What is Cross-Cultural Communication?

So what exactly is cross-cultural communication?  It pays, firstly, to look at what defines cultural communication.  Cushman and Craig (in Philepsen, 2003) suggest that cultural communication is made up of two basic components; networks and codes.  Networks include "nations, culture, class, subculture, region, community, and family" (p. 36), and codes are "language, dialect, and accent".  Non-verbal communication cues such as body language and gestures can also be included under codes.

Language and dialect can mean more than just the basic language spoken and its variations, such as Mandarin with its numerous dialects.  Language can also be a subset of a specific language, that depends upon an environmental, cultural, or occupational context.  Different sports have language specific to them, that may seem unintelligible to a speaker of that general language who does not have knowledge of that particular sport.  Cricket has a number of interesting terms, such as silly mid-on, googly, beamer, third man, slips, reverse sweep, and yorker.  To a cricketing fan this language makes sense, but to the uninitiated, such terms would most likely seem nonsensical.  Similarly, different employment fields have their own languages, as do different religions, and different leisure activities.  There are an untold variety of both formal and informal language subsets within any language.

Who are you speaking to today?
(U-coaching, 2013)

Cross-cultural communication occurs when a person from one culture, with its own networks and codes, tries to understand the networks and codes of a person from a different culture (Prosser, 2012).  When two people from different cultures meet, and attempt to communicate, this is called intercultural communication.  Spending time looking at cross-cultural communication assists the individual in their intercultural communication.  Obviously it would be near-impossible to understand all the various dialects and cultural norms on the planet, but by having a look at those most common in our area, we can improve our ability to build therapeutic relationships with members of our local population.



Reference:

Philepsen, G. (2003). Cultural communication.  In W.B. Gundykunst (Ed.), Cross-cultural and intercultural communication (pp. 35-52). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Prosser, M.H. (2012). Cross-cultural communication. In Encyclopedia of communication theory (pp. 248-252). Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/edwards/study/materials/reference/77593_6.1ref.pdf

U-coaching. (2013). Cultball [image]. Retrieved from http://u-coaching.de/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/cultball.jpg