UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES,

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

ASSIGNMENT COVERSHEET
COURSE NAME: Intercultural communication
INSTRUCTOR: Ms. Do Thi Mai Thanh M.A

STUDENT’S NAME: Nguyen Thi Thu Hien

ASSIGNMENT: Final Assignment

DECLARATION:
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have read and I understand the criteria used for assessment
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have acknowledged all material and sources used in the preparation of this assignment. I understand
that should this declaration be found to be false, disciplinary action could be taken and penalties
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Student’s Signature_______________________________________Date_______________
 INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

Topic: If you have traveled/ will travel to (an)other culture(s), what are some things
that made you/ will make you more or less effective or helped/ will help you adapt or
not adapt? What skills/ concepts would you like to work on in yourself to make you
more effective in intercultural communication?
One of my recent adventures was to the bustling city of Seoul in South Korea. It is
undeniable that K-pop, K-dramas, Korean cosmetics, and Korean food are the highlight
of Korean popularity. Korea was a dream destination when i was a child. I came to
realize that attitude-stereotypes, background knowledge , motivation and several basic
skills are the golden key to learn and adapt about the new culture ,also make more
effective intercultural communication after travelling here for a months.
Regarding to the stereotypes and attitude, the first thing I'm going to tell you is that your
stereotypes should be come from a your own experiences instead of from second hand
experiences or from other sources of information. In my experiences, it was very
difficult for me at the beginning to get rid of pre-shaped ethnocentrism.
According to the concept of stereotype was originally introduced by Walter
Lippmann(1922) in “Intercultural competence” (2010) that
" Stereotypes are models which people use to organise and simplify perceptions of other
people" (p.152). While the term “ethnocentrism”, William G. Sumner(1906) states that
the theoretical concept of ethnocentrism as "the view of things in which one's own group
is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and raled with reference to
it".Neuliep & McCroskey(1997) also claimed that Ethnocentrism has both positive and
negative outcome, viewed as “an obstacle to intercultural communication
competence”.(p. 389). Agreeing to say that ethnocentrism will influence partly your
perception of this country.Before coming to this beautiful country, I have consulted and
read many things related to this country, but actually coming to experience, I found it
completely different from what I imagined.I have heard a lot of different information
about people, lifestyle, food and nature here, about unfriendly behavior as well as the
arrogance of Koreans. However, It is amazing that people here are so friendly to tourists,
they are willing to help whenever you encounter difficulties.
This was the first time i got lost when I found my way to my idol concert in new
country.I was so scared because I knew that few Koreans spoken English and I only knew
that language.With my bewildered expression of fear, a young Korean man came to offer
to help, even though we were different in language, we were able to communicate with
each other by using body language. I finally got to the concert thanks to the Korean guy's
guidance. It is true that that different countries will have different cultures and lifestyles.
We should not impose our culture nor give negative opinions about them.Keeping an
open mind and having an overview will make it easier for you to adapt to a new
culture.The first thing appeared in my mind was plastic surgery when mentioned Korea
.It seems that Koreans are always obsessed with plastic surgery, also take care a lot about
appearances. The reason why many people have such plastic surgery is that an attractive
appearance is an advantage for their work during the continuous development of the
entertainment industry in Korea , although not all Koreans tend to have plastic
surgery.Therefore, the undeniable aspect about attitude to help you adapt another culture
is acceptance of cultural diversity and a general tolerance for people.
Background knowledge is the important element when travelling new country,which
consit of culture-general and culture-specific information .Before planning the trip, I
spent hours searching for the background knowledge of Korean about climate, culture,
and customs, which helped me to have a basic foundation when I arrived. Lustig, M. W.,
& Koester, J. (2010) claimed that background knowledge is the cognitive information
you need to have about the people, the context, and the norms of appropriateness in a
specific culture.I had the Culture-general information about the weather, the food, the
social greetings and the etiquette of Koreans which provides insights into the
intercultural communication process abstractly and can therefore be a very powerful tool
in making sense of cultural practices, regardless of the cultures involved [Lustig, M. W.,
& Koester, J. (2010)].I also prepared about culture specific information- refers to
particular characteristic of specific cultures which is used to understand a particular
culture. Lustig, M. W., & Koester, J. (2010) stated that such knowledge should
information about the forces that maintain the culture’s uniqueness and fact about the
cultural patterns that predominate.When travelling abroad, we need to act in accordance
with the rules of the country's life about social norms, values, special customs and
history. When coming the house of the Korean, it would be rude if you do not take off
your shoes, in addition to meet the elderly need to bend down to bow regardless anytime.
Moreover, Korean people are not allowed to lift up bowl of rice while eating ,they must
use spoons and chopsticks to eat politely. This might be common in China or Vietnam
but in Korea you might get weird looks.While culture specific knowledge helped me
understand a specific culture a little better, culture general knowledge helped me
understand and relate more deeply to cultural differences when i encountered them.
Besides knowledges, the last but not least to help me adapt new cultures in Korea is
motivation. Motivations as the overall set of emotional associations that people have as
they anticipate and actually communicate interculturally [Lustig, M. W., & Koester, J.
(2010)]. Judith N. Martin and Thomas K. Nakayama claimed that Motivation refers to
the root of a person’s desire to foster intercultural relationships and can be intrinsic or
extrinsic ( Intercultural Communication in Contexts,Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2010),
p465. My biggest motivation when travelling to Korea was having the opportunity to go
to concerts and meet famous artist groups like bts, blackpink...Known for its beautiful
nature and best places to see cherry blossoms, I was excited about autumn in
Korea.Autumn brings with her a splendid palette of rich browns, blazing reds and
yellows to dress up even the most ordinary pavements. For K-drama fans like me, the
romantic nature of autumn in Korea inspired me to travel to Korea to reenact scenes in
my favorite dramas.To sum up, motivation include objectives and intrinsic or extrinsic
desires makes intercultural communication a voluntary, rewarding is crucial for
acculturation to communicate across cultures.
From my experience after traveling to Korea for a month, I realized that the
communication skills needed when communicating with people from another cultures
which i need to work on myself about display of respect, orientation to knowledge,
empathy, interaction management, task role behavior, relational role behavior, tolerance
for ambiguity, interaction posture to make more effective in intercutural communication.
Accroding to intercutural competence: interpersonal communication across cultures
(2009):
Display of respect is the capacity to show respect and positive regard for another person
.Display of respect builds better relationships,creates feelings of trust, safety, and
wellbeing.Each country has different cultures and customs, so learn to respect another
cultures make it adapt easily. For example, most Koreans eat kimchi - spicy traditional
food in their meal, you should try it and probably love it from the first time .

Orientation to knowledge is the terms people use to explain themselves and the world
around them.Orientation of knowledge helps peope communicate fluently and express
themselves which is needed in order to talk with cutural others. For instance, before
coming to Korea, people should learn the Korean alphabet to be able to understand basic
communication sentences, the knowledge about the weather and food to see if you can
adapt korea's life.
The term empathy was first introduced in 1909 by psychologist Edward B. Titchener as
about the ability to behave as though you understand the world as others do, to
emotionally understand what another person is experiencing . It’s the ability to make a
psychic and emotional connection with another person, allows people to build social
connections . People are able to respond appropriately in social situations by
understanding what people are thinking and feeling.A lack of empathy for another
cultures makes warfare and conflict possible.
Interaction Management is the skill in regulating conversations. Interaction management
provides the flexibility you need to respond to conversations more smoothly. With IM,
you can create conversations where everyone can contribute ideas.In term of Task Role
Behaviors involve the initiation of ideas related to group problem-solving activities.Each
individual in a collective when a conflict should find a suitable solution for each case.GI

University of Bradford supposes that Adaptiveness is a key competency include

Gudykunst, William B. and Carmen M. Lee (2003) Cross-Cultural Communication Theories. 7-34. In W.B.
Gudykunst (ed.), Cross-cultural and Intercultural Communication. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Lehtonen, Jaakko (2005) Stereotype and Collective Identification. 61-85. In D. Petkova and J. Lehtonen (eds),
Cultural Identity in an Intercultural Context. Publications of the Department of Communication, No 27.
University of Jyväskylä.

Lustig, M.W. and Koester, J. (1996) Intercultural Competence. Interpersonal Communication Across Cultures. 2nd
ed. London: Longman.
https://www.academia.edu/896244/Cultural_Identity_in_an_Intercultural_Context?auto=download

Human Communication. A Publication of the Pacific and Asian Communication Association. Vol. 11, No.1, pp. 27
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Sumner, W. G. (1906). Folkways. Boston, MA: Ginn.