The presentation focuses on enhancing communication across different cultures by reducing misunderstandings and improving clarity. It highlights key aspects of communication, including verbal and non-verbal methods, and emphasizes the importance of understanding cultural differences in conversational styles, narrative forms, and social norms. The document advocates for proactive measures to adapt to multicultural environments, especially in diverse communities like Alberta.

1. Communication and culture Durunna Obioha

2. Objectives This presentation will help us to… -reduce the extent we misunderstand what other people mean -reduce our actions that may be misinterpreted by others -increase our abilities to communicate clearly -help others by clarifying what they mean (if we know)

3. Outline Basic Definitions..communication and culture How cultures are different. How to effectively adjust to a new community.

4. Communication Communication is the exchange of thoughts, messages or information by signals, writing, speech or behavior.

5. Communication There are two main types of communication … -verbal -non verbal (75% of most communication) Communication Verbal Non-Verbal

6. Culture is the way of life of a group of people, usually passed from one generation to the next. -it identifies the group through Language, Dressing, Behavior, etc. Culture

7. Culture Our culture (from nurture or adoption) may affect the way we communicate.

8. Different cultures may exist within a region or family! Reasons for multicultural communities … -jobs -marriages -education -tours -instabilities in other countries -etc.

9. Alberta example… -has over 3.8 million people (2010) -is the 4 th largest immigrant receiving province Most are immigrants from other countries (19.7%) or from other provinces (58%)

10. More than half live in Edmonton and Calgary Implying that many cultures exist in these two cities. There will be frequent communication with individuals from other cultures.

11. Knowing that differences exist is very important to prevent problems. The responsibility of understanding lies on everybody. Could there be instances where we misunderstood what someone said or did?

12. Ways cultures differ and affect communication Conversational styles Narrative styles Stance and attitudes Personal responsibility Face

13. 1. Conversational styles -soft vs loud tones -slow vs fast pace -gestural vs motionless -topic of conversation Understanding cultural differences

14. Acceptable conversational topics weather News Sports Health Job Non-acceptable conversational topics Religion Politics Salary Age Weight Physical appearance Marital status (parents).

15. 2. Narrative styles Cultures may differ on the right way to tell a story -which story -ideal channel -ideal medium

16. 3. Stance and Attitudes -People’s frame of mind or beliefs -affect behavior and thoughts e.g. middle class white North Americans indicate interest by -more eye-contact -giving more smiles and nods … these may be interpreted differently in another culture

17. 4. Personal responsibility … Is the perception of doing the right thing Differences exist in -limits to express one’s view -limits to acceptable actions

18. 5. Face … This refers to the standing of others in one’s eyes -addressing people -by names vs. titles -greetings http://www.caboose.org.uk/media/Nigeria/TayoWedding/Picture%20030_w.jpg http://www.gitsiegirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/lost_handshake.jpg

19. 5. Face … -Other greetings patterns

20. Failure to understand these cultural differences may lead to miscommunication or misunderstanding .

21. How we can fit well in a new community. -research the new environment’s basic communication and cultural norms -learn some basic words and sentences if the language is different -be tolerant and patient -understand the people’s likes and dislikes -observe…and identify more differences

22. Summary The world can only get more diverse… not less, -this will occur primarily through migration Cultures are different in many ways Most communications reflect culture We should take steps to understand the people from other cultures

23. THANK YOU QUESTIONS?

24. References http://www.wisc.edu/english/rfyoung/336/xcc.pdf http://www.purdue.edu/apsac/pdf/APSAC_WeaverPPT.pdf http://www.beyondintractability.org/ppt_swf_insets/cross_cultural_communication.ppt#258,2,Slide 2 Alberta Immigration facts and figures (2005). Employment, Immigration and Industry, Communications

25. Home-Work (Due before Monday's class) You will use Twitter for this homework! Tweet TWO points from the today’s talk. Send them as two separate tweets to me (@JessL) so that I can see them (participation mark). You should watch either of the videos noted in the blog post from Module 1 and send me ONE tweet (@JessL) with your thoughts on that video. So, THREE Tweets in total; two from Obi's talk and one from either of the videos on the Module 1 post.