Nowadays no one is surprised to see foreigners and foreign students in the streets of a city. But few people understand how to communicate with a representative of another country, came to a mutual understanding. The purpose of this study is to examine the problems of cross-cultural communication around the world and get some idea of the people involving in them. Theoretical methods have been used to achieve this goal. The result of this study is to confirm the facts concerning the necessity and importance of analysis of scientific works of recent years indicates a growing interest in peculiarities of cross-cultural communication; the study of nonverbal communication etc. The result of this research is more in-depth understanding of cross-cultural communication with representatives of other countries.
Keywords:mutual understanding, culture, cross-cultural communication, socio-cultural approach, standards of personality, status, nonverbal communication.
What do we understand by the term “cross-cultural communication”? Certainly, it is connection and communication between different cultures, which suggests a direct contact between people and their communities, as well as indirect forms of communication (including language, speech, writing, electronic communication) [6]. What is the main difference between cross-cultural communication and culture?
Culture is a set of forms of human activity, without which it cannot be played, and therefore exist. Culture — a set of “codes” that require a person or that behavior, rendering it thus administrative influence. Therefore, researchers can not arise the question of which of them he should begin, on this basis to further understand then.
Speaking about Intercultural communication in the professional dialogue and its problems, we can imagine to ourselves different kinds of interaction forms. But any interaction is associated with different problems and issues [7].
If we look at communication as a process of coding and decoding of messages, it is obvious that there are many points in the process where the communication can break down. In particular, successful communication depends crucially on shared culture. When you have communication between people of different cultures, even if they share a common language, things can go wrong. In particular, knowledge of a language does not automatically give you the background knowledge that native speakers assume you share. The article deals with the problems of cross cultural communication and the ways that can help to eliminate misunderstanding between people, belonging to different cultures.
Misunderstanding in intercultural communication is a potential problem, which is based on cultural differences. It is necessary to understand the problems that can arise in cross-cultural communication and consciously try to overcome them, to closely monitor the reaction of the interlocutor and, noting inadequate, from our point of view, the reaction is to try to understand what caused it, to correct their behavior, their speech.
Effective communication with people of different cultures is especially challenging. Cultures provide people with ways of thinking-ways of seeing, hearing, and interpreting the world. Thus the same words can mean different things to people from different cultures, even when they talk the “same” language. When the languages are different, and translation has to be used to communicate, the potential for misunderstandings increases [2].
Stella Ting-Toomey describes three ways in which culture interferes with effective cross-cultural understanding [1].
Firstly, it is what she calls “cognitive constraints.” These are the frames of reference or world views that provide a backdrop that all new information is compared to or inserted into [1, p. 23].
Secondly, there are “behavior constraints.” Each culture has its own rules about proper behavior which affect verbal and nonverbal communication. Whether one looks the other person in the eye or not; whether one says what one means overtly or talks around the issue; how close the people stand to each other when they are talking ― all of these and many more are rules of politeness which differ from culture to culture.
Ting-Toomey's third factor is “emotional constraints.” Different cultures regulate the display of emotion differently. Some cultures get very emotional when they are debating an issue. They yell, they cry, they exhibit their anger, fear, frustration, and other feelings openly. Other cultures try to keep their emotions hidden, exhibiting or sharing only the «rational» or factual aspects of the situation [3].
All of these differences tend to lead to communication problems. If the people involved are not aware of the potential for such problems, they are even more likely to fall victim to them, although it takes more than awareness to overcome these problems and communicate effectively across cultures. Ethan F. Becker suggests a three-part fix for cross-cultural communication problems [2]:
1. Paraphrase. Repeat what others say in your own words to confirm your understanding.
2. Define terms. When it’s your turn to speak, invest time in creating common definitions of terms; and its okay to stop the flow of the meeting to do so. Taking time upfront to define terms and meaning saves time and energy later on. Be patient, and plan for extra time for this.
3. Never assume. Don’t take it for granted that everyone uses terms in the same way. Tone of voice may suggest understanding, but that isn’t proof that both of you are on the same page. Always double-check [4].
Also, one is serious problem is miscommunication. Michelle LeBaron think: it is likely to happen, especially when there are significant cultural differences between communicators [3]. Miscommunication may lead to conflict, or aggravate conflict that already exists. We make — whether it is clear to us or not ― quite different meaning of the world, our places in it, and our relationships with others. Four variables four variables with miscommunication:
- time and space;
- fate and personal responsibility;
- face and face-saving;
- nonverbal communication.
Each of the variables discussed in this module ― time and space, personal responsibility and fate, face and face-saving, and nonverbal communication — are much more complex than it is possible to convey. Each of them influences the course of communications, and can be responsible for conflict or the escalation of conflict when it leads to miscommunication or misinterpretation. A culturally-fluent approach to conflict means working overtime to understand these and other ways communication varies across cultures, and applying these understandings in order to enhance relationships across differences.
There is understanding for cross-cultural communication as a discipline. It is based on studying cultural patterns of interaction in people’s behavior. As result of that kind of research we get finished models of communication styles. Dialogue is the one of those styles. Like a constructed national culture or company culture, it has deep tacit assumptions which are critical to maintaining the style. It can help us to frame and reframe it and other communication styles for pragmatic purposes and therefore support the decision making of managers.
But this is only a theory. Practically when people face barriers in communication they are being stressed or frightened. Some of them can demonstrate aggression or other natural reaction. Otherwise, their response can be very diverse. That’s because we have to do researches on understanding how dialogue and communication in general cooperate with each other. It is crucial for regular people to train and experiment with their abilities to communicate. These actions should be based on the scientific knowledge.
To summarize the ideas mentioned above, it is necessary to state that communication problems can crop up in non-multicultural environments as well. Yet in multicultural environments, the chance of communication problems is significantly worse. However, if you are prepared, you can avoid costly communication breakdowns and strengthen productivity by using these three simple steps. How can we overcome the problems of cross-cultural communication? To sum up, it can be further noted that the manner of communication and etiquette in different countries have distinctive features, which need to be considered. The best solution is ― involving students in research through their participation in scientific student conferences, participation in the work of the leading teachers of schools, through the organization of competitions and contests, and other educational events.
References:
1. URL: http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/problem/cultrbar.htm
2. URL:http://getyourbigon.com/leadbigblog/solving-cross-cultural-communication-problem
3. URL: http://www.beyondintractability.org/bi-essay/cross-cultural-communication
4. Boldonova, Mantatov V., Imikhelova S. // Eurasian Frontier: Values, Challenges and Interactions in Intercultural Dialogue. Saarbrucken: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013. — p.7
5. Danielle Cliche and Andreas Wiesand // IFACCA D’ART REPORT NO 39 Achieving Intercultural Dialogue through the Arts and Culture? Concepts, Policies, Programmes, Practice; DEC, 2009 — p. 18 http://media.ifacca.org/files/D'Art39Final.pdf
6. Гутарева Н. Ю. English language training in the social and cultural reality. “Современные исследования социальных проблем”. № 1 Красноярск: НИЦ, 2015. — 196 с.
7. Гутарева Н. Ю. Межкультурная коммуникация и способы ее развития. Сборник материалов международной научно-практической конференции “Современные научные исследования представителей филологических наук и их влияние на развитие языка и литературы”. — Украина. Львов, 2013. — с. 49–51.
8. Гутарева Н. Ю. Обучение английскому языку в социокультурной реальности. Современные исследования социальных проблем. Красноярск: Научно-инновационный центр, № 1(21), 2015. — 301 с. — С. 215–218.
