Fundamental Assumptions about Intercultural Communication

Fundamental Assumptions about Intercultural Communication
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Fundamental Assumptions about Intercultural Communication
Intercultural communication refers to a form of communication that involves people from two different cultures (Nakayama & Halualani, 2012). Intercultural communication focuses on understanding how people from different cultures or countries act, communicate or perceive the world surrounding them (Scollon et al., 2012). Intercultural communication is, therefore, a vital part of communication because it creates an opportunity for people to learn new things from other cultures and know why people engage in some particular practices without disrespecting others (Neuliep, 2017). The paper will address some of the fundamental assumptions of intercultural communication.
The first assumption is that the message sent is not usually the message received (Neulieop, 2020). The assumption implies people bring along many thoughts, ideas, emotions, behaviors, and values about their culture when interacting with people from a different culture. According to Neuliep (2020), intercultural communication is a symbolic activity through which the ideas and the thoughts of a person from one culture are encoded into a nonverbal or verbal message before it gets to the recipient, whom the intern needs to decode the message, interpret it and respond to the message. However, it is essential to note that this process is affected by cultural noise. In the process, culture filters both verbal and nonverbal messages. As a result, all intercultural exchanges are usually charged with ethnocentrism, implying that a person's culture is to judge other peoples' culture (Chen, 2010). According to research, one of the negative impacts of ethnocentrism is that it influences a person's view of others. This makes a person judge other people's communication based on our standards. This is usually problematic because it makes one not see beyond their culture. As a result, people end up seeing little importance in understanding other people's cultures. However, as seen from the readings, ethnocentrism serves a valuable purpose when a person's culture is threatened or in some form of attack. I apply this implication because some people may not understand my message because they come from a different culture. For instance, if I meet a person from a different culture, I usually research their culture, which I believe may lead to prejudgment.
The second assumption is that intercultural communication is a nonverbal act between people of a different culture (Reimann, 2010)). According to Neulieop (2020), the expression of status and power among communicators is usually achieved nonverbally through paralinguistic cues, olfactics, oculesics, and haptics. An example of this expression is in Korea, where a person's hierarchical position is usually displayed through pitch and vocal tone. For instance, when a tutor offers a student a piece of paper, it is required that they receive it with both hands followed by a slight nod of the head while avoiding direct eye contact, which signifies the role of nonverbal signs of deference. I'm not too fond of lousy odor. I like smelling good, and this is the reason I have several varietie...