Cross Cultural Understanding

&
Communication

Cindy Yulia Ningsih Siahaan (15120080)

Agustina Simare-mare (15120031)
Putri Dearmita Hutabarat (16120462)
Pestaria Mutiara Haloho (16120452)
Angelica Gultom (16120453)
 Cross Culture Understanding
Cross Culture Understanding derived from three words those are cross,
cultural, and understanding.
Culture
It is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people,
encompassing language, religion, social habits, music and arts.
The characteristics of language
1. Culture is learned
2. Culture is social
3. Culture is adaptive
4. Culture is dynamic
5. Culture is shared
6. Culture is continues
7. Culture is integrated
• The elements of culture include :
• Language
• Symbol
• Norms
• Values
• Beliefs
• Cognitive elements
• Dance and performance
• Music and arts
 The definition of Cross Cultural Understanding

Cross cultural understanding simply refers to the basic

ability of people to recognize, interpret and correctly react
to people, incidences or situations that are open to
misunderstanding due to cultural differences. The different
types of appreciation are cross cultural knowledge, cross
cultural awareness, cross cultural sensitivity and cross
cultural competence. Although all the terms may appear
similar in meaning, subtle differences exist between them.
1. Cross Cultural Knowledge
2. Cross Cultural Awareness
3. Cross Cultural Sensitivity
4. Cross Cultural Competence
The Benefits of Cross Culture Understanding

Cross cultural differences can and do impede upon

communication and interpersonal relationships. In
the business world this occurs daily, where people
from different cultures interact and are expected
to perform and make decisions. Cross cultural
training aims to develop awareness between
people where a common cultural framework does
not exist in order to promote clear lines of
communication and better relationships.
 Five dimensions of cultures

Equality vs Direct vs Individual

Hierarchy Indirect vs Group

Task vs Risk vs
Relationship Caution
Cultural Intelligence
 COMMUNICATION

Communication is an important mean of expressing

yourself because it exists different ways of expression and
so different kind of communication depending on the
culture you belong to. The way of communicating will not
be the same as other countries and it is important to know
some values of other cultures and so of other ways of
communicating for, first of all, avoiding some
misunderstandings and then knowing better some aspects
of different cultures.
 Language
The ability to speak a language is the most significant
feature of being human. Because language are arbitrary
symbolic system , it’s not surprising that there is so much
linguistic diversity. There isn’t even universal agreement
about how many language thee are in the world.
Estimates ranges from several thousand to 10,000.
• Do we count language that have died out?
• What about languages in remote areas that haven’t been
studied as thoroughly?
• Where do we draw linguistic boundaries?
 Top Ten Language Spoken in the World

NO. Language Primary country No of speakers

1 Mandarin China 1,262,358,000

Hindi India 366,000,000

2
Spanish Spain 358,000,000
3
English UK,USA 341,000,000
4

5 Bengali Bangladesh 207,000,000

Portuguese Portugal, Brazil 176,000,000

6
Russian Russia 167,000,000
7
Japanese Japan 125,000,000
8

9 German Germany 100,000,000

10 French France 77,000,000

Language in the International Business

English is just one of the world’s major business

language, it’s the mother tongue of only about 5%
of the world’s population. Other major languages in
international business include: Spanish, Chinese,
French, and German. A fundamental tenet of any
business encounter is effective communication.
Individuals who have rely on translators and are not
skilled in the cultural and linguistics aspects of the
foreign country are at a foreigners attempt to speak
their language (e.g., Brazilians, Germans), others do
not, unless he speaker is very good (e.g., French).
 Second language learning
According to Ferraro (2002), some reasons for not
learning a second language and reasons for learning a
foreign language are as follows:
Commonly stated reasons for not learning a second
language:
• “I’m not very talented in learning foreign language”
• “The company can hire local nationals in the county to
run the business”
• “I’ll only be there for a short period of time, so it’s not
worth it”
• “It could hinder my advancement at home if I’m too
closely associated with them”
 Reasons for learning a foreign language:
• Being able to speak about the art, literature and
culture of a country greatly enhances the business
encounter by earning the respect of he local
people
• According to Benjamin Lee Whorf, the only way to
really understand the worldview (a system of
categories for organizing the world) of a culture is
through its language
• Learning a second language helps with a deeper
understand of one’s own language
• Learning a second language is helpful; in learning a
third and fourth language
 Language Relativism
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: language is not merely just a
mechanism for communication but is also the “shaper”
of ideas. Language establishes the categories upon
which our interpretations of the world are based. Thus,
speakers of two different language will not put in the
same importance on items that are not significant
categories in their language (e.g., color terms, tense
systems, noun class systems ). “It’s not what you can do,
it’s what you do.” (Michael Halliday), hence a deep
understanding of the language is facilitated by a good
knowledge of the culture and a deep understanding of
the culture is aided through a solid understanding of the
language.
 Non-verbal communication
Nonverbal communication is the process of
sending and receiving messages without using
words, either spoken or written. Also called
manual language. Similar to the way that
italicizing emphasizes written language, a
nonverbal behavior may emphasize parts of a
verbal message. Non-verbal communication is
highly dependent on the culture and the
context.
Types of Non-verbal communication
Kinesics
 CONCLUSION
Based on the explanation above, we conclude that Cross
Culture Understanding derived from three words those are
cross, cultural, and understanding. Culture is the characteristics
and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing
language, religion, social habits, music and arts. Cross culture is
dealing with or offering comparison between two or more
different cultures or cultural areas. Understanding is the mental
process of a person who comprehends, comprehension,
personal interpretation. So, Cross cultural understanding simply
refers to the basic ability of people to recognize, interpret and
correctly react to people, incidences or situations that are open
to misunderstanding due to cultural differences.
We know that there are the cross culture from one to another
country is from how the people communicated.
Communication is an important mean of expressing yourself
because it exists different ways of expression and so different
kind of communication depending on the culture you belong
to. The way of communicating will not be the same as other
countries and it is important to know some values of other
cultures and so of other ways of communicating for, first of
all, avoiding some misunderstandings and then knowing
better some aspects of different cultures. So, Communication
is the part of Cross Culture Understanding.
THANK YOU 