Cultural Communication

In your lecture we briefly discussed intercultural communication. As the world becomes ever more connected, understanding how to communicate with members of different cultures becomes even more important. With that in mind, for today’s assignment you’ll spend a short amount of time in your school or local library, or on the internet, researching a culture with which you were previously unfamiliar, specifically looking for information relevant to how members of that culture communicate, both verbally and non-verbally. If possible, focus on a culture you foresee yourself interacting with in your professional career. For instance, if you’re pursuing a career in public health in Los Angeles County you might consider researching El Salvadorian or Guatemalan culture. If you were going into international finance you might consider researching Chinese or Korean culture. For your assignment reflect on how the information you’ve found can aid you in becoming a more competent communicator when communicating with a member of the culture you studied. What phrases should you use? What gestures should you avoid? What filters might be influencing how messages are sent or received? How might the culture’s attitudes on individualism, collectivism, high- or low-context be affecting communication? Try to use the terminology we introduced this week. Have fun, but remember, keep it respectful and academically appropriate. Part of being a good communicator is communication appropriateness and proper etiquette. Your response must be 2 pages in length. When you have completed your response, review it for spelling, grammar and formatting errors and then submit it to the assignment dropbox below.