I feel my ability to communicate with people across different cultural backgrounds is a strength that I have developed over time. Intercultural communication is the term given to communication that takes place between people whose cultural beliefs, values and behaviours differ from one another (Buchanan 2016, p. 44). Consequently, cultural knowledge that is developed through socialisation and transferred from one generation to the next, shapes the way people communicate. Culture influences an individual’s perception of the world which in turn impacts their approach and attitude towards intrapersonal communication and interpersonal communication (Buchanan 2016, p.
34; Kreunus et al. 2011, p. 48). When a person constructs meaning from a message, they attempt to understand what is spoken, how it is spoken and the context of the communication (Kreunus et al. 2011, p. 48).
Semantic barriers can occur during when people interpret a message by associating the meaning to their own cultural understanding and knowledge in order for it to make sense to them (ibid; Tyler, Kossen & Charmaine 2005, p. 271). The following principles can be applied to improve intercultural communication and increase cultural sensitivity; remove cultural barriers; decrease ethnocentrism, challenge biases and stereotypes, avoiding over-attribution bias, be aware of cultural differences to adjust communication (Buchanan 2016, p. 43; Tyler, Kossen & Charmaine 2005, p. 269).As the daughter of Greek immigrants, I feel that my own cultural background has helped me to develop into an effective communicator with people of other cultural backgrounds.
When I communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds, I practice patience and understanding of both language. . visual presentation, using various technology and media platforms.Being aware that this course involved a public presentation in the form of a seminar for assessment two caused me a significant amount of anxiety. However, after discussing my fear with my fellow group members, I learned that we were all feeling the same way. Fortunately, as a group, we were committed to the task and came together each week to plan towards our presentation.
I was concerned that planning a seminar as a group without physically meeting was going to affect the quality of our presentation, but we managed to pull it together nicely. When it came time to present, my group agreed that we would offer to go first so that we could get it over and done with. On reflection, I felt it went well and I managed to get through my speech without stumbling because I had rehearsed it a number of times.
