important to avoid or overcome any kind of barrier for

any successful and effective communication. Especially in
context of cross-cultural communication, it is important to
avoid all types of cultural barriers.
Overcoming Cultural Barrier

■ Avoid frame of reference

■ Use mutual language and signs
■ Ask questions when in doubt
■ Provide space for mutual respect
■ Open to new ideas
■ Accepting and adapting the different culture
■ Understand the context of communication
■ Avoid Stereotyped notions
■ Promote positive reception of cultural divergences
■ Learn about other cultures and their norms
Barriers of intercultural communication

■ Even within the same culture, communication isn't always

easy. Spouses get divorced, friends fall out and workers
change jobs -- often because of misunderstandings.
■ There are six particular barriers to communication between
people. These are anxiety, assuming similarities instead of
difference, ethnocentrism, language problems, prejudice
and stereotyping, and misinterpretation of nonverbal.
Barriers of intercultural communication

■ 1. Anxiety. The meaning of it is when a person feels

inconvenient when he or she does not know how to behave
in some situations. The result is that the communication
transaction fails.
Barriers of intercultural communication

■ 2. Assuming similarity instead of dissimilarity. When people

are acting in a home manner in the different culture it might
cause a lot of problems. In order to prepare yourself for
various circumstances it is very important to assume laws,
habits, and attitudes of another society.
Barriers of intercultural communication

■ 3. Ethnocentrism is a third issue on the barrier list. Ethnocentrism is

a major reason for divisions amongst members of different
ethnicities, races, and religious groups in society. Ethnocentrism is
the belief of superiority is one's personal ethnic group, but it can also
develop from racial or religious differences. Ethnocentric individuals
believe that they are better than other individuals for reasons based
solely on their heritage. Clearly, this practice is related to problems of
both racism and prejudice. While many people may recognize the
problems, they may not realize that ethnocentrism occurs
everywhere and every day at both the local and political levels.
Barriers of intercultural communication

■ 4. Language problems. There are five actual factors that generally

produce the difficulties in the translation. They are lack of equivalences in
vocabulary, idioms, grammar and syntax, experiences, and concepts.
Barriers of intercultural communication

■ 5. nonverbal misinterpretations. Lee Hopkins, a leading

Australian business motivator, defines nonverbal
communication as anything aside from oral words that send a
message. The communication process requires a sender and
receiver and uses various mediums to deliver the messages. For
example, the same message can express itself in different ways
via a billboard, a handshake or a facial expression. Nonverbal
communication is just as important as verbal communication
because people respond to what they see more than what they
hear.
Barriers of intercultural communication

■ 5. nonverbal misinterpretations. Lee Hopkins, a leading

Australian business motivator, defines nonverbal
communication as anything aside from oral words that send a
message. The communication process requires a sender and
receiver and uses various mediums to deliver the messages. For
example, the same message can express itself in different ways
via a billboard, a handshake or a facial expression. Nonverbal
communication is just as important as verbal communication
because people respond to what they see more than what they
hear.
Barriers of intercultural communication

■ 6. Stereotypes and prejudices. Both of them are to make a

judgment about individuals according to group membership.
■ A “stereotype” is a generalization about a person or group of
persons. We develop stereotypes when we are unable or
unwilling to obtain all of the information we would need to make
fair judgments about people or situations. In the absence of the
“total picture,” stereotypes in many cases allow us to “fill in the
blanks.” They can be positive and negative. Usually they are
based on half-truths.
Barriers of intercultural communication

■ Prejudice can be defined as an unreasonable dislike and

distrust of people who are different from you in some way,
especially because of their race, sex, religion, or ethnic.
■ The strong link between prejudice and stereotypes should be
obvious. Prejudiced thinking depends on stereotypes and is a
fairly normal phenomenon. To be prejudiced toward a group of
people sometimes makes it easier to respond to them.