Traveling brings you across many new customs and ways of communication that you may have never heard of or experienced in your country or region. You may get along with some of them yet may feel offended by some or misinterpret the rest.
Cross-Cultural Communication is a field of study that looks at how people from different cultural backgrounds endeavor to communicate. People around the world from different cultural backgrounds communicate with different signs and meanings than other parts of the world. These meanings vary across cultures where one sign may stand for another thing and mean something else in another culture or region. Some have an appropriate meaning for an individual region but it may be offensive to a person from a different culture or region. It is an important study to be kept in focus in today’s world of extensive relations through businesses, education and other forms of communication.
Some examples are:
EYE CONTACT
In the Middle – East, it is inappropriate to look into another persons eyes directly, specially an older person. Women and men keep their gaze lowered to show respect and shyness.
In the United States of America, When saying hello or talking to someone it is impolite to not look directly at the person.
In Asia, avoiding eye contact is a greeting gesture.
Below is a video that is a brief approach towards erasing these false impressions and narratives and create understanding bridges instead through freedom of speech and communication:
Link to video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUh3x_4kMv8
Link to video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT0kzF4A-WQ&feature=related
Work Cited:
