Cross-Cultural Awareness - How to Effectively Communicate Across Cultures
If you are a superior communicator in your personal culture, does that automatically make you competent in a different culture? The answer is no, if you only interpret by way of your own cultural glasses and do not take cultural differences into account.
Since communication takes place on each a verbal and on a non-verbal level, understanding non-verbal signals in a conversation is just as vital as understanding what is stated. To be in a position to interpret non-verbal signals from a further culture accurately it is initial essential to turn into aware of your own non-verbal signals.
To boost your cross-cultural communication abilities, compare and contrast your personal preferences in the following regions of non-verbal communication. To know what the norm in your host culture is and how it differs from your personal will help you to feel much additional comfy in social situations and develop into a alot more efficient cross-cultural communicator.
Touch
All cultures have guidelines about touching in regard to communication. What are the guidelines in your culture? Do people greet every other with a handshake, an embrace or kiss on one particular or each cheeks? Is there patting on the back? Is there touching in public or would that be frowned on? Now evaluate with your host culture.
Eye speak to
How do you use eye make contact with in communication? Do you interpret direct eye make contact with as a sign of active listening, honesty, a sign of respect, or does direct eye contact make you feel uncomfortable? Do you see it as a sign of aggression? When you are clear about your own interpretation, evaluate with the local culture.
Gestures
We all use our physique to contribute to communication - our hands, face, head, torso, etc. What gestures are normally utilized in your country? Which ones mean the similar in your host cultures, which ones differ? To understand that lots of gestures are extremely localized, and what could be understood positively in one culture could possibly be unfavorable or an insult in another culture can save you from a lot of embarrassment and misunderstandings.
Private Space
Do you know what your "individual space" is? What distance feels most comfy to you during a conversation? This "comfort zone" will differ from person to person but there are norms inside cultural groups and your personal space is most probably influenced by your culture. If you know the common rule of thumb in your host nation, this will make it less difficult for you to know your discomfort if the space in the host culture differs from your culture. With this new understanding and insight you can now practice to get additional comfortable with the norm of the host country.
Becoming conscious of your own way of communicating and studying as substantially as you can about the communication style of your host nation will aid you to be understood and to have an understanding of a further culture far more totally.
