The Significance of Cross—Cultural Communication

1. Introduction

Language is key to understanding another culture， and culture affects language learning significantly. This paper has been divided into five parts to explain the significance of cross-cultural communication. It starts by explaining culture and its correlations with language， and then followed by accounting for the significance of cross-cultural communication. The paper ends by restating the significance of the field of cross-cultural communication.

2. Culture and the Relationship between Culture and Language Culture

The origin of the idea of ‘culture’ can be traced back to the late eighteenth century. It began to influence the structure and quality of social life was witnessed at the beginning of nineteenth century. Although culture is widely viewed as “the way we do things around here”， and to some extent it also reflects “how we think ourselves and how we are seen by others”， there is a variety of definitions in terms of culture. Bodley （2005） claims that from the perspective of anthropology， culture refers to the certain forms of thinking and behaviour of individuals possess in a particular society. It differentiates one group people from others belonging to a different grouping， and also distinguishes human beings from animals.

3. Relationship between Culture and Language

In the study of cross-cultural communication， the relationship between culture and language plays a vital role in it. Both of them interact with each other. This perspective was witnessed appear as early as the beginning of the twentieth century， Frans Boas contends that language to some extent determines whether one can understand another culture. If the person is not equipped with the language of the certain social group or the country， it would be difficult to have access to its culture. It is consistent with what claimed by Edward Hall， the widely acknowledged founder of the field of intercultural communication， who maintains that ‘culture is communication and communication is culture’， and communication also comprised the core of culture.

4. The significance of Cross-cultural Communication

Nowadays， cross-cultural communication has been aware increasingly and can not be neglected in many cases. Due to the development of science and technology， the world has been turned into a smaller place than ever before. Mcluhan describes the world now is a ‘global village’ because of globalization. Everyone in this world is linked with others to some extent in terms of the process of communication in a global and international system. It is inevitable that different cultures will meet conflicts and mix with each other. Individuals from one cultural grouping may find it difficult to interact with those who from a differing group. For instance， people in collectivistic cultures tend to employ indirect expression to alleviate the impacts of the speakers’ needs and wants； they pay attention to interpersonal harmony and collaboration. There is a striking contrast with people from individualistic culture， they tend to use a direct expression and all of their wants and desires can be embodied in the spoken messages （Zhu， 2011）. From this point， it is clear that cultural values impact the style of individuals’ communication significantly. Therefore， the acquisition of knowledge in terms of cross-cultural communication would benefit people to communicate unimpededly.

5. Cross-cultural Communication in Education

There is no doubt that education not only is quite significant for the development of students， but also has a determining impact on the advance of the society. Nowadays， a growing number of universities and institutions appear to run courses in terms of cross-cultural communication under the influence of globalisation. Take Newcastle University as an example， in School of Education， Communication Language Sciences， there is a major specialised in cross-cultural communication and also it blends together with any other specialisms （e.g. applied linguistics， media， and education etc.）.

6. Conclusion

There is no doubt that cross-cultural communication plays an essential part in various dimensions no matter when it was existed. In the past， individuals began to discover a much bigger world than they thought through utilising cross-cultural communication. At present， people are increasingly aware of its significance to learn about this world where they live practically， and also to reflect their own outlook on life and world under the influence of globalisation and internationalization. Therefore， it is quite beneficial to acquire much more knowledge of cross-cultural communication so as to explore a fairly different world.

References：

[1]Bodley，John H.“Culture”.Microsoft Student 2006[J].Redmond， WA：Microsoft Corporation，2005.

[2]Zhu Hua.The Language and Interculural Communication Reader[J]. London：Routledge.

【作者簡(jiǎn)介】楊柳青，陜西交通職業(yè)技術(shù)學(xué)院。