RESEARCH ON DIFFERENT INTERCULTURAL MODES OF COMMUNICATION

A Paper
Presented To
The Faculty of College of Liberal Arts
and Communication
De La Salle University- Dasmariñas
Dasmariñas, Cavite

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Subject
Purposive Communication

By

Maricute Mai Alibin

March 2019
Introduction

Intercultural communication is an essential factor in the present globalized world. People

travel, and they need to communicate, in most scenario, it’s out of one’s culture.

Moreover, it is an examination and utilization of information on “cultural perceptions and

symbol systems” of people belonging to different beliefs (businesstopia, 2018).

In addition, the proposed meaning of any message fluctuates when encoded by an

individual of a specific culture and decoded by somebody of the other beliefs. The distinctive

implications of symbols in various culture likewise shift making the understanding troublesome.

While applying inter-cultural transmission, it alludes to making individuals mindful and

ready to embrace others' societies when they interconnect with them and thus have a meaningful

communication.

Furthermore, Verbal and non-verbal communication are the two fundamentals of

intercultural communication.

Verbal communication comprises of words used to convey messages. Spoken and

composed language are portions of this (Ballena, 2019) which must be considered profoundly. In

fact, racial elements influence verbal communication as individuals can some of the time not

have the capacity to talk or write in the language of the recipient. Utilization of words, lingos,

accents, slang, and so on can likewise be diverse as indicated by their own societies.

Whereas, non-verbal communication comprises of communication that happens without

words like outward appearances, hand and body movements, eye to eye connection, utilization of

objects, apparel, etc. They help in making message clear or can give the dissimilar message as

well.
Statement of the Problem

This study aimed at providing an in-depth description and understanding of the different

intercultural modes of communication.

Specifically, this inquiry will answer five central questions:

1. Where, when, and how did you gain experience on intercultural communication?

2. Have you experienced any problem communicating with other nationalities (cultures)?

Can you tell us more about it?

3. Have you noticed any differences with how other nationalities communicate with other

people? Please describe the differences in detail.

4. For transnational students or tourists, how are your communication practices different

from Filipinos? Please describe the difference in detail.

5. What pointers can you give to help us improve intercultural competence or at least

improve intercultural awareness?

Sources of Data

Majority of the data were gathered through multiple in-depth interviews with 20

individuals who have experienced intercultural communication in their lifetime. Secondary

sources of data include books, periodicals and online journals cited as a review of related

literature and studies which provided an in-depth background and meaningful answers to the

research problems.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of the study consisted of 20 individuals who have experienced

intercultural communication. The respondents were selected utilizing purposeful criterion

study because they could purposefully inform an understanding of the research problem and

central phenomenon under study (Miles & Huberman,1994) as cited by Creswell (2007).

Data Gathering Procedure

In data gathering, we looked for the participants by asking family, close friends and

relatives. After meeting the possible respondents through the internet, we send directly the

questionnaires in Facebook messenger and emails since it is the easiest and fastest way to get

information and talk to people nowadays especially from those people who are in other

countries.

Ethical Consideration

As we completed the study, we have kept in mind the ethical considerations, especially in

terms of informing and asking permission from the subject teacher and respondents. Prior to the

interview, the respondents were assured of absolute confidentiality.

1. Where, when, and how did you gain experience on intercultural communication?

Most of the respondents gain experiences in this intercultural communication ever

since they moved and lived abroad during their school-aged child development periods (6-11

years old) some of them is when they were still their toddlers. And Saudi Arabia is the

country most of them live in, Dubai and Chicago to some. The venue of gaining their

experiences is commonly at school (international school) where they meet friends within a

diverse environment. They can handle conversations or interactions despite the differences of

the cultures and race they came from. Moreover, because English is the language universal to

all as means to communicate with people, and they are knowledgeable in using it, they can

easily understand what message was being relied to them.

Furthermore, according to some, they had intercultural communication due to

engagement to it through experiences, in their workplace or on their everyday encounters

since they are dealing with different kinds of personalities. Also, for some they research on

the culture or way of living of the people they will communicate with, for this can bridge

knowledge and understanding between them. That is why they have already adopted this kind

of communication.

2. Have you experienced any problem communicating with other nationalities

(cultures)? Can you tell us more about it?

It is inevitable to experience communication problems with other nationalities

(culture). This is true for the reason that majority of the respondents encountered certain

problems dealing with this. Here are those problems they have deal with:
 Firstly, even though both the communicators are English speakers but the skill on it

of the person they are conversing with is poor, he/she cannot comprehend well whatever is

being talked about or worst both communicators have poor skill on it. Additional to this is

that, it is difficult to understand the message said if the speed of talking is so fast,

comprehending the topic of conversion will be blurry. Next is the accent or pronunciation,

and the words being used by the other person is foreign to your hearing and new to your

knowledge, they cannot respond accordingly to the conversation. Overlapping or mixing of

languages used as means in the communication gave rise to confusion and lead to not

understanding anything.

Moreover, gestures and behaviors of other people cannot be understood at times

though it is not offensive because it is not practiced in your home country. The reactions they

gave on certain things are not understood due to their own traditions. For instance, killing

insects like ant or cockroach, they would say “don’t kill it may be one of our ancestors.”).

And being new to an area create challenges in dealing with expression of self and

communication because of the differences. Tensions may arise but can be readily solved by

them.

On the other hand, on some, they did not experience any problem/s on intercultural

communication. According to them, all people communicate in a global language, (English

which everyone could speak and understand, that is why they can easily communicate. Based

on experience, they are exposed to a variety of cultures since they are young, that means they

are used to it and more comfortable to communicate with people in this set up.

3. Have you noticed any differences with how other nationalities communicate with

other people? Please describe the differences in detail.

role in our communication with other people especially with other nationalities. The different

people we met may not have the same culture as we have, that is why must learn how to be

an open-minded person at all times. According to the respondents, communicating is more

comfortable and you can speak freely if that person you are talking is same with his or her

nationality. Mainly because the things you have in common and have something to relate to.

While communicating with different nationalities always has difficulty especially in

understanding each other, they tend to explore and try to understand each other’s background

first. Additionally, some of the differences they noticed are using their native language, the

tones and intonations of words, using of gestures and sign language. First is using the words

that are not familiar to the country’s language, like speaking their native language in

communicating may be because for the other people not to really understand what they are

talking about, example is Chinese we all know Chinese has a different language like

Cantonese, Mandarin, Kejia and many more and even their intonations has its own meaning.

Second is the use of tones and intonations for the words they say. Some nationality are

talking like they are angry or threatening you, but that is their normal speaking tone. Lastly is

the use of gestures and sign language, most of the time when we do not understand what the

other nationality are saying we always end up using gestures and sign language. Example, the

gestures in my culture when you node your head that means “yes” and shaking head means

“no” but there are countries that nodding head means “no” and shaking head means “yes”,

there are also countries who you used sign language especially when they are trying to give

an instructions. Another example of differences with how other nationalities communicate

with other people, in Saudi Arabia, people normally shake hands, hug, or even kiss before
starting their conversation. They shake hands a little bit longer than we normally does and

they tend to speak loudly rising the tone of their voice they want to make a point. However,

interpersonal skills and social skills is a huge factor when other nationalities communicate.

Communicating with other nationalities means being able to share and exchange ideas with

them.

4. For transnational students or tourists, how are your communication practices

different from Filipinos? Please describe the difference in detail.

Based on the respondents, sometimes they are having a hard time to understand some

of the Filipinos culture in communication but as time goes by they learned that people are

just a regular human but speaks different languages. The respondents gave both positive and

negative sides about the communication practices and how it is different from the Filipinos.

First is the negative side, Filipinos always tend to show off their knowledge in English that

not in place, because there are countries that their first language is not English that is why

some people cannot understand easily what Filipinos are trying to say because they are not

used to it. Another negative side is that some Filipinos are narrow minded, may be because

sometimes we do not give attention to someone who is talking. On the other hand, some of

the respondents are on the positive side, they gave the traits of how Filipinos communicate.

Some of the respondents said that Filipinos are welcoming and curious to know who you are,

where you’re from and how it’s like there and from the very beginning, Filipinos are talking

with someone as if they know each other for a long time. They also said that Filipinos are

also known to be open minded and accepting, as well being a friendly one which make a

person comfortable talking to. In addition, one of the respondents said that Filipinos always

add “po” after each sentence to show respect but in Malaysia they don’t add words in their
sentence they just need to speak politely. Moreover, communicating with other nationality

allows you to open your mind to new cultures and experiences and has the opportunity to

understand each other.

5. What pointers can you give to help us improve intercultural competence or at least

improve intercultural awareness?

Based on their responses, it is to understand and learn the differences of each other’s

own culture, moral values, and the like. Their history, vocabularies, accents, and some more

must be understood to be free from the language barrier locally and internationally. Every

person must understand the differences and accept them whole-heartedly to avoid

misunderstandings. Each nation is distinct with each other that is why people must be open-

minded to cultures foreign to their living.

Additionally, orient yourself first hand on the culture of the person or people you will

be talking with and provide explanation on your action in order to avoid misunderstandings.

Develop respect to theirs, and adopt ways of their country as you go in their place. With this

you can build relationship with them. Surround yourself with people of different cultures to

understand them more. Also, ask a query if you do not understand a certain happening,

gesture, etc. to avoid inappropriate reactions and mistakes. Avoid joking that might offend

other people and be less straight forward to people you do not know well, in other words

assess first things you are about to say if it might be offensive or not. Refrain on inflicting

outcast treatment against other people.

Moreover, improve and practice more on English speaking skills because it is the

most effective and useful everywhere in the world. It can also conquer language barrier.
Conduct seminars for people that need improvement in their speaking skills. Teach

youngsters not to judge people especially those different from them by guiding them in their

actions. Awareness on things surrounding you would not lead you to unnecessary outcome.
References

Creswell, J.W., & Plano Clark, V.L. (2007). Designing and conducting mixed methods research.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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Miles, M.B. & Huberman, A.M. (1994). Data management and analysis methods. In N. K.
Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 428-444).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.