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Cultural Fluency

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Cultural Fluency
           Culture is the peoples' way of life, including their behaviours, values, beliefs, accepted
symbols, and facets shared by a set of people. Culture is simply a symbolic way of
communication. Cultural Fluency is a genuine interest to learn and understand other peoples'
cultures (Zhu et al., 2017). Cultural Fluency can be through listening, interacting and observing
different cultures. Understanding other people's beliefs, values, and expectations of other
people's culture should make one know how to behave towards other people's way of life. Most
cultures' most common characteristics are their boundaries, values, purpose, traditions, symbols,
history, and principles. It is essential to respect other people's cultures because it benefits the way
people have grown believing, just like their families who have grown up believing in specific
ideas and values.
Ways to improve cultural fluency
           Cultural diversity is related to the cultural influence in that it helps dismiss personal
biasness and stereotyping negatively regarding the different groups and helps in the respecting
and recognition of mannerisms that are not ours. Cultural diversity helps in the interaction with
other people, which enables the building of trust, understanding, and respect bridges across
different cultures (Cecil, 2017). Global citizenship promotes the cultural values exchange
between other countries, thus helping to convergence customer and businesses culture between
different world countries and communication growth internationally. To improve cultural
fluency, one has to make a cultural competence diagnosis by recommending the development of
inter-cultures. One has to identify the mindset and behaviours that can be adopted to gain the
fluency of culture.
           Emotions should always be treated as a language; when one finds a new culture, they
should approach the same way they approach a foreign language. To understand a new culture,
one should research by reading articles, books, talk to people who have worked with different
culture, and watch videos that will help the specifics of the regions. Getting good region-specific
details makes one prepare for research, thus ending up getting the collect results (Cecil, 2017).
Understanding cultural fluency, observation should be the first thing that can be done in a new
culture after homework has been done. One should keep in mind that the theories read do not
always match reality. Quality time should be taken to observe the new settings, thus helping to
answer how people interact where decisions are made in consensus. 
           Close attention to the context is essential because cultural differences can be more
complicated than the country's culture. One comes from a culture shaped by different
components, not just a place alone (Drozdzewski, 2018). When visiting a different culture for
cultural fluency, one has to try and be a part of the community locally, thus creating integration
with the local people's lifestyle, increasing an understanding of the cultural norms. One should
always be positive and be easy on assumptions as different cultures may make those around you
give a different view that may seem rude, whereas it was not meant to be rude. The very cultural
group deserves to be heard, and making inclusivity as a part of decision making encourages
cultural influence.
Importance of language and communication in cultural fluency
           Language is vital in human interactions and connections. Even though other living species
have a way of communicating for human beings, they have mastered a knowledgeable language
that allows them to share their feelings, thoughts and ideas with other human beings (Beattie, &
Ellis, 2017). Languages and communication have the power to build and destroy others. Cultural
fluency helps language and communication easy in that interacting with other cultures enable a
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good understanding of other people's culture, thus appreciating their own culture. For language
and communication to be effective, there is increased creativity by studying other people's
languages and the mode of communication.
           Language and communication are essential for the cultural fluency of those in business. It
helps in the shearing of ideas that business grows to something that could give the business
value. For the individuals and development, it helps people know that they should talk at
different times, which is related to the observation of a child when they start to use language,
which is a clear indication that the child is developing (Beattie, & Ellis, 2017). For personal
communication, language helps one express their non-verbal and verbal skills expressing their
ideas, thoughts, and feelings. Non-verbal communication includes emotions, tones, gestures, and
expressions. Verbal communications such as public communication, interpersonal
communication, intrapersonal communication and small group communication. In cultural
fluency, language is therefore crucial for informing, directing and expressing one's self.
Digital portfolio
           For cultural fluency to be developed, it has to follow the following steps whereby one has
to understand and be aware of how their own culture is, for example, how valentine's Day is
celebrated in one's culture. The worldview of the cultural fluency, the knowledge and experience
of how different cultural practices are carried out, the attitude that people have towards the
cultural differences among the people. An example of a common day where people have made it
a culture very year to celebrate is Valentine's Day. People believe that pink or red should be the
theme, depending on a given place's culture (Amanda, 2021). Valentine's Day is dedicated to
celebrating the people we love and care about in our lives. 
           Valentine's Day can be retraced from a Roman tradition held on February 15th, with the
initial plan being men striping and running around spanking maidens gently with the belief that
their fertility would be boosted. The culture of Valentine's Day has variations in different parts of
the world. For example, in the United States, the cultural fluency is that lovers go all out
displaying to each other their affection. A lot of money is spent on the purchase of chocolates,
jewellery, cards, candy, and flowers (Amanda, 2021). There is an exchange of cards between
family, school children, and friends with notes showing appreciation, friendship, and affection. 
           In South Korea, the cultural fluency believes that on Valentine's Day, men are supposed to
be pampered by the women buying their male partners, the females appreciate gifts and other
male family members and friends. However, the favour is returned to the ladies on March 14th.
In the U.K, they believe and have made it their culture that on Valentine's day, couples should go
on their dream dates whereby lovers exchange jewellery, flowers and other gifts. In the evening,
couples are allowed to enjoy a nice diner outside their homes or a candlelit dinner in their homes
(Amanda, 2021). Valentine's Day is meant to celebrate friends in Finland, with the Day is
referred to as friends day marked with pink roses, although couples are happy to be appreciated
on the same day. 
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References
Amanda, (2021). 6 Valentine’s traditions from around the world that we love. Retrieved from;
https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/language/valentines-day-around-the-world/
Beattie, G., & Ellis, A. W. (2017). The psychology of language and communication. Taylor &
Francis.
Cecil, N. L. (2017). Focus on fluency: A meaning-based approach. Taylor & Francis.
Drozdzewski, D. (2018). “Less ‐than ‐fluent” and culturally connected: Language learning and
cultural fluency as research methodology. Area, 50(1), 109-116.
Zhu, Y., Okimoto, T. G., Roan, A., & Xu, H. (2017). Developing management student
cultural fluency for the real world. Education+ Training.