Intercultural Communication
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It refers to interactions between individuals with varied cultural backgrounds.
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It can also refer to sending and receiving messages across languages and cultures.
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This is important as some forms of non-verbal communication may have a different meaning across different cultures.
- Lack of awareness may result in miscommunication and disagreements.
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According to World Bank (2010), some characteristics of competent cultural communicators are:
- Flexibility (ability to handle high levels of uncertainty)
- Reflectiveness/Mindfulness
- Open-mindedness
- Sensitivity
- Adaptability
- Politeness
- Creative Thinker
- Ability to Engage in Systems-level Thinking
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You should also consider other factors during communication such as age, gender, social status, or religion.
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To avoid showing a bias during communication, you should:
- Avoid stereotypes.
- Challenge gender norms
- One example is to avoid “he” and “him” to refer to a general group of people.
- You may use plural pronouns (their) or use “his/her” instead to remedy this.
- Do not talk down on younger people and the elderly.
- Be sensitive to the religious practices of others
- Be polite at all times, especially to people in a lower social class than you.