Chapter 4: Intercultural

Communication Skills

Unit 15: Culture matters: the role of cultural factors in

intercultural communication
Assist. Prof. Aleksandra Synowiec

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use, which may be made
of the information contained therein.
Culture hides more than it reveals, and strangely enough what it hides, it hides most
effectively from its own participants . Years of study have convinced me that the real job
is not to understand foreign culture but to understand our own.

Edward T. Hall, The silent language, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York
1959, p. 53.
Culture is communication
• In 1959 American anthropologist Edward T. Hall
Edward T. Hall introduced the shortest
definition of communication and culture,
claiming that culture is communication
and communication is culture.
• It means that the culture determines the
way people communicate.
• It means that the form of communication
depends on the cultural framework -
language, principles, and norms.

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Culture
Culture: mental rules guiding behavior
 Socialization Agents of socialization

• Socialization process: acquiring the

ability to live in a society in childhood.
• In our native culture, we have been
learning language, norms, and rules of
conduct since childhood.
• Our personality is also shaped by the
patterns of the culture in which we are
brought up.
 Intercultural encounters
• When we meet people from other
cultures, it is not easy for us to
communicate, because we speak
different languages, apply different
communication rules, and follow
different standards.
• Only when we manage to find a
common language, learn the rules of
communication, and understand the
rules of another person's behavior, then
we can talk about mutual
understanding.

Photo A. Synowiec, Sarajevo 2014.

 What is culture?
• The first way of understanding culture
defines culture as a particular model of
the world and a set of rules that allow a
person to live in it, adapt to it, or
transform it. Culture provides solutions
about how to adapt to the environment;
culture is a way of life of a group of
people.
• It is a kind of "a survival kit carried like a
backpack by members of our species
going about their business,”
(writes S. Magala in his book "Cross-
cultural Competence”, 2005 p. 7).
 What is culture?
• The second way, apart from the model
of behavior, also includes products, it
means what arises as a result of
applying the rules of establishing the
world.
• Culture includes artifacts, sociofacts and
mentifacts.
Hidden and visible aspects of culture
• Many aspects of culture remain hidden and beyond the reach of conscious control.
• Culture is often described as a multilevel system resembling an iceberg.
The tip of the iceberg above the water surface contains visible manifestations of
culture, such as language, human behavior, and material products.
Other layers of culture are difficult to see and to understand. These include values,
norms, views, ideas, way of thinking, approach to time and space, conflict resolution
style, body language, etc.
 Three levels of culture (Edgar Schein’s
Model)
• Artifacts - external, visible
manifestations of culture, such as
language, human behavior, and material
products
• Espoused conscious strategies, goals
and philosophies.
• Assumptions and beliefs –the core of
the culture. Unconscious beliefs,
thoughts, feelings; source of values and
actions. The unwritten rules.
Culture metaphors

The iceberg model of culture The onion model of culture

 Culture as an iceberg
• It is not easy to understand people from
other cultures, because we only see the
noticeable elements of their "iceberg,"
but we do not see its foundations.
• Only long-term contact with another
culture allows you to reach and
understand its "deeper" levels.

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License.
 The onion model of culture
• The outer - most visible - layer is symbols,
i.e., words, gestures, images, or objects that
are only recognized by members of a given
culture.
• Medium layers are heroes, i.e., characters
who identify certain valued traits and
constitute a kind of behavior pattern.
• Rituals understood as collective actions:
greeting or farewell formulas, ways to show
respect, conduct conversations etc.
• The symbols, heroes, and rituals although
they are visible outside, their more profound
cultural significance is not clear to everyone
(see G. Hofstede 2007: 21). So it is the
values that are the core of culture.
 Differences in values
• "Differences in values ​are the essence
of cultural differences (...)
Values ​determine the effects of identity
differences" (Hofstede, 2007: 336).
• Concerning intercultural communication,
an important role is played, especially
by those factors that are harder to see
and understand, because they can
cause misunderstandings.
Cultural patterns
• What is crucial for a given culture may
Man has created many „worlds” E.T. have marginal significance for another.
Hall, 2009, p. 17.
• Culture differentiates and explains the
causes of different behaviors in different
social situations.
• Each of us belongs to many "cultures" -
national, linguistic, religious.
• Additionally, a person is culturally
defined by gender, belonging to a
specific social, professional, or age
group.

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Intercultural contact
• In a situation of intercultural contact,
participants contribute with social,
historical, and cultural factors, values,
behavior patterns, stereotypes, etc.
• The condition for a successful
communication process between
representatives of different cultures is
awareness of the cultural differences.

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Interculturality and diversity

Interculturality Aspects of diversity

• Interculturality applies to all phenomena
that result from contact between
different cultures.
• By intercultural communication, we
understand this specific process of
interaction between representatives of
different national cultures".
• It is a dialogue that allows seeing
differences and similarities between
cultures, understand other people in
their cultural conditions.
Cultural patterns

Cultural dimension Cultural scripts

• The cultural dimension is a • Cultural scripts „are situational
"certain aspect of culture that can be scenarios and patterns of individuals'
measured and which allows identifying interaction and mutual expectations,
the position of a given culture in normatively sanctioned and widely
comparison to other cultures" (Hofstede accepted in a given culture. As a result
2007, p. 36). of repetition and learning, mental
• It is based on the principle of opposites regulation within the script is
(e.g., restrained vs. expressive cultures, characterized by a significant degree of
ceremonial vs. non-ceremonial cultures, automation". (Boski 2010, p. 41).
monochronic vs. polychronic cultures, • "Cultural scripts" are a way of spelling
etc.). out different "local" conventions.
Cultural dimensions according to E.T.
Hall
• Edward T. Hall distinguished cultures
through
1) communication, describing them as
high- and low-context cultures;
2) approach to time;
3) approach to space.
• "People from different cultures - - they
not only speak in different languages
but also (...) reside in separate sensual
realities." E.T. Hall (2009, p. 13).
High (HC)- and low-context (LC)
cultures
• Societies called low-context are
characterized by individualism in which
the 'I' dominates the 'we’.
• Low-context cultures are based on
spoken and written language and
emphasize the exchange of facts and
information. Communication is clear
and direct.
• Countries belonging to this group:
Sweden, Western Europe, North
America.
High (HC)- and low-context (LC)
cultures
High-context Low-context
• A lot of information is embedded in the • Most of the information
context; • is explicitly communicated
• Feelings, thoughts and information are • in the verbal message.
not explicitly expressed, but also
through a variety of channels such as • Clear rules;
body language and voice tone, body • Direct.
language;
• The message is implicitly
communicated.
High (HC)- and low-context (LC)
cultures
Perception of space
• Hall proved the existence of differences between cultures referring to the perception
of time.
• The spatial needs of people change depending on the culture.
• Ignorance of the culturally determined spatial distance can lead to misinterpretation
of a given situation. For example too close contact can be treated as a manifestation
of aggression, too distant - as a signal of a lack of interest in the conversation.
• Cultural differences concerning spatial distance play an essential role, especially in
non-verbal communication.
Perception of space

• A so-called "spatial bubble surrounds

every human being".
• Its size depends on the place of
upbringing and the specific
communication situation. There are no
problems with the spatial distance when
the interlocutors have similar feelings
about the size of the protection zone.
• "Trouble begins when two cultures
collide when they have different feelings
about the size of the shell" (Gesteland
2000 p.75).
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Perception of space – the size of „the
protection zone”
More private space needed (bigger Less private space needed (smaller
bubble) bubble)
• Germany • France; Mediterranean countries
• Private space strongly defined; • Private and public space no so clearly
• Closed doors; divided;

• Permission needed to enter private • Open doors;

space; • Pleasure of participation in public space
• Private and public space clearly divided. with other people.
Perception of time

• Richard R. Gesteland (2000, p.17), who

often refers to the concept of Hall noted:
"one group of world societies worships
the clock, loves calendars. The second
group has a more relaxed approach to
time and schedules and instead focuses
on the people around them".
Perception of time
Monochronic cultures and polychronic
cultures
• Monochronic cultures are attached to • Polychronic cultures do not attach
time. The time is countable in minutes, importance to time, because relations
seconds and money. and tradition are more important.
• The clock regulates their social and • They see no sense in counting the time
family life, work, rest and production accurately, and its best indicator are
processes. days, weeks, months and years.
• Slowness, not rush are a cardinal
principle. Everything to be done will
eventually be done.
Monochronic cultures and polychronic
cultures
Monochronic cultures: Nordic and other
Germanic European countries, North American
countries, Japan

Polychronic cultures:the Arab world, most

African countries, Latin American countries,
South and Southeast Asia
Cultural patterns
Culture matters
• Culture is a set of situational models of behavior and ways of thinking. The
systematization of features in which cultures can be compared with each other is
undoubtedly a helpful tool in the study of cultural differences. We know, however, that
all kinds of classifications lead to generalizations, favor the consolidation of
stereotypes about members of given cultures.
• In intercultural communication, you need to be sensitive not only to cultural
differences, but also to the difference in the behavior of smaller groups, or even
individuals. Everyone can be very different from their culture model.
Culture and identity
Culture matters

• "Cultural software in our minds”

develops all the time.
• Members of a society do not always
embrace the apparent values of their
cultural group.
• Barriers occurring in communication
(not only intercultural) may result from
different factors such as gender
differences, styles of communication,
different levels of education, occupation,
or generational differences.
References:
• Hall, E.T. (1959). The Silent Language, New York: Doubleday.
• Hall, E.T. (1966). The Hidden Dimension, New York: Doubleday.
• Hall, E.T. (1976). Beyond Culture, New York: Doubleday.
• Hofstede G. (2001). Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and
Organizations Across Nations, Sage Publications.
• Gesteland R.R. (2012). Cross-Cultural Business Behavior: A Guide for Global Management,
5th ed., Copenhagen : Copenhagen Business School Press ; Oslo : Universitetsforlaget
• Klopf, D.W. (2000). Intercultural Encounters: The Fundamentals of Intercultural
Communication, Morton Publishing Company, 5th edition.
• Lewis R.D. (2006). When cultures collide: leading across cultures, 3rd ed., printed in Finland
by WS Bookwell.
• Intercultural Management Issues (2012), eds. Rozkwitalska M., Diffin, Warsaw.
• Szopski M. (2005). Komunikowanie międzykulturowe, WSiP, Warszawa.