Communicating Beyond Culture

Abstract

       Few of us have not read about how to communicate with people from different cultures and even fewer of us have actually studied how to do this. We simply stumble through cross-cultural encounters, sometimes successful in our endeavours without really knowing how or why. Communicating beyond culture is therefore a new experience. The emphasis should be on how we normally act and think when we are with people from the cultures, so we can better understand the communication process and can develop new skills and ways of thinking. Cross - cultural knowledge is very valuable for overseas students, employees from a variety of culture working together and even foreign tourists. Most of the time, these individuals relate well and adapt to the new culture. However, there are always situations that present a problem. Cross - cultural knowledge enables us to gain the greatest possible benefit from our interaction with people from other cultures and learn to choose the best  pattern for attaining our objective in a particular situation.

          There are many things that we do in our own culture that we never ask questions about. This is because we have always done them in the same way. When we are with people from a different culture, we always question ourselves as to why they do that or why they do no do as what we do. Some examples of cultural differences follow to demonstrate this.