Hans Gullestrup
The Complexity of Intercultural Communication in Cross-cultural Management pdf-fileAbstract
In this article an analytical frame model is presented, by means of which one can describe and understand the contents of important elements in an intercultural situation. The model accepts as fact that all individuals are affected by more than one culture at a time, even if by varying amounts, and introduces - for the purpose of being able to cope with this - the concepts of 'Cultural Categories' and 'Cultural Hierarchies'. In order to be able to describe and understand each of the involved cultures in a specific intercultural situation, three dimensions of culture are worked with: 'The Horizontal Cultural Dimension'; 'The Vertical Cultural Dimension' and 'The Cultural Dimension of Time'. These concepts, as well as the relations between them, are synthesized and illustrated in an analytical Model.
Keywords: Analytical frame model, cultural categories, cultural hierarchies, horizontal and vertical cultural dimensions, cultural dimensions of time.
Iben Jensen
The Practice of Intercultural Communication - reflections for professionals in cultural meetings , rtf-fileAbstract
In this article I will argue that the globalisation process has carried two major implications for intercultural communication research: 1) It has provided a new target group; professional practitioners in multiethnic societies. 2) It has made 'cultural identity' one of the most important concepts in intercultural research. The challenge for intercultural research today is to provide analytical tools for the practitioners - tools which are developed in relation to the complexity in multiethnic societies.
Keywords: multiethnic societies, cultural identity, positions of experiences, cultural presuppositions, self-perception, analytical tools for practitioners.
Back to startLin Ma
Is There an Essential Difference between Intercultural and Intracultural Communication?Abstract
In this paper, I put into question the idea that there is an essential difference between intercultural communication and intracultural communication. After considering dominating assumptions and ideas leading to this dichotomy, I argue that communication should be explored in terms of particular instances of human action and reaction that are embedded in concrete life situation, and that culture should not be taken as a seamless whole which can be absolutely isolated from each other as abstract entities. Moreover, invoking Wittgenstein’s notion of language-game, I show that the so-labeled intercultural communication and intracultural communication are not far from each other radically as is commonly assumed. Almost all academic writings on the topic of intercultural communication have treated it as essentially different from intracultural communication. This assumption suggests not only that these are two different types of communication, but also that this difference is a qualitative one, as distinct from a difference of degree in terms of the pragmatic success of communicative interaction between persons. The presupposition of a qualitative difference between the two finds its expression in the fact that intercultural communication is presented in the relevant literature almost unanimously as necessarily more difficult than intracultural communication. This idea is far from being justified. In this paper, I consider dominating assumptions leading to the general outlook according to which intercultural communication is regarded as categorically different from intracultural communication. Then I demonstrate that the issue of interpersonal communication should be explored in terms of particular instances of human action and reaction that are embedded in concrete life situation, and that cultures are not seamless wholes which can be absolutely isolated from each other and abstract entities. Finally, by a thought experiment which extends Wittgenstein’s language-game of the builders, I show that the so-labeled intercultural communication and intracultural communication are not far from each other radically as is commonly assumed.
Keywords: intercultural communication, intracultural communication, qualitative difference, language game.
Back to startGiovanna Pistillo
The Interpreter as Cultural MediatorAbstract
This paper introduces the general scope and background of a doctoral research project on cultural mediation in business encounters mediated by an interpreter, and aims to show how the interpreter’s intercultural sensitiveness and competence can lead to better understanding between the two parties.
The growing number of intercultural encounters that has followed globalisation and major immigration flows has led to rising interest in intercultural studies. Actually, many such meetings happen with the mediation of an interpreter, who acts as both a linguistic and cultural mediator. Against this background, the paper analyses encounters in business contexts involving Italians and U.S. Americans. Due to the introductory nature of this presentation, resorting to certain over-generalisations will be rather frequent, especially when dealing with the cultural characteristics of large groups of people. The reason for this is simply to help better identify the three main fields that the research project aims to combine, that is interpreting studies, intercultural studies and Italian/English business communication.
This article is composed of three main parts. The first part briefly introduces the parameters based on traditional definitions of culture which can be of particular interest to this study. The second part is a brief overview of interpreting settings and techniques, defining the extent to which cultural mediation is possible in each. The third part focuses on liaison interpreting in business settings, arguably one of the contexts in which the interpreter can give a greater contribution to communication in terms of cultural mediation.
In this work, the term ‘interpreter’ will be used to refer exclusively to professional interpreters, thus leaving out all those figures who occasionally use their knowledge of other languages to facilitate communication between two or more people not speaking the same language.
Keywords: business encounters, style of communication, liaison interpreting, cultural mediation, intercultural sensitiveness.
Zhu Yunxia
Revisiting Relevant Approaches for the Study of Language and Intercultural CommunicationAbstract
This paper revisits relevant approaches used for the study of language and intercultural communication, in particular, in the area of comparing English and Chinese discourse structures. Kaplan's (1966) work has a great impact on the various approaches in this area such as Kirkpatrick (1991; 1993) and Zhu (1997). This paper specifically investigates the approaches focusing on Kaplan's proposal on the circularity and linearity of rhetorical structures. It has been found that these approaches were largely based on rhetorical rules such as pianzheng fuju or the subordinate-main structure ( Kirkpatrick 1991; 1993). This paper then argues that the intercultural and language study should incorporate cross-cultural pragmatics and genre study in order to offer more holistic principles relating to cultural values, politeness, and communicative intent.
Keywords: Chinese written discourse, rhetorical structures, cross-cultural pragmatics, genre studies.