CULTURE

TO (insert instructor 's name

FROM (Your Name (Your Initials

DATE : February 16 , 2009

SUBJECT : CULTURE 'S IMPACT ON COMMUNICATION

It is important for people with a diverse set of beliefs , ideals , and concepts to take every chance at communicating with one another to develop a healthier respect for individual cultures . While there are barriers and challenges related to intercultural communication like language , political persuasion , and cultural peculiarities understanding these barriers allows us to be more permissive and considerate of these differences creating an opportunity for harmony community development

, and world peace . This approach to inter-cultural communication can be expressed briefly in the differences between high and low context cultures

High-context cultures leave all the explaining to the culture itself while low context cultures depend largely on verbalization for explanations . High-context cultures have a deep sense of tradition and history which low-context cultures do not have . While low context cultures value individual concepts , high-context cultures depend on implicit inferences to their background culture . These two concepts pioneered by Edward Hall can explain communication among varied cultures in terms of context . Promoting intercultural understanding requires that communication not only focus on verbalization , but on context as well , taking into consideration the sensitive issue of interpretation

These considered , ethnocentrism and stereotyping can be very dangerous Ethnocentrism can hamper communication by isolating cultures and preventing communication , while stereotyping can cause pre-judgment , and therefore , prevent communication even before it has begun

Recommendations on how communicators can overcome ethnocentrism and stereotyping

Keep an open mind...