Chapter One Introduction to Intercultural CommunicationHuman being draw close to one another by their common culture, but habits and customs keep them apart.---Confucian Saying 1. Definition ：Intercultural Communication is communication between people whose cultural perceptions and symbolsystems are distinct enough to alter the communication event.2. A short history of intercultural communication2.1 The Burgeoning PeriodThe term “Intercultural communication” itself did not appear until Hall’s The silent language was published in 1959.2.2 From 1960 to 1970a. Two preventative books reflect the continuous efforts made by scholars in the field in the 1960’s:b. Olive’s Culture and Communication (1962) and Smith’s Communication and Culture (1966)c. The first college class in this field taught in 1966 at the University of Pittsburgh.2.3 From 1971 to 1980a. The 1970s witnessed rapid development in the field of intercultural communication.b. In 1973, Samovar and Porter published Intercultural Communication: A readerc. Indiana University awarded the first doctoral degree in intercultural communication.d. Condon and Yousef’s Introduction to Intercultural Communication (1975)2.4 From 1981 to the Present Timea. Condon and Yousef’s stress on cultural value orientations and communication behavior parallelsb. Hofstede’s (1984) later work on cultural valuesc .Hall’s writing on high-context and low-context cultures in Beyond Culture (1977).d. Scholars in the early 1970s began to make their contributions in research and teaching by the 1980s.3. Importance of Intercultural CommunicationThree developments3.1 The new technology3.2 The new Population3.3 The new Economic Arena4. Studying Intercultural CommunicationWe have met the enemy, and he is us. ---PogoThree main obstacles:First, Culture lacks a distinct crystalline structure; it is often riddled with contradictions and paradoxes.Second, Culture cannot be manipulated or held in check; therefore, it is difficult to conduct certain kinds of research on this topic.Third, we study other cultures from the perspective of our own culture, so our observations and our conclusions are tainted by our orientation.5. Intercultural CommunicationThe main conceptions in intercultural communication:Intercultural communication: Face-to-face communication between people from differing cultural backgrounds. Intercultural communication is defined as the extent to which there is shared interpersonal communication between members of the same culture.5.1 Host and Minority CultureThe host culture is the mainstream culture of any one particular country.Minority cultures: cultural groups that are smaller in numerical terms in relation to the host culture.5.2 Subcultures (Co-cultures)Subculture: a smaller, possibly nonconformist, subgroup within the host culture.E.G. : Black American; Native American; Hispanic- American, Chinese-American, etc.5.3 MulticulturalismMulticulturalism is the official recogniti on of a country’s cultural and ethnic diversity (Hollway, 1992)5.4 Cross-cultural Communication1.Cross-cultural communication is face-to-face communication between representatives of business, government and professional groups from different cultures.2.Diplomacy is one of the oldest forms of cross-cultural communication. Travel and tourism is a second form of cross-cultural communication.3.A third form of cross-cultural communication unique to this has been the growth of the mass media.Most recently, cross-cultural communication has been accelerated by cross-border information flows brought about by computerization.5.5 Principles of Intercultural CommunicationCondon has highlighted three areas as most problematic in intercultural exchange:nguage barrier2.Different values3.Different patterns of behaviors. (Condon & Saito, 1974)5.6 RationaleWorldwide interest in intercultural communication grows out of two assumptions:First, changes in technology, travel, economic and political systems, immigration patterns, and population density have created a world in which we increasingly interact with people from different cultures.Second, one’s cultural perceptions and experiences help determine how one sends and receives messages.5.7 Approach1.Fundamental to our approach to intercultural communication is the belief that all forms of human communication involve action.2.This book takes a view of intercultural communication that is both pragmatic and philosophical.5.8 PhilosophyFirst, it is to the advantage of all 5.5 billions of us who share the planet to improve our interpersonal and intercultural communication abilities.Second, most of the obstacles to understanding can be overcome with motivation, knowledge, and appreciation of cultural diversity.Activities: Right or Wrong?•You need to learn to accept and like other cultures.•You need to respect the validity of other cultures.•Underneath, people are fundamentally the same.•Culture is pervasive.•I can do exactly what I want. My actions are independent of my culture.•I don’t have total freedom of choice in my behavior.•Culture and ethnicity are the same.•If we have more contact, intercultural understanding will improve.•Cultural worth is in the eye of the beholder.•The perceptions of the individual relate to the perceptions of the group.Chapter Two Language Use and Communication•You cannot speak of ocean to a well-fog, ----the culture of a narrow sphere.•You cannot speak of ice to a summer insect,----the creature of a season.---Chang Tsu Communication:1.our ability to share our ideas and feelings2.is the basis of all human contact.1. Human Communication1.1 Intentional and Unintentional Behavio rThe first one describes communication as the process whereby one person deliberately attempts to convey meaning to another.The second school of thought proposes that the concept of intentionality fails to account for all the circumstances in which messages are conveyed unintentionally.1.2 A Definition of CommunicationCommunication occurs whenever meaning is attributed to behavior or the residue of behavior.1.3 The Components of CommunicationA. The Source=>B. Encoding =>C. The Message=>D. The Channel=>E. The Receiver =>F. Decoding =>G. Feedback2. Pragmatics: Language Use2.1 The Problem(1) We must first distinguish between using language to do something and using language in doing something.e.g. Hello Goodbye Pass the salt. Please. How old are you? It’ s raining.(2) What is (successful) linguistic communication? How does (successful) communication work?2.2 The Message Model of Linguistic of Linguistic CommunicationSpeaker HearerMessage MessageEncoding =»Sounds =»Decoding2.3 Problems with the Message ModelFirst, DisambiguationSince many expressions are linguistically ambiguous, the hearer must determine which of the possible meanings of an expression is the one the speaker intended as operative on that occasion.eg1, flying planes can be dangerous.eg2, A: We lived in Illinois, but we got Milwaukee’s weather.B: Which was worseSecond, Underdetermination of referenceThird, underdetermination of communicative intent (by meaning)Fourth, nonliteralityFifth, indirectionSixth, noncommunicative acts2.4 An Inferential Approach to CommunicationThe basic idea:linguistic communication is a kind of cooperative problem solving.The Inferential Model of communication proposes that in the course of learning to speak our language we also learn how to communicate in that language, and learning this involves acquiring a variety of shared beliefs or presumptions, as well as a system of inferential strategies.Presumptions: 1. Linguistic Presumption 2. Communicative presumption3.Presumption of literalness4.Conversational presumption2.5 Inferential Theories versus the Message ModelSix specific defects:1. The Message Model cannot account for the use of ambiguous expressions2.Real world referencemunicative intentions4.Nonliteral communication5.Indirect communication6.Noncommunicative uses of language3. The Characteristics of Communication3.1 No Direct Mind-to-Mind ContactIt is impossible to share our feelings and experiences by means of direct mind-to-mind contact.3.2 We can Only InferBecause we do not have direct access to the thoughts and feelings of other human beings, we can only infer what they are experiencing inside their individual homes, to continue our analogy.3.3 Communication Is SymbolicSymbols, by virtue of their standing for something else, give us an opportunity to share our personal realities.3.4 Time-Binding Links Us Together3.5 We Seeks to Define the World3.6 Communication Has A Consequence3.7 Communication Is Dynamic3.8 Communication Is Contextual3.9 Communication Is Self-Reflective4. The Brain Is an Open SystemFirst, this concept of the brain alerts us that while each of us can learn new ideas throughout the life, what we know at any one instant is a product of what the brain has experienced.Second, the notion of the brain as an open system reminds us that we can learn from each other.]Third, because learning is a lifelong endeavor, we can use the information to which we are exposed to change the way we perceive and interact with the world.5. We Are Alike and We Are DifferentWe are alike:First, everyone realizes at some point that life is finite.Second, each of us discovers somewhat early in life that we are isolated from all other human beings.Third, all of us are thrown into a world that forces us to make choices.Finally, the world has no built-in scheme that gives it meaning.We are different:First, the external world impinges on our nerve endings, causing something to happen with us.Second, we think about what is happening by employing symbols from our past.Activities: Right or Wrong?•Sophistication is a subjective concept which is “ in the eye of the beholder”•Realize that your language reflects and influences the way you se the world.•All cultures impose some constrains on the body.•Some language can’t distinguish between the present and the past.•All cultures express politeness by using words like “please” and “thank you”.•All cultures have standards for politeness and ways of being polite.•All cultures are concerned about face. This is what motivates politeness.•The concept of “face” is universal. Without it, there would be no politeness.•Your way of showing that you are paying attention may be considered inappropriate by other cultures.•All cultures require and value politeness, but the ways in which the politeness is achieved may vary significantly.Chapter Three Culture and CommunicationCulture is the medium evolved by humans to survive. Nothing in our lives is free from cultural influence. It is the keystone in civilization’s arch and is the medium through which all of life’s events must flow. We are culture. (Edward T. Hall) Culture also determines the content and conformation of the messages we send. This omnipresent quality of culture leads hall to conclude that “there is not one aspect of human life that is not touched and altered by culture”(Edward T Hall,1977)Culture and communication are so inextricably bound that most cultural anthropologists believe the terms are virtually synonymous. This relationship is the key factor to understanding intercultural communication.Studying intercultural communication without studying culture would be analogous to investigation the topic of physics without looking at matter.In this chapter,We shall explain why cultures develop, define culture, discuss the major components of culture, and link culture to communication by offering a model of intercultural communication that isolates the characteristics of culture most directly related to communication.1. Culture is our invisible teacher1.1 The basic function of communicationPeople maintain cultures to deal with problems or matters that concern them.-------William A HavilandIt serves the basic need of laying out a predictable world in which each of us is firmly grounded and thus enable us to make sense of our surroundings.Malinowski: three types of needs:Basic needs (food, shelter, physical protection)Derived needs (organization of work, distribution of food, defense, social control)Integrative needs (psychological security, social harmony, purpose in life)1.2 Some Definitions of CultureE. Adamson Hoebel and Everett Frost: culture is an “integrated system of learned behavior patterns which are characteristic of the members of a society and which are not the result of biological inheritance (Hoebel and Frost, 1976.6) For them, culture is not genetically predetermined or instinctive.”First, as all scholars of culture believe, culture is transmitted and maintained solely through communication and learning, culture is learned.Second, scholars who take the sweeping view believe, each individual is confined at birth to a specific geographic location and thus exposed to certain messages while denied others.e.g. Geert Hofstede, a psychological perspective, defining culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another”(Hofstede,1984). Both of these definitions stress the mental conditioning that culture experiences impose.Daniel Bates and Fred Plog: culture is a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the member of a society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning.This definition included not only patterns of behaviors but also patterns of thought (shared meaning that the member of a society attach to various phenomena, natural and intellectual, including religion and ideologies), artifacts (tools, pottery, house, machines, works of art), and the culturally transmitted skills and techniques used to make the artifacts (G.Bates, 1990, 7)We define culture as the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving. Culture can therefore include everything from rites of passage to concepts of the soul.1.3 The Characteristics of CultureA. Culture is innate; it’s learned.1. Without the advantage of learning from those who lived before us, we should not have culture. You can appreciate, therefore, why we say that learning is the most important of all the characteristics of culture.2. Bates and Plog note: whether we feed ourselves by growing yams or hunting wild game or by herding camels and raising wheat, whether we explain a thunderstorm by attributing it to meteorological conditions or to a fight among the gods —such thins are determined by what we learn as part of our enculturation (Bates and Plog,1990,19).The term enculturation denotes the total activity of learning one’s culture. As Hoebel and Frost say, “conscious or un conscious conditioning occurring within that process whereby the individual, as child and adult, achieves competence in a particular culture”3. Enculturation takes place through interaction (your parents kiss you and you learn about kissing –whom to kiss, when to kiss, and so on ), observation (you watch your father do most of the driving of the family car and you learn about gender roles –what a man does, what a woman does), and imitation (you laugh at the same jokes your parents laugh at and you learn about humor –it is funny if someone slips as long as he or she does not get hurt).e.g. The mouth maintains silence in order to hear the heart talk. This saying expresses the value Belgians place on intuition and feelings in interaction.He who speaks has no knowledge, and he who has knowledge does not speak. This saying from Japan reinforces the value of silence.We concluded our description of the first characteristic of culture by reminding you of how our discussion directly relates to intercultural communication.First, many of the behaviors we label as cultural are only automatic and invisible, but also engaged in without our being aware of them.Second, common experience produces common behaviors.B. Culture is transmitted from Generation to GenerationFor culture to exist and endure, they must endure that their crucial message and elements are passed on.Richard Brislin: if there are values considered central to a society that have existed for many years, there must be transmitted from one generation to another. (Brislin,1993,6). This idea supports our assertion that culture and communication are linked: it is communication that makes culture a continuous process, for once culture habits, principles, values, attitudes, and the like are “formulated”they are communicated to each individual.The content of culture is what gets transferred from generation to generation.e.g. American tell each generation to always look forward.In China, the message is to look to the past for guidance and strength..For Mexicans and Native Americans, the message is that cooperation is more important than the contest.In Korea, the message is to respect and treasure the elderly.C . Culture is based on SymbolsOur symbol—making ability enable us to both learn our culture and pass it on from individual to individual, group to group, and generation to generation.The portability of symbols allows us to package and store them as well as transmit them. The mind, books, pictures, films, videos, computer disk and the like enable a culture to preserve what it deems to be important and worthy of transmission. Culture Is therefore historical and preservable.D Culture is subject to ChangeCultures are dynamic systems that do not exist in a vacuum, so they are subject to change.Cultures change through several mechanisms, the two most common are innovation and diffusion.Innovation is usually defined as the discovery of new practices, tools, or concepts that many members of the culture eventually accept and that may produce slight changes in social habits and behaviors (Nanda, 1994, 26)Diffusion is the borrowing by one culture from another and another way in which changes occursE. Culture is integratedThe nature of language makes it impossible to do otherwise, yet in reality culture functions as an integrated whole. This one aspect of culture has altered American attitudes, values, and behaviors.F Culture is EthnocentricWilliam Sumner: defined ethnocentrism as “the technical name for the view of things in which one’s own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it”(Sumner,1940,13)Ethnocentric is the perceptual lens through which cultures interpret and judge each other.Ethnocentric is found in every culture.The logical extensions of Ethnocentric are detachment and division, which can take a variety of forms, including war.e.g. East Indians looking down on the Pakistanis, the Japanese feeling superior to the Chinese, and ethnic rivalries causing strife between Serbs and Croats in the former Yugoslavia.Why culture is such a puissant influence on all our lives?The life history of the individual is first and foremost an accommodation to the patterns and standards traditionally handed down in his community. From the moment of his birth the customs into which he is born shape his experience and behavior. By the time he can he the little creature of his culture, and by the time he is grown and able to take part in its activities his impossibilities.2. Language and CultureLanguage and culture are inextricably linked, so that learning language means learning culture and vice versa.With language and culture so inextricably linked, it is obvious that a language learner has more to do than master a new grammar and vocabulary. He must also learn what utterances are appropriate to particular situations.3.Teaching CultureIn order to successfully integrate considerations of cultural appropriacy into language teaching, it is necessary that both teacher and students examine their own assumptions of what is natural. This mutual exploration, and the establishment of the relativity of what is considered to be natural, allows participants from both cultures to be both teachers and learners. The mayor skills involved are the ability to suspend judgment, to analyze a situation as a native of that culture would analyze it, and choose acourse of action that is most culturally appropriate to the situation.4. Forms of Intercultural CommunicationInterracial communication occurs when source and receiver are from different races. The team race pertains to physical。
