Communicating Differently

Successful intercultural communication requires mindfulness, being respectful of others and maintaining an accurate perception of the situation (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012).  Therefore I communicate differently with individuals depending on the relationships we share and the situation in which communication is to take place.  When communicating with family and friends my styles of communication is more informal and relaxed because of the culture and connections that we share.  However, when there are important family decisions to be taken the communication style changes.  Even within my family, the styles of communication differ as I do not communicate in the same manner with my nieces who are teens and those who are elementary age.  When communicating with colleagues and co-workers, the style of communication differs according to relations and context.  For instance, the way I converse with my colleagues at the workplace (refined, professional, calm, formal) differs to the way I communicate with them during our social activities. With persons I have just met, I am more mindful of what I say and how I behave.  All in all, my communication style differs according to the individuals and the context within which the conversation takes place.

Three strategies I believe that I could use to become an even better communicator is firstly to become self-reflective.  According to Vuckovic (2008) “… one’s perception patterns are learned as we learn to see the world in a certain way based on our cultural background.”  Therefore, being self-reflective would increase my awareness of my own culture, personality and identity.  I would be able to recognize habits, perceptions and biases which may carry prejudgments which result in microaggressions in my communication.  Another strategy I could adopt is to be free of bias and have respect towards other cultures.  Gonzalez-Mena (2010) stated that ‘a worthy goal is for teachers and other early child care and education specialists to become culturally sensitive and begin looking for the meaning of parenting behaviors and beliefs they run across in the families they serve.”  By having an awareness of other cultures and being sensitive to the uniqueness of these cultures communication will be more effective.  Lastly, I need to be able to choose a communication style that represents the communication partner with the same level of meaning (Vuckovic, 2008).  This would help to create a more balanced playing field as I would be more mindful of others.

References

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2010). 50 strategies for communicating and working with diverse families. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

O’Hair, D. and Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. (2^nd ed.).  New  York: Bedford/St. Martin’s

Vuckovic, A. (2008). Inter-cultural communication: A foundation of communicative action. Multicultural Education and Technology Journal, 2(1), 47–59.