Summary

Each of the variables discussed in this module – time and space, personal responsibility and fate, face and face-saving, and nonverbal communication – are much more complex than it is possible to convey. Each of them influences the course of communications, and can be responsible for conflict or the escalation of conflict when it leads to miscommunication or misinterpretation. A culturally-fluent approach to conflict means working over time to understand these and other ways communication varies across cultures, and applying these understandings in order to enhance relationships across differences.

Instruction: Is “cross-cultural communication” just another one of those buzzwords to you that’s being used everywhere but nobody really knows what it means? Despite its possible hype, cross-cultural communication is nevertheless a widely recognized and valid concept which every student should be familiar with. Being familiar with cross-cultural communication doesn’t just imply having a vague or rudimentary idea of what the expression “cross-cultural communication” means and how it works. In order to become proficient in ESP, an interculturally effective person, you need to understand the concept of cross-cultural communication with all its components and be able to translate it into action.

After almost every text, the first question you should ask is an overview question about the main idea, main topic, or main purpose of the text. Main idea questions ask you to identify the most important thought in the text, the main idea or topic of apassage.