Barriers and differences in different cultures

Thinking back through my life I haven't really been able to think of a time in which I wasn't friends with someone from another culture. When I lived in Eden Prairie for 10 years four of my best friends were from another culture. One was from Russia, another from Somolia, and two were from Korea.

I remember my friend Ding who was from Korea would always be yelled at my his grandmother. I never really understood why until later in life when I found out that the way the grandmother was talking to him was just another way that they would communicate. To me I always thought that he was in trouble. My friend Shamso lived with her mom and brothers. She had like 4 brothers I think and her mother couldn't afford a bigger apartment so Shamso had to stay in the same room with her brothers. I always wondered why because I remember my mom saying that it wasn't right for girls to stay in the same room as boys. But in Shamso's culture it was ok.

I think it's interesting learning about different cultures. Understanding why cultures do things a certain way helps me better understand it and helps me with not judging them right away. I do admitt to judging people very quickly, but since I've started learning about other cultures and reading up on certain cultures I've noticed that I'm not as quick to judge as I was once before.

It's also very important for one to learn other languages. Me, I attempted to learn Spanish and after being in the class for 3 years found that I was just getting more and more confused. I assume this is how it is for others when they are attempting to learn English. This is one of the most complex languages out there along with Japennese. My boyfriend took a Japanese class and said it is so difficult, but he was able to remember some of the catch phrases.

In the book, it gives what the most common definition of Intercultural Communication is, "...occur when people of different cultural backgrounds interact..." (27). As of right now I have to admit that this is what I feel the definition is. Over the course of this semester I hope to create a better definition of what Intecultural communication truely is. The book goes on to say that for one to completly understand the meaning of Intercultural Communication ones needs to understand the root words of it, culture and communication. These are the building blocks of this word and once one has these two words down to a science, then they will figure out the true meaning behind intercultural communication.

The core of intercultural communication is culture. I believe that it is important for one to first understand their culture. If you are unsure about your own culture, how will you be able to understand another? I think it's also cool when you can teach others about your culture, not only will you be able to teach them your beliefs but you will also be able to carry on your beliefs into the future.

When I first hear the word culture what comes to mind...(thinking)... well, possibly music, art, dance, people from another country. But do I think about the patterns of perceptions and the values and behaviors of other cultures? Possibly, but not likly right away will I think of these things. Culture defined in the book is "... learned patterns of perception, value, and behaviors, shared by a group of people, that is also dynamic and heterogeneous. We learn culture. There is no other way of it coming to us. We see how our family lives, we learn from them what we need to do, how we need to act, speak, etc. Family is the largest influence on us, along with our friends and lastly society. People feel as though it is important for them to act like, lets say... celebrities. Me, I could careless what Paris Hilton or Lindsey Lohan is doing. I'm ME and not THEM. I'm going to act the way that my family taught me; being a responsible adult.

Cultural groups share perceptions. How? Well, the book describes culture as a lens. Looking through that lens is how we view the world. By our every day experiences we then create an interpretation of what we have learned. That interpretation is created by past experiences that is already stored in our brain.

Overall, my ultimate goal for the rest of the semester is to figure out ways to understand other cultures. From there I can compair them to my culture and possibly learn a thing or two and incorporate them into my life. That would be kind of fun...