Why International Communication?

People from different groups have different ways of communicating.  Difficulties arise when conclusions are drawn from those different ways of communicating.  In an argument an unexpected tone of voice can cause misunderstanding, someone can stereotype that person. (Communicating through interethnic communication.)

In the reading by Matthew Scott and Grant Sherson titled ‘Intercultural Communication as a Dominant Paradigm,’ the writers say this is because we are of two broad groupings.  The first one titled the mentalists believe that aspects of culture exist in the mind; through they are evidenced in the world.  This would include beliefs, concepts, values and rules.  

The second group extends the boundaries of culture into the external world to the outcomes of the interior beliefs—even through physical artifacts.

The passage above is a good example to describe international communication.  One group (the mentalists) are interested in explanation, while the other group wants us to be effective communicators, taking us into the external world.

I think both of these groups describe why intercultural communication is important.  We should want to know all of the above; what is cultural and what is interest.  All of us have a view of what culture is because of what we’ve been told or raised to believe.  However, we might not really know without seeing it firsthand, without traveling, without that external world to guide us.

Edward T. Hall’s study of the history of International Communication within the United States and Japan can be tied in with what I said above.  In his findings, Hall discovered that systems of beliefs, values and worldviews are involved in the exchange of words and in non-verbal communication.  I believe this is saying that many of the people in Japan may have been mentalists before the 1960’s.

But Hall also said that in dealing with English-speaking people verses the Japanese, introducing concepts such as intercultural communication were needed.  Here, he extended the boundaries by saying that the Japanese explored international communication non-verbally by facial expressions, hand gestures, bowing, (etc.) in their lives, because he said the Japanese were said to rely less on verbal communication than English-speaking people.

Once again, all of this ties together with the very first statement I made.  For example, the Japanese and English-speaking people have completely different ways of communicating, and depending on which you are, or how you were raised—your view on this is different.  You could be a mentalist, and stick to what you were told—or you could explore and physically find out the boundaries between the two.  It’s important to notice the different ways that other counties communicate, or we could get lost when taking that physical leap into another country.  International communication means simply understanding not only the cultural differences, but why they are that way.