Communication and Communication and CultureCulture

Class: Special Topics in Cultures

and

English Language

Teaching

Instructor: Dr. Hsiu-Hui Su

Presenter: Vivian 9722607September 29th, 2009

The Voice and EchoThe Voice and Echo

2

ContentsContents

Intercultural Contact

I

Defining the TermsII

CommunicationIII

CultureIV

ReflectionV

Intercultural ContactIntercultural Contact

• Human beings draw close to one another by their common nature, but habits and customs keep them apart.

Confucius

• Everyone is quick to blame the alien.

Aeschylus, the Greek playwright3

Intercultural ContactIntercultural Contact

4

Intercultural interaction

Domestic•Co-cultures•The co-cultures in the USA

International•New technology and information systems•Evolving populations•The global economy

Defining the TermsDefining the Terms

5

Intercultural communication

To occur when a member of one culture produces a message for consumption by a member of another culture

To involve interaction between people

whose cultural perceptions and symbol

systems are distinct

Defining the TermsDefining the Terms

6

The dominant culture

To speak for the entire culture while setting the tone and agenda others with power

To influence what people think, what they aspire to be, how they behave, and even what they talk about

Defining the TermsDefining the Terms

7

Co-culture

To share the perceptions and communication patterns found within the larger, dominant culture

To discuss groups’ communication characteristics that different from the other groups

CommunicationCommunication

8

Definition

The process through which symbols are transmitted for the purpose of eliciting a response.

CommunicationCommunication

9

Principles of communication

CultureCulture

10

• Culture is communication and communication is culture.

Hall• Culture is to a human collective what

personality is to an individual.Hofestde

• Culture is a group worldview, the way of organizing the world that a particular society has created over time.

Nolan

CultureCulture

11

The elements of culture

Language

HistoryReligion

Values

Social organizations

Culture

CultureCulture

12

The definition of cultureCulture is a set of human-made

objective and subjective elements that in the past have increased the probability of survival and resulted in satisfaction for the participants in the ecological niche...

Triandis

CultureCulture

13

Characteristics of culture1. Culture is learned.

Culture

Proverbs

Folktales/Legends/Myths

Arts

Mass media

CultureCulture

14

Characteristics of culture2. Culture is shared.

To make the actions of individuals intelligible to the other members of society.

Be transmitted from generation to generation.

CultureCulture

15

Characteristics of culture3. Culture is based on symbols.

The symbols allow people to package and store them as well as transmit them.

Language is the most important symbolic aspect of culture.

CultureCulture

16

Characteristics of culture4. Culture is dynamic.

Cultures are subject to fluctuations and seldom remain constant.

The deep structure of a culture resists major alterations.

CultureCulture

17

Characteristics of culture4. Culture is an integrated system.

17

Culture is composed of parts that are related to each other.

All aspects of culture must be reasonably well integrated in order to function properly.

ReflectionReflection

18

Studying intercultural communication1. Individual uniqueness

People are more than their cultures.2. Stereotyping

No rule is so general, which admits not some exception.

3. ObjectivityIt requires to eliminate the cultural

orientations and negative behavior

ReflectionReflection

19

Language and culture1. “下車投錢 !”2. Bear market VS. Bull market

ReflectionReflection

20

Intercultural sensitivityHow to Improve Intercultural Sensitivity : Overcome Ethnocentrism Through Avoiding Assumptionshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqFv1aM8vqU

Thank you for Thank you for listening!listening!