Intercultural Communication
Intercultural communication allows people to communicate between cultures without prejudice and failing to pass the message appropriately. Knowledge of intercultural communication will enable people to work anywhere in the world because they can build good relationships with everyone and do business effectively. Some obstacles to intercultural communication are language, ethnocentrism, and stereotypes. To overcome these barriers, it is necessary to understand international languages, always be relative, and eliminate prejudices and cultural prejudices.
In my case, the other to me is someone different from me. The person might be from a diverse ethnic group, or he or she may be from a different race. The reason for this notion of ‘the other’ is that we do not share some common things such as ethnic group or race. This makes me feel that they are ‘the other” The perception of the other has formed over time because I realized the beliefs I had been different from what they had. Also, the way they were brought up differed from me. This made me know that people differ, and it is always essential to understand such differences.
In my life, the other appears to be a person who should be appreciated. This is because no matter the cultural differences, most of them still pass the same struggles as I pass. So, I do not see the reason why I should discriminate them. The way a person communicates to people shows what type of person he or she is. For instance, I see no harm in treating ‘the other” with respect. The way I expect to be treated is the way I should treat others. This is because they might educate me on one or two things. Also, seeing people smile makes me happy. This is the reason why I don’t believe in social prejudice. One of the best virtues that people should possess is love. The other thing why ‘the other’ is important to me is that the world is becoming a global village. We can be able to interact with one another without boundary restrictions. It is, however, essential to appreciate culture because one can be forced to work in a different country.
Over time the issue of the other has always been my focus. I have read many books on intercultural communication. I have been able to try to sharpen my cross-cultural communication skills. Building on these skills was not easy since I had to know the things one ought to do. Things such as traveling the world. This was the first thing I had to do to learn about different cultures. After that, I realized that it was easy for me to form a meaningful relationship with people from other cultures. They would even invite me to their events.
My attitude towards the other has kept on improving after learning intercultural communications. The other, to me, is like a brother or sister. The difference in cultures is what makes us humans. If we were all from the same culture, then life would be boring. This is because there would be nothing one could learn from one another. This is the reason why we should always change the notion that the other needs to be treated unfairly. Attitude is something one can change. It is just a state of mind.