Unit Three: Intercultural situations

Step 2: Intercultural communication

What we are interested in here is why communication can be an issue in intercultural situations.
Communication is a social activity (interaction, exchange of information messages) that can take different forms (direct/mediated, face to face/remote, synchronous / asynchronous, individual / collective, public /private, and so on). Communication as a social interaction process has multiple purposes: to transmit, teach, convince, delegate, etc.
Communication is far more than speech and writing. We are communicating in many different ways even when we are not speaking. Linguists refer to this non-verbal form in which humans communicate as paralanguage. Paralanguage refers to how something is said rather than what is said. Paralanguage complements verbal communication. It is unconscious, and something that we learn during our childhood. We informally learn how to use gestures, slight changes in tone of voice, and other auxiliary communication devices to alter or emphasize what we say and do. We learn these highly culture-bound techniques over years largely by observing others and imitating them. Paralanguage Includes body language (movements, gestures, glances…), object language (clothes, cars, office…), environment (place, time), speed, silence, laughs…