Lesson 2 Communication

Culture

Intercultural Communication

What Is Culture?

1. Define cultures yourself

Please write down whatever comes to your mind when you hear or think of culture.

Next, try to figure out how they are related to culture. 2. Definition Final

1) Culture is the total way of life that a group of people shares.

2) Culture is a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of a society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning.

3)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.

4) Culture is the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, actions, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and artifacts acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.

5)Culture is the total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and communication patterns that are shared, learned and passed down through the generations in an identifiable group of people. 3. Elements of Culture

4. Culture —— Three Ingredients: artifacts

concepts (beliefs, values, world views…) behavior

e.g. Whereas the money is considered an artifact, then value placed on it is a concept, the actual spending and saving of the money is behavior. Culture Like an Iceberg

a. Objective culture:history, literature, and customs. ( visible, small part)

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b. Subjective culture: feelings and attitudes about things. (invisible, large part ) The Cultural Iceberg

The Iceberg of Culture

Objective Culture & Subjective Culture

1) fine arts, literature, drama, classical music, popular music, folk dancing, games, cooking, dress

2) eye behavior, contextual conversation patterns, social interaction rite, facial expressions

(1) notions of modesty, conception of beauty, ideal of child rearing, relationships to animals

(2)patterns of superior/subordinate relations, definition of sin, courtship practices, conception of justice, incentives to work, notions of leadership, tempo of work, group decision-making

(3)conception of cleanliness, attitudes towards dependents, theory of disease, approaches to problem-solving, conception of status mobility, status designations based on age, sex, class, occupation, kinship, etc.

(4)nature of friendship, ordering of time, concept of “self”, preference for competition or cooperation, body language, notions about logic and validity, patterns of handling emotions

6. Characteristics of Culture 1) Culture is shared.

The members of a culture share a set of ‘ideals, values, and standards of behaviors’,

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and this set of ideals is what gives meaning to their lives, and what bonds them together as a culture. 2)Culture is learned.

Actually, culture is not innate sensibility, but a learned characteristic. Children begin learning about their own culture at home with their immediate family and how they interact each other, how they dress, and the rituals they perform. When the children are growing in the community, their cultural education is advanced by watching social interactions, taking part in cultural activities and rituals in the community, forming their own relationships and taking their place in the culture. 3) Culture is symbolic.

In order for the culture to be transmitted from one person to the next, and from one generation to the next, a system of symbols needs to be created that translates the ideals of the culture to its members. This is accomplished through language, art, religion and money. 4) Culture is integrated.

For the sake of keeping the culture, functioning all aspects of the culture must be integrated. For example, the language must be able to describe all the functions within the culture in order for ideas and ideals to be transmitted from one person to another. Without the integration of language into the fabric of the culture, confusion and dysfunction would reign and the culture would fail. 5) Culture is dynamic.

It is necessary to recognize that cultures are dynamic rather than static. They are constantly changing and evolving under the impact of events and through contact with other cultures. Cultures change through three most common mechanisms: innovation, diffusion and acculturation (calamity). 6) Culture is ethnocentric.

Ethnocentrism is the belief that your own cultural background, including ways of analyzing problems, values, beliefs, language, and verbal and nonverbal communication, is correct. Ethnocentrists believe their culture is the central culture and other cultures are incorrect, ineffective, or quaint.

Communication

Can you give some examples to explain the word communication? What is communication?

1.Definition of Communication

Generally speaking, communication can be defined as a dynamic, symbolic, transactional and contextual process in which people create shared meanings or messages.

2.Eight Ingredients of Communication behavioral source Encoding message channel responder

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Decoding response Feedback

Intercultural Communication

1.What is Intercultural Communication?

Intercultural Communication means the exchange or communication between people who have different cultural backgrounds. 2.Model of Intercultural Communication

3.Comment

The more similarities two cultures share, the less influence culture will have on communication. Therefore, the less messages will be changed during communication.

The less the cultures are alike, the greater the influence of culture on communication will be, and the more likely the messages will be changed. Misunderstanding in intercultural communication often arises here. 4. Barriers in Intercultural Communication Language differences

Nonverbal communication Stereotypes

Cultural bias on judgments High level of stress

The Difference between Chinese and Western Cultures 1. The attitudes by foreigners towards Chinese People 2. The attitudes by Chinese towards Westerners 3.Man and Nation 4.The way of life

Assignments

Video Watching:Gua Sha 《刮痧》

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