IMS 556

Chapter 3

INTER-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
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 CULTURE
Definition
“The deposit of knowledge,
experience, beliefs, values, attitudes,
meanings, religion, roles and
concepts by a group of people in the
course of generations through
individual and group striving”

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 INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNCATION
Definition

“The process of exchanging thoughts

and meanings, establishing
relationships, and maintaining them
between people from different
cultures, particularly between
people from different countries”

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 INTERCULTURAL COMMUNCATION
Areas in Intercultural Communication
OInternational communication
O Highly ritualized encounters between nations
OInternational business communication
O Interactions between people from different
countries in a business context
OInterethnic communication
O Situations where the parties are of the same race
but different ethnics origin.
OInterracial communication
O Interactions between people of the same
nationality but of different races. 4
 CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
O Identify specific traits of different
cultural groups in order to make
sense of the external world
O Experts found the traits characteristic
of different people from different
countries and different cultural
background through systematic
research and survey

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 CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES
O High-context versus low context cultures
O Information is transmitted in physical context
rather than verbal message.
O In formal business, verbal message may
depend on physical context
O High context cultures
O Oriental, Arab, Latin Americans, Greeks,
Spanish
O Low context cultures
O English, French, Americans, Germans

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 CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
O Highly hierarchical versus less hierarchical
cultures
O Organization hierarchical structure is more
towards respecting their bosses in centralized
decision making
O High hierarchical cultures
O Most Asian, Arab, East Africa
O Less hierarchical cultures
O South Korea, European countries, USA, Israel

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CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
O Individualism versus collectivism
O Individualism is where the benefit gain based
on individual performance or contribution
while collectivism is more towards benefit
gain through a group cooperation
O Most Collectivist
O Most Latin, American, Asian, Eastern
Europe, France
O Most Individualistic
O Arab, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand,

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 LANGUAGE IN INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
O Rhetorical Pattern of Writing
O Oral Presentations

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 LANGUAGE IN INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
O Rhetorical Pattern of Writing
O English
O Represent in a straight line sentence (english,
dutch, bahasa)
O Semitic
O Based on a complex series of parallel
construction (Arabic)
O Romance
O Constitute digression (french, italian, spanish)
O Oriental
O Turning and spiral mode (japanese, chinese)

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 LANGUAGE IN INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
O Oral Presentation
O Learn all you can about your audience
O Always use simple words and shorts
sentence and speak clearly and slowly
O Be very careful about humor jokes as
they may backfire
O Avoid using idioms as they don’t
always translate

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 NON-VERBAL LANGUAGE
O Body Message
O Facial and Eye Movements
O Spatial and Territorial Communication
O Touch Communication
O Paralanguage and Silence

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 BODY MESSAGE
O Body Movements
O Emblems
O Body gestures that directly translate words or phases
O Illustrators
O Nonverbal behaviors that accompany and enhance verbal
messages
O Affect Display
O Nonverbal movements of face, hands and body that
communicate emotional meaning
O Regulators
O Behaviors that monitor, control, coordinate or maintain the
speaking of others
O Adaptors
O Nonverbal behaviors that are emitted without conscious
awareness and that usually serve some kind of need. (self
adaptors, Alter adaptors, Object adaptors) 13
 BODY MESSAGE

O Body Appearance
O General body appearance and attractiveness
also communicate
O Heights and weight
O Hair length, color and style
O Skin color
O Attractiveness

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Facial and Eye Movement
O Facial Communication
Your face can communicate message
especially your emotions
OFacial management are used to mask
certain emotions.
O Purposes
O Intensifying to exaggerate a feeling
O Deintesifying to underplay a feeling
O Neutralizing to hide a feeling
O To replace the expression of one emotion to another
O Simulating to express an emotion you didn’t feel

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Facial and Eye Movement
O Eye communication
Most important nonverbal message system
ODuration
O Different cultures have different duration. The eyes
duration show if the person uninterested, shy or like
you
ODirection
O Through direction of the eyes, we can get messages
such as , high or low interest, nervous or so on
OQuality
O How wide or narrows your eyes get during
interaction. It helps you expressing your emotions
such as surprise, anger and happiness

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Facial and Eye Movement
O Function of eye movements
O To seek feedback
O To signal openness in the communication
channel
O To signal the nature of relationship
O To change the psychological distance between
you and another
O To helps others maintain privacy through ‘civil
inattention (eye avoidance)
O To signal lack of interest through eye
avoidance

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 Spatial Message
O Spatial Distance
Use of space may also communicate message
OIntimate distance
O actual touching to 18 inches (intimate
relationship)
OPersonal distance
O 18 inches to 4 feet (personal relationship)
OSocial distance
O 4 feet to 12 feet (social relationship)
OPublic distance
O 12 feet to 25 feet

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 Spatial Message
O Territorial
A possessive reaction to an area or to a
particular objects
OPrimary territories
O Your own exclusive area
OSecondary territories
O Areas that don’t belong to you but which have
occupied and with which you are associated
OPublic territories
O Areas that open to all people and may be owned
by some person or organization

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 Spatial Message
O Human markers
To signal territories ownership
OCentral markers
O marker used to reserve territory
OBoundary markers
O boundaries set between your territory and
others
OEar markers
O marker used to identify one’s possessions

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Touch Communication
O The most primitive form of nonverbal
communication
O The meaning of touch:
O Positive emotions
O Playfulness
O To control
O Ritual touching
O Task related
O Touch avoidance
O Occurs when you want to avoid touch from certain
people or being touch by them

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Paralanguage and Silence
O Paralanguage
O Communication that is vocal but does not use
words.
O Judgments about people
O You make judgment about another’s
personality in the basis of that person’s
paralinguistic cues
O Judgments about communication
effectiveness
O How fast you talk influence how others perceive
you. Faster is more persuasive.

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Paralanguage and Silence
O Silence
O Silence is use to
O Allow the speaker time to think
O Hurt others
O Response the personal anxiety, shyness or
threats
O Prevent communication of certain
messages
O Communicate emotion responses

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 SENSITIVE ISSUES
O Business and Politics
O Indo and Malaysia avoid politics,
religion topics
O South Korea avoid Japanese influence
in Korea talk
O Russia avoid alcohol problem topics.

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 SENSITIVE ISSUES

O Business and Entertaining

O Japan, South Korea and China the
most countries spent on business and
entertaining.

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 SENSITIVE ISSUES
O Gift Giving in Business
O Bad Gifts
O China – clock (dying person)
O European countries – chrysanthemums flower
(death)
O Muslim – liquor, dogs, pork and pigskin product
O Good Gifts
O Chocolate and pens
O Home and office decoration
O Compasses (Arab countries)

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 SENSITIVE ISSUES

O Bribery versus Ethnics in Business

O Top ranking corruption countries –
Pakistan, Bangladesh, China,
Indonesia and India
O Least corruption countries – Sweden,
Finland, Denmark
O Least corruption in Asia - Singapore,
Japan and Hong Kong.

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-END OF CHAPTER-

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