In the modern world, intercultural interactions continue to increase
In the modern world, intercultural interactions continue to increase as more people move from their cultural backgrounds into new communities for various reasons. Adjusting to new cultures, societies and communities comes with its own challenges and the most prominent of them being intercultural communication. If an individual lacks previous experience with other cultures on both a professional and personal level, they may face barriers in assimilating to these new environments. This paper will address four main barriers to intercultural communication: stereotype; prejudice; ethnocentrism; and culture shock.
The first intercultural barrier: culture shock
The first intercultural barrier comes about in the form of a culture shock. Culture shock refers to the emotional exposure in combination to behavioral confusion due to experiencing a new culture resulting in an inability to function mentally (Chase and Wayne 26). It refers to the stress that an individual experiences when they move from a familiar place to an unfamiliar one resulting in the stripping of one's personal identity. An example of culture shock happens when I travelled to France as an exchange student for a semester. I had to rely on a translator as I could not speak French thus I felt very vulnerable. Another example of a culture shock happened when I first visited a home of one of my Muslim friends. During dinner, they all ate from the same large plate as opposed to individual plates like what I am used to. Another example came about when interacting with Jewish customers in a restaurant as a waiter. Their dietary habits follow their religious upbringing and as an employee, my role included maintaining their dietary preferences.
The second barrier: stereotypes
The second barrier to intercultural communication comes about as stereotypes. Stereotyping refers to the categorizing and making assumptions about other people based on identifiable characteristics like ethnicity, nationality, social status, race, or gender (McKeiver 6). An example of stereotyping occurs when the police in my neighborhood tend to be more critical of the African Americans at night than the white Americans. Another example commonly found in my school about Asians. Most peoples assume all Asians perform better in Math and Sciences hence any time our Math teacher asks a very difficult question, we all turn to the Asian students for assistance. Another stereotype comes about when in school where you find kids from the same social and economic class hang together. Rarely do the rich kids hang around the poor kids and vice versa.
The third barrier: prejudice
Prejudice refers to the action of excluding or disliking something or someone because they come from a particular segment (Chase and Wayne 42). It makes one feel left out and lonely thus making it hard to communicate with others. I experienced prejudice on my initial days in France as an exchange student. The lack of knowledge about their cultural norms came about as a disregard about the French culture. Another example is common to Americans as we prejudice against Arabs as terrorists for the bombing in 2001. However, the actions of a few reckless human beings should not dictate our feelings towards an entire race. When in school, sometimes we share lab experiments in groups allocated by the teacher. When I get paired with some students from a social group that I never interact with, it becomes hard for me to work with them.
The fourth barrier: ethnocentrism
Finally, intercultural communication gets barred by ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism refers to judgment of another culture on the basis of one's own cultural norms (McKeiver 4). As a person with low ethnocentrism, I enjoy interacting and learning about new cultures. It helps me to accept different people from their own backgrounds and experiences. Another example of ethnocentrism manifested when I took my Muslim friend to the mall for the first time. Many people turned and stared at us simply because she was dressed in a hijab. An exchange student from Africa also brought out the ethnocentrism in my friends. On his initial weeks, we all curiously introduced him to our lives as Americans with no regards to learning anything about his own background or experiences.
Works Cited
Top of Form
Chase, Randal S, and Wayne Shamo. Elements of Effective Communication. Washington, Utah: Plain and Precious Publishing, 2013. Print.Bottom of Form
McKeiver, Kathy. “Identifying Barriers to Effective Intercultural Communication.” Academic Advising Today, December 21 (2013): 4-6. Web.
