Culture consists of three main components: 1) a diverse pool of shared knowledge, realities, norms and meanings; 2) aspects that are learned and transmitted between generations; and 3) facilitates survival and adaptation. Culture can be represented by an iceberg, with most aspects below the surface being implicit and harder to observe than explicit surface level aspects. Examples are given of differing concepts of beauty across cultures, such as foot binding in China, and acceptable behaviors like slurping noodles in Japan that may seem strange to outsiders but are part of the local culture below the surface.

1. What is Culture?
Intercultural Communication
DELC

2. What is culture?
• -Latin word cultura or cultus as in “agri cultura, the
cultivation of the soil” (Freilich, 1989).
Three important points:
1. Diverse pool of knowledge, shared realities and norms,
learned systems of meanings.
2. It is shared and transmitted from one generation to the
next.
3. Facilitates survival and adaptation to the external
environment.

3. What is an iceberg?
‘Culture is like an iceberg’

4. A different concept of Beauty
• When you are asked what makes a
person ‘beautiful’, you might think about a
person with certain characteristics.
Perhaps you think about his soul or
personality.
• The concept of ‘beauty’ around the world
might differ from the one that you have.

5. A different concept of Beauty
Let’s look an example. Look at the following
video and write down what are your first
impressions.
Viewer discression is advised
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMdmSerORw0

6. Explaining the Tip of the Iceberg
analogy
• How can you explain the iceberg analogy
using the Chinese foot-binding example?
(Write your comments in the Discusssion
Board)
• Can you think of any other examples?

7. Slurping your soup: that’s wrong, isn’t?
When having dinner with a Japanese
couple, I couldn’t help to notice that
they made a particular sound while
eating noodles. While for me, this was
a sign of bad manners, they explained
to me that in Japan, this not only
accepted, but it also means that you
are slurping your meal.

8. Look around
• Have you been in the presence of a
situation/behavior that seemed ‘wrong’ to
you, but acceptable for the people in the
country you are visiting?
• How can you relate this experience to the
iceberg analogy?
Share your answers in the appropriate
Discussion Board.