Steve Kaufman made an interesting post about inter-cultural communication:
Whenever I hear the term intercultural communication, I cringe. It is as if special skills are required to communicate with people from other countries and language groups.
I have lived and worked in several countries in Europe and Asia. I have always found that our opportunities to commit cultural gaffes are quite limited and that intercultural communication is not much of a problem. With good will and sincerity, it is actually quite easy to communicate across cultures. The less fuss we make about our cultural differences, usually, the better.
Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to work and have hang out with people from many different countries. I have also had the opportunity to live in Germany for 10 weeks. My experiences agree with Steve Kaufman’s.
I have found that as long as you are polite, act cautiously when you are in unfamiliar territory, and are sincere in what you communicate you will rarely have any problems. I have never had any problems using this approach, but it is possible that someone somewhere has.
I believe the biggest secret in getting to know someone from another culture is to realize that they are a person and to have a sincere interest in their culture. All that you need to do is go up and introduce yourself to them. Let a conversation flow naturally; this should be no problem if you have read something about their country beforehand. At some point they may ask why you spoke with them. You can simply say that you have been interested in [their country] for some time and you overheard their accent. They will probably ask why you are interested in their country, and you can tell them.
Initially they will be very happy to explain about their country to you and to answer questions. As your relationship builds, you will translate into having a normal friendship the same as you would with one of your fellow countrymen. You will pick up far more information in this second phase and can ask a question about anything that catches your attention.
I don’t think making cultural gaffes is a big problem. You may even find out about things to avoid doing or saying while reading about the country. If you are polite and the person realizes that you do not know much, they will usually correct you kindly when a mistake. Their purpose for the correction will be to avoid you embarrassing yourself in front of people with whom you are not good friends.
When I was in Germany I found that when I spoke, people would hear my accent and then maybe ask a few questions about me. My shyness and hesitancy because of my poor command of the German language was far more of a hindrance than any hostility or coldness on the part of the Germans. In America you generally do not just meet people on the street, so I would not recommend doing so in other countries either. If you know someone in the country, he can introduce you to his friends and will probably make it his job to smoothly introduce you to his culture.
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You sort of touched on something I noticed. When I’m speaking Spanish to some one, I almost think of them as less of a person. I explain things that don’t need explaining and I just treat him or her like they’re dumb. I usually don’t even realize I’m doing it.
Gary, Do you think this could be because you’re unsure of yourself?
When I speak German to a German speaker I throw in as much extra information as I can because I don’t to confuse them if/when I use the wrong word. Also, since I can’t say as much, I tend to make the most of what I can say.
Maybe. I don’t know. It makes sense. I feel bad about it though.
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