Intercultural communication in English
1. Globalization (what & why)
1)Dictionary: to organize or establish worldwide
2)Wiki: Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and
economic activity.
3)Globalization refers to the establishment of a world economy, in which national borders are
becoming less and less important as transnational corporations, existing everywhere and nowhere, do business in a global market.
4)Globalization refers to “time-spaces compression”. That is, the way in which the world
appears to be getting smaller. (Reasons: the increasing global mobility of people; the impact of new electronic media on human communications)
5)At the same time, people all over the world are faced with the same environmental issues
that affect all cultures.
6)Global instability stems from clashes between cultures as humankind creates
catastrophes(灾难) that are far worse than natural disasters.
7)Culture interdependence: people from different cultures attempt to get along with each
other and try to decrease conflicts.
Driving force: technology, particularly telecommunications, computers
2. Culture
1)People who are raised or live in a particular place probably speak the same language, hold
many of the same values, and communicate in similar ways.
2)the group of people who share the same ancestry
3)commodities or products that are internationally exported and imported
4) a particular way to satisfy our human needs. Maslow: physiological, safety, belongingness,
esteem, self-actualization
5)The coherent learned, shared view of a group of people about life’s concerns that ranks
what is important, furnishes attitudes about what things are appropriate and dictates behavior.
6)Culture is coherent, learned, the view of a group of people, ranks what is important,
furnishes attitudes
2.1 elements of communication
1)Context: the interrelated conditions of communication(aspects: physical settings, historical,
psychological, culture)
2)Participants: the participants in communication play the roles of sender and receiver,
sometimes of the messages simultaneously.
3)Messages: elements: meanings, symbols, encoding and decoding.
4)Channels: a channel is both the route traveled by the message and the means of
transportation.
5)Noise: noise is any stimulus, external or internal to the participants, that interferes with the
sharing of meaning. They include: external noise, internal noise, semantic noise
6)Feedback: some kind of verbal or nonverbal response
3. Different lands, different friendships
