Intercultural interactions

The word 'intercultural' brings about the notion of a much broader spectrum of communication. More often than not, we usually find ourselves interacting with people who have been brought up in the context of a similar set of social habits, language and religion. On a broader level, culture can be further expanded to encompass the country's population who are bonded together by the common sense of nationalism and usage of 'singlish' etc; the culture of Singapore. These threads of commonality established naturally enable the ease of interaction amongst the locals beyond religion and language in general.

On the other hand, intercultural communication extends beyond the local platform and deals with global cultures and diversity. There are much greater differences in religions, norms and ethnic backgrounds that are in stark contrast to one's local culture. With such increased differences and diversity, communication is likely to be hindered between the two parties guided by different sets of cultures. One prime example could be the inadequate integration of  foreign students into the folds of the local student population. Generally, there are no hard feelings against the former that can be deemed as the cause for such an effect. Instead, I feel that it is due to the fact that most local students initially think twice about establishing communication due to the basic feeling of apprehension stemming from the differences in cultures. The chances of misunderstanding are high with the diversity in the interpretations of a message relayed. "Birds of the same feather flock together," the idiom succinctly describes this behavior whereby we rather choose to stay safe and within our comfort zone with minimal effort to interact with a person of a different culture. This example shows that we have yet to fully grasp the notion of intercultural communication in practice in addition to its importance in the workplace in the near future.

 On the bright side, we have learned and realised that communication is a learned skill. Hence, there is always the possibility that with continuous exposure to foreign cultures via working together on projects or interacting during class discussions can coach one to better understand and better handle diversity in beliefs and customs. This can subsequently enable one to become more open towards intercultural communication with much less hesitation.