Chapter 9: Intercultural Communication

      Chapter nine discusses intercultural communication, which I was actually excited to read about since it is an aspect of my final paper and it is a topic that comes up in a lot of our class discussions. There are four main focus points in the chapter and they are intercultural communication, culture, culture shock, and the inarticulate.

      Intercultural communication deals with the interaction and differences and similarities across cultures. I have taken an intercultural communication class so this whole concept of learning about and working with other cultures is really interesting and enjoyable to me.  Culture shock is described as the reaction to the experiencing of cultures other than our own, which page 156 says can lead to feelings like disorientation and discomfort because our expectations and norms are broken. I think most people have experienced some sort of culture shock, whether it is from interacting with someone from a much different culture or actually travelling or visiting somewhere else. I experienced some instances of culture shock when I was studying abroad in the UK and travelling in Europe because there are so many difference from one country to another and even from city to city. Culture is defined on page 156 as "the communicative practice, traditions, and stories that give identity to a group of people". I like this definition because I think culture is broad and is not simply about race or geography, so I really like the “group of people” as a less specific definition. And The Inarticulate are the aspects of culture that are less definite and are harder to define or specifically point out. Even though the inarticulate are not that easily definable, they are still vital to culture because even though we may not notice them, we can still see differences with other cultures even if we cannot easily pinpoint why. I think this relates a lot to the idea of norms and why it is hard to handle things we see as a violation of them. Sometimes they are so ingrained or unconscious that we don’t necessarily acknowledge them.

      Overall I liked what the book had to say about culture because I think it showed that learning and practice are vital to efficient and ethical communication. On page 159 the book says "Do not assume you know the culture of another or even your own. Learn about each". This is actually something we talked a lot about in my intercultural communications class and I am a huge advocate for learning through experience and being willing to learn, and I think this absolutely applies to culture.

      The one thing I would say is that it is important to consider that each culture’s norms are different, which the book obviously points out, but I think that could actually be beneficial to intercultural communication as the world becomes a more diverse and connected place and we place less emphasis on the lines between the “us” and the “other”. What I mean by this is that some people and cultures may be raised to be more open minded and exposed to other cultures, which may not fit in with all of the assumptions the book makes. The book talks about how it is important not to assume your own culture is the norm or is more right than others, but I am not so sure that everybody feels this way to begin with. When I think of culture, I feel that I could define myself by my gender, race, ethnicity, age, education level, etc. and I think that these work together and conflict with one another, which makes me feel like I don’t have just one normal. I also thought Luke brought up a really good point in his blog post when he said that the way he was raised would not lead him to expect other cultures and countries to accommodate his cultural norms, but he would instead have to adapt to theirs. I think this agrees with what I am saying in that I think the world is becoming more open and diverse and people are less rigid and closed minded about cultural differences. Page 158 of the book says  “We can no longer assume commonality; difference is the norm”, and I think this is interesting. I don’t necessarily believe that everybody automatically expects commonality anymore (some do, but not all) because culture can be applied to so many different aspects of life and groups of people and therefore there are more “normals” and less rigid expectations.