Am I bad at communicating? No, it’s just intercultural communication
We’ve all been there- that moment when we cracked a joke, and it completely fell flat. It wasn’t due to bad timing; rather it was because the people around us didn’t understand it. Or think of a situation where your message was misunderstood, almost forcing you to redo the whole part of your assignment. These examples highlight the importance of intercultural communication. Intercultural communication examines how people from different cultural backgrounds interact with one another. And yes, it also delves into the difficulties that might appear [1]. In a world that is increasingly interconnected, developing intercultural communication skills is crucial. Individuals must be able to deal with cultural differences. But how? Five key intercultural competences can help us become more effective and confident intercultural communicators across cultures.
Five intercultural competences
Before diving into these intercultural competences, it is important to acknowledge that personality has a significant influence on our intercultural effectiveness. Personality influences whether we perceive intercultural situations as opportunities or threats, and it also affects how we respond to these situations. Therefore, most of the five competences are conceptually close to the Big Five personality traits, a famous model used to study personality[2].
Research categorized five dimensions directly linked to success in intercultural communication: cultural empathy, open-mindedness, social initiative, emotional stability, and flexibility.
- Cultural Empathy: the ability to put yourself in the shoes of another person who is different from you. A different reaction from them does not come because they are mad at you, but rather from being raised with a different perspective on what is normal. Individuals with a high score on this dimension easily understand the rules of cultures that are unknown to them.
- Flexibility: the ability to adjust your behavior in a positive way in intercultural situations. Switching from one strategy to another because familiar ways of handling things may not work.
- Emotional Stability: reflects the ability to remain calm and cope with stress of intercultural communication. Intercultural situations are often characterized by high uncertainty and a lack of control. Finding strategies to manage stressful situations could be the key.
- Social Initiative: finding ways to communicate with people who are culturally different. In an intercultural context, individuals who score high on this trait tend to demonstrate initiative by starting an interaction rather than waiting and observing. My advice for improving this competence is to develop techniques for having smoother conversations. This could be achieved through trial and error. Some questions will work, others not. It might feel awkward at first, but over time, it will become easier.
- Openmindedness: a nonjudgemental and curious attitude towards other cultures. It is the ability to postpone your judgment when confronted with different behavior or value systems. In reality, this means separating yourself from your own cultural perspective in order to better understand someone else’s culture.
Not all are as easily trained
Finally, not all competences are as easily learned, and it is important to make this distinction. High emotional stability and flexibility help reduce the perception of intercultural situations as threatening. However, improving these two competences is challenging and requires a lot of effort, as they are closely tied to one’s personality, which is not easily changed. Nevertheless, if successful, adapting to new intercultural situations will feel less threatening. On the other hand, cultural empathy, open-mindedness and social initiative help us to view intercultural situations as exciting, fostering positive emotions. These competences are more trainable and will help us recognize connections between identities, making it easier to switch between them without feeling threatened.
Successfully developing these five traits creates a springboard for broader benefits, including enhanced professional performance, easier personal adjustment, and more meaningful social connections. So next time we crack a joke, we’ll do so with the confidence that our intercultural understanding ensures it lands just right.
[1] Communication in everyday life, 4th International Student Edition, page 88
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits
Author: Stef Straver