Intercultural Communication

2012-01-01
Spencer Oatey, Helen
Işık Güler, Hale
Stadler, Stephanie Alexa
Show full item record
1804
views
0
downloads
The term ‘intercultural’ literally means ‘between cultures’, and so, at one level, ‘intercultural communication’ could refer to all communication between members of two (or more) different social/cultural groups. This, in fact, is how the term has traditionally been used. Difference in nationality or mother tongue has typically been taken as the criterion for membership of different social/cultural groups, and communication between people of different nationalities or different mother tongues has then automatically been classified as intercultural. However, there are several problems with this. If culture is associated with social groups, then nationality and mother tongue are not the only social groups we each belong to. We are all simultaneously members of numerous other groups, such as regional, professional and religious, and so, if communication between members of different social groups is classified as intercultural, virtually all communication would thereby be defined as intercultural. Such a broad definition is clearly unsatisfactory – not simply because it is too all-encompassing, but also because, as Hartog (2006: 185) points out, discourse is not necessarily intercultural just because people from two different cultures meet. In other words, cultural factors do not necessarily impact on the communication process at all times. Žegarac (2007: 41) distinguishes between intracultural and intercultural communication from a cognitive point of view, and identifies an intercultural situation as one in which ‘the cultural distance between the participants is significant enough to have an adverse effect on communicative success, unless it is appropriately accommodated by the participants’. In this chapter, we adopt Spencer-Oatey and Franklin's (2009: 3) slightly revised version of Žegarac's definition: An intercultural situation is one in which the cultural distance between the participants is significant enough to have an effect on interaction/communication that is noticeable to at least one of the parties.
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/81333
Department of Foreign Language Education, Book / Book chapter

Suggestions

Discourse Information Structure : a cognitive approach to language based on dynamic network representation
Öter, Fırat; Temürcü, Ceyhan; Department of Cognitive Sciences (2015)
The historical course of linguistics studies with an emphasis on meaning points out the requirement of a representational framework that is capable of forming a structure building bridge between the linguistic (i.e. symbolic) and cognitive (i.e. conceptual) levels. The present thesis aims to lay down some conditions for a comprehensive semantic theory, which is capable of representing all relevant levels of cognitive information involved in semantic processing. This attempt will give rise to a new, suggesti...
Intercultural theatre? A 'Streetcar Named Desire' on the Turkish stage (Ferdi Merter)
Ozbirinci, Puernur Ucar (Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2008-03-01)
The controversial theory of intercultural performance covers a wide range of theatrical practices, which intend to adapt subject matter and situations from one culture to another This intention mainly involves a transportation and translation of elements and perspectives across cultures. The translator, the audience or reader, and the director fill in the gaps that are formed during this transportation and translation with their own interpretations, in accordance with the culture they inhabit. However, inte...
Conjoint individual and group tracking framework with online learning
Yiğit, Ahmet; Temizel, Alptekin; Department of Information Systems (2016)
A group is a social unit which consists of people interacting with each other and sharing the similar characteristics. Because of social properties of group, group tracking re-quires taking into account not only visual properties but also social properties such as interaction of people with each other. Also, people groups are dynamic entities and they may grow and shrink with merge and split events. This dynamic nature makes it difficult to track groups using conventional trackers. Besides these difficultie...
The uncanny object: a Lacanian analysis of xenophobia
Taştan, Coşkun; Yeğen, Mesut; Department of Sociology (2003)
The study aims to define xenophobia, which is attached such meanings as ءhostility against foreign people̕ or ءfear of alien people̕, through the main concepts of Lacanian Psychoanalysis. The ءfear of/hostility against foreign people̕ is treated, in this study, by references to the subject-object relation formulated in Psychoanalysis. The study aims to give an original account of the spiral of subject-object through such concepts as ءpolarization̕, ءannexation̕, and ءergonomy̕. Under the light of this accou...
Romanization of urban spaces in Ephesus
Topal, Hidayet Volkan; Güven, Suna Naziyet; Department of History of Architecture (2020-9)
Expansion of the Roman sphere of influence over various societies and heterogeneous cultures prompted a unique acculturation in the provinces that is referred to as Romanization. The imperial cult, in general, is considered to be both an indicator of this cultural change and an agent that took an effective role in the process of acculturation. The imperial cult in the provincial context of Asia provides a remarkable case to grasp the acculturation under Roman rule, as a catalyst of defining individuals’ and...
Citation Formats
H. Spencer Oatey, H. Işık Güler, and S. A. Stadler, Intercultural Communication. 2012, p. 586.
METU IIS - Integrated Information Service open@metu.edu.tr