The University of Akureyri

Faculty of Management
LOK2106

Cross-Cultural
Communication
Do Icelanders have the proficiency
to communicate effectively across cultures?

The position of
cross-cultural curricula and training
in Iceland
and possible remedial action

Akureyri, April 28th 2005

Steinunn Aðalbjarnardóttir
LOK 2106 University of Akureyri

University of Akureyri

Place: University of Akureyri Iceland

Division: Faculty of Management

Course: LOK 2106

Name of assignment: Cross-Cultural Communication

Work period: January – April 2005

Student: Steinunn Aðalbjarnardóttir

Instructor: Rafn Kjartansson

Pages: 48

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Statements

a) “Ég lýsi því hér með yfir að ég ein er höfundur þessa verkefnis og að það er ágóði
eigin rannsóknar”.

a) “I here by declare that I am the only author of this assignment and it is the result of
may own observation”.

_____________________________________
Steinunn Aðalbjarnardóttir

b) “Það staðfestist hér með að verkefni þetta fullnægir að mínum dómi kröfum til prófs í
námskeiðinu LOK 2106”.

b) “It is here by confirmed that this assignment satisfies the requirements of the course
LOK 2106”.

_____________________________________
Rafn Kjartansson

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LOK 2106 University of Akureyri

Abstract Icelandic
Markmið þessa verkefnis er að sýna fram á mikilvægi menningarlæsis,
kanna stöðu fjölmenningarfræðslu á Íslandi og ræða mögulegar leiðir til
úrbóta.
Hinn huldi hluti menningar eins og gildi, norm og viðhorf eru þeir þættir
sem oftast valda mestum misskilningi í samskiptum milli menningarheima.
Víddir Hofstede geta hjálpað til við að skilja viðbrögð og viðhorf annarra
þjóða sem hafa verið metnar á mælikvörðum “Power distance”,
“Individualism/ Collectivism”, “Masculinity/Femininity”, “Uncertainty
avoidance” og “Long-term / Short-term orientation” . Eins eru víddir
Trompenaars gagnlegar þegar horft er til þess hvernig hópar leysa vandamál
og sætta sjónarmið.
Það getur verið mjög erfitt að aðlagast nýjum menningarheimi og valdið
pirringi, vonbrigðum og kvíða vegna endalauss misskilnings(Culture shock).
Framboð á áföngum sem fjalla um menningartengd efni hefur aukist hratt
síðustu misseri, sérstaklega í viðskiptadeildum háskólanna, þó áherslan sé
þar meira á svæðisbundna menningu og alþjóðlega þætti en minna á
fjölmenningarleg samskipti. Þá eru fjöldamargir nemar sem stunda
skiptinám erlendis í gegnum háskólana.
Niðurstöður könnunar sem lögð var fyrir tungumálakennara í
framhaldsskólum landsins benda til þess að þeir séu mjög meðvitaðir um
mikilvægi menningarlæsis og leggi mikið uppúr því að ræða menningarlega
þætti eins og gildi, norm og viðhorf við nemedur sína jafnvel þó svo fæstir
hafi heyrt Hofstede nefndan.
Útflutningsráð hefur brugðist við vaxandi þörf viðskiptalífsins fyrir
fjölmenningarfræðslu með því að þjálfa ráðgjafa í menningarlæsi og bæta
inní námskeið sín fræðslu tengda menningarmun.
Alþjóðahúsin veita mikilvæga þjónustu varðandi íslenskukennslu og
menningarfræðslu til nýbúa en fjöldi þeirra fer hratt vaxandi. Menntakerfið
er að byrja að bregðast við þessari breytingu á þjóðfélaginu með því að
bjóða uppá áfanga í kennaramenntun sem miðar að því að gera kennara

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LOK 2106 University of Akureyri

menningarlæsa svo þeir geti miðlað áfram þekkingu og unnið að þjálfun í

grunnskólum landsins í samskiptum á milli ólíkra menningarheima.
Það er vaxandi þörf fyrir fræðsluefni sem er aðlagað íslenskum aðstæðum
og veitir þjálfun í að skilja menningarmun og færni í fjölmenningarlegum
samskiptum.
Afrakstur CEReS verkefnisins mun svara þeirri þörf að hluta þar sem
notendur þess, þ.e. nemendur og viðskiptalífið, hafa lagt sinn skerf í
undirbúningi og hönnun fræðsluefnisins.

Lykilorð:
Menning
Menningarlegar víddir
Fjölmenningarleg samskipti
Fjölmenningarnámsefni
Menningarlæsi

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LOK 2106 University of Akureyri

Special thanks

I would like to thank my instructor, Rafn Kjartansson, for all his inspiration
and constructive remarks.

Akureyri, April 28th 2005

_____________________________________
Steinunn Aðalbjarnardóttir

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Abstract
The object of this assignment is to reason the importance of intercultural
competence, find out the position of cross-cultural education and training in
Iceland and finally discuss remedial actions.
The part of culture that usually causes the most misunderstanding and
confusion in cross-cultural communication is the hidden part of it such as
values, norms, assumptions and attitudes. Hofstede´s dimensions are useful
when communicating with a country that has been placed in the indices of
Power distance, Individualism/ Collectivism, Masculinity/Femininity,
Uncertainty avoidance and Long-term / Short-term orientation. As well are
the seven dimensions of Trompenaars, which focus on the cultural
dimensions of business executives and are related to how a group of people
solve problems and reconciles dilemmas. Adjusting to a new culture can be
an extremely difficult task causing irritation, frustration and anxiety because
of endless cultural misunderstanding (Culture shock). Language can be
considered the vehicle of culture whereas language and culture are closely
interwoven.
There is a rapid growth in cultural related courses both in under- and
postgraduate in Business fields even though the emphasis is more on
geographic areas or international relations and less with cross-cultural
communication. There are as well many students studying abroad under the
auspice of the universities. The results of a survey conducted among
language teachers in the colleges indicate that the teachers are very
culturally aware and motivated for discussing cultural issues such as values,
behaviour and assumptions with their students even though almost no
teacher had heard of Hofstede.
The Trade Council of Iceland has responded to the need of the business
sector by training cross-cultural consultants and involving cultural topics
into their seminars.

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The International Centres play a vital part in the cultural education for
immigrants whose number is rapidly increasing in Iceland. The general
education system is just starting to respond to this multicultural change in
Icelandic society by adding intercultural training into the teaching education
to produce culturally aware teachers that are able to introduce cross-cultural
communication in schools.
There is a growing need for intercultural teaching material adapted to
Icelandic situations that provides training in intercultural awareness,
proficiency and practical skills.
The CEReS project will produce educational material that will partly fulfil
these needs whereas the users of the intended material, the students and
companies, contribute systematically to the preparation and design of the
material.

Key words:
Culture
Cultural Dimensions
Cross-Cultural Communication
Cross-Cultural Curriculum
Cultural Awareness

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Index

Introduction....................................................................................................................1
1 Theoretical discussion............................................................................................3
1.1 CULTURE - DEFINITIONS .......................................................................................................................3
1.2 LAYERS OF CULTURE ............................................................................................................................5
1.3 HOFSTEDE´S DIMENSIONS ....................................................................................................................6
1.4 THE ICELANDIC BUSINESS CULTURE IN THE LIGHT OF HOFSTEDE´S DIMENSIONS ................................8
1.5 TROMPENAARS SEVEN DIMENSIONS ....................................................................................................9
1.6 ADJUSTING TO A NEW CULTURE .........................................................................................................11
1.7 STEREOTYPING ...................................................................................................................................13
1.8 LANGUAGE AS THE VEHICLE OF CULTURE TRANSFER .........................................................................13
2 Research...............................................................................................................15
2.1 CERES ...............................................................................................................................................15
2.2 RESEARCH METHODS..........................................................................................................................15
2.3 THE POSITION OF CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING IN ICELAND ................................................................16
2.3.1 Trade Council of Iceland ..............................................................................................................16
2.3.2 Companies ....................................................................................................................................17
2.3.3 The Icelandic Red Cross - Intercultural Centres .........................................................................17
2.3.4 Exchange students/volunteers organizations................................................................................19
2.3.5 International student programs in universities.............................................................................19
2.3.6 Consulting Companies..................................................................................................................20
2.3.7 Universities...................................................................................................................................20
2.3.8 Continuing Education - University of Iceland .............................................................................24
2.3.9 Colleges – Questionnaire to language teachers ...........................................................................24
2.3.10 Colleges – Courses ..................................................................................................................30
3 Analysis - evaluation............................................................................................33
4 Possible remedial action ......................................................................................36
4.1 THE CONTENT OF CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING PROGRAMS ................................................................36
4.2 THE CERES ACTION ...........................................................................................................................38
5 Discussion ............................................................................................................39
6 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................40
Reference .....................................................................................................................41
Appendices...................................................................................................................44
APPENDIX 1- QUESTIONNAIRE ..........................................................................................................................44
APPENDIX 2 – ADJUSTING TO A NEW CULTURE .................................................................................................46

Table of figures:

Figure 1. Cultural issues that teachers consider important ……………. 28

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Introduction

The process by which we all come to believe that there is a “right” way to think,
express ourselves, and act is called socialization. It is the process by which
individuals learn what is required of them in order to be successful members of a
given group, what is right and good. Socialization is such a potent process that
once people have been socialized they are hardly aware that other realities can
exist. This results in the presence of ethnocentrism, the tendency of people to
judge others from their own culture’s perspective, believing theirs to be the only
“right” or “correct” way to perceive the world (Cushner & Brislin, 1996, p. 5).

There are differing views on whether we are becoming more globally

universal and alike or whether we are becoming more influenced by
particular and unfamiliar national cultures.
Whilst the world is getting smaller and smaller, the need to communicate
effectively increases. People tend to have the human instinct that ´deep
inside´ all people are the same – but they are not. Therefore when the
international business tends to standardize cross-cultural communication in
order to simplify global trade – the chances are that some very bad decisions
will be made due to cultural clashes.
Management gurus have for the past decades introduced the one best way to
manage and to organize. They strive to create tools that will reduce the
complexities of management but unfortunately the approach tends to limit
innovation and intercultural success as well.
Cross-cultural proficiency is about having a fundamental understanding that
cultural and social inheritance affects every detail of your life, from the way
you dress and dine to ideas about work, economy, structure and so on. Also
how everyone is coloured by his own cultural and social background. It
introduces the main concepts that enable us to analyze multi-cultural
situations and to simplify and make cross-cultural communication more
effective.
Cross-cultural proficiency does not require knowledge about every specific
culture but is rather the training in understanding social and cultural

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processes. Such proficiency requires self-inspection and understanding and

trains people to tackle situations where different cultural attitudes clash. The
Cross-Cultural proficiency makes people more as well capable to endure
insecurity and uneasy situations (Fjolmenning, 2005).

The Trade Council of Iceland implemented a research programme in 2003 in

connection with the European project Intercomm which revealed that over
30% of Icelandic export companies had lost a business opportunity because
of cultural difference or language difficulties and 85% of the companies had
some problems due to the same things. Unlike what could be expected, it is
not always the most far away markets that cause the most intense problems
but just as well the closer countries as Sweden and Norway (Guðjón
Svansson, verbal reference, March 9th 2005).
This leads to the presumption that Icelandic companies do have a need for
employees with cross-cultural competence especially for two reasons:
Icelandic companies are increasingly taking advantage of expansion
opportunities abroad since their small domestic markets are quickly
saturated and Iceland, which used to be a highly homogeneous society, is
now developing a more diverse character through immigration.
Now there are approx. 10.700 individuals living in Iceland that have foreign
nationality or 3.6% of the total population. For the last decade the number of
foreigners living in Iceland has doubled for in the year 1995 they were only
1,8% of the population. National Statistics of Iceland (NSI) states that the
ratio of foreigners is getting close to what it is in Scandinavia (NSI, 2005).
Thus there is an urgent need for the educational system to respond to altered
circumstances by promoting intercultural awareness and understanding.

The object of this assignment is to explore cultural dimensions and to reason

the importance of cross-cultural competence. Then an attempt will be made
to answer the question “Do Icelanders have the proficiency to
communicate effectively across culture?” by finding out the position of
cross-cultural training and education in Iceland. Finally there will be some
suggestions about possible remedial actions in order to increase the cross-
cultural competence of Icelanders.

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1 Theoretical discussion
1.1 Culture - definitions
“Culture usually refers to something that is made by human beings rather than
something that occurs in nature ….The most critical dimension of culture concerns
itself with people’s assumptions about life. Culture consists of the ideals, values,
and assumptions about life that are widely shared and that guide specific
behaviours. Triandis (1977) points out the distinction between objective and
subjective culture whereas the objective culture refers to the visible, tangible
aspects of culture, and includes such things as the artefacts people make, the food
they eat, the clothing they wear, and even the names they give to things. It is
relatively easy to pick up, analyze, and hypothesize about the uses and meanings
of objective elements of culture. Subjective culture on the other hand refers to the
invisible, less tangible aspects of a group of people. People’s values, attitudes,
norms of behaviour, and adopted roles - the things generally kept in people´s
minds - fall into this category. It is much more difficult for people to speak about,
observe, and understand what is going on when it is the subjective elements of
their culture that are in conflict with those of another. It is thought that most cross-
cultural misunderstandings occur at the subjective cultural level, and that this
should be the focus of good cross-cultural training” (Cushner & Brislin, 1996, p.
5-6).
In his Intercultural research paper “The current state of knowledge” Stephan
Dahl (2004) gives a short overview of the main concepts and theories in
intercultural and cross-cultural communication which will be looked upon in
following paragraphs.
The first structured approach to form a theory how to classify cultural
pattern came from Edward T. Hall when he, based on his experience in the
Foreign Service, published two books, “The Silent Language” (1959) and
“The Hidden Dimension” (1969). In them, he identified two classic
dimensions of culture. Firstly the high-context and low-context cultures
which deals with how much information is needed to be formally written
down. Hall also representd a dimension of, polychronic, where many things
can be handled at a time, versus monochronic time orientation where one
thing is done at a time. Although both concepts are very useful, and like the

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high/low context concept easily observed, the lack of empirical data makes
the concept more difficult to apply in research (Dahl, 2004, p. 10-11).

Many researchers have since then tried to address the concept of culture.
The most famous and most referred to in this area is the research by the
Dutch organisational anthropologist Hofstede. By inspecting work-related
values of employees of IBM during the 1970s he obtained his culture
dimensions which he divided into: power distance,
individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity and uncertainty
avoidance which will be dealt with later in this chapter (Dahl, 2004, p. 12).

Definition of culture
Hofstede (1994, p. 5) defined culture as “the collective programming
of the mind which distinguishes the member of one group or category
of people from another”.
Hofstede expands the concept of ‘collective programming´ by suggesting that
culture could therefore be situated between human nature, which is not
programmed, nor programmable on the one side – and the individual’s
personality on the other side. This idea of the culture in the individual is
particularly useful for explaining the concept of culture on the one side – as well
as allowing for the diversity of individual personalities within any one culture
(Dahl, 2004, p.3).
There is another concept of culture that Hall (1983) put forward. According
to Dahl (2004, p.3) Hall views culture as often underlying and that people
only pay attention to it when their values and assumptions are severely
challenged, for example when encountering people from a different culture.
He states that people in the same society, internalise the cultural components
of that society, and act within the boundaries that are “culturally”
acceptable.
Dahl (2004, p.4) cites Spencer-Oatey (2000) who adds to the definition of
culture by stating that: “Culture is a fuzzy set of attitudes, beliefs,
behavioural norms, and basic assumptions and values that are shared by a
group of people, and that influence each member’s behaviour and his/her in
interpretations of the "meaning" of other people's behaviour ”

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1.2 Layers of culture

Culture has often been described as a set of layers. The most fundamental
division is the iceberg model where culture is divided into visible level,
showing behaviour or artifacts and the invisible level of values. In search for
a more meaningful model of culture Hofstede put forward a set of four
layers, each of which involves the lower level, something like an onion that
can be peeled, layer-by-layer. At the core of Hofstede´s model of culture are
values, which are defined as “…broad tendencies to prefer certain states of
affairs over others”(Hofstede, 1994, p.8). These values are feelings which
have a plus and minus side such as: evil vs. good, dirty vs. clean, ugly vs.
beautiful, unnatural vs. natural, abnormal vs. normal, paradoxical vs.
logical, irrational vs. rational. Around the values, Hofstede (1994, p. 7-8)
describes three levels of culture that are more clearly noticeable: Closest to
the values there are rituals such as ways of greeting and paying respect and
social and religious ceremonies. The next level contains heroes, such as
admired persons who serve as models for behaviour. In the third and most
obvious layer there are symbols, which are words, gestures, pictures, or
objects that carry a particular meaning.

Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997, p. 21-23) put forward a similar

onion-like model of culture. They are more focused on the core level than
the outer level, which consists of explicit culture such as language and man,
made things. The middle layer reflects the norms and values of the group.
The core contains the basic assumptions about existence which even the
individuals of the group have problem explaining because it is so
subconscious.

According to Dahl (2004, p. 5-6) Spencer-Oatey recombines the two inner

layers of the onion so basic assumptions and values form the core of culture
which again are encircled by a more basic level of beliefs, attitudes and
conventions. This division makes it possible to give reasons for changes in
beliefs without a great change in values. In Spencer-Oateys model, “beliefs,
attitudes and conventions” influence another layer, consisting of “systems

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and institutions”, which again are embraced by outer layer of culture that is
divided into non-behavioural items (artefacts and products) on the one side
and human behavioural items (rituals and behaviour) on the other side.
In conclusion, it is possible to describe culture as a shared set of basic
assumptions and values, with resultant behavioural norms, attitudes and beliefs
which manifest themselves in systems and institutions as well as behavioural
patterns and non-behavioural items. There are various levels to culture, ranging
from the easily observable outer layers (such as behavioural conventions) to the
increasingly more difficult to grasp inner layers (such as assumptions and
values). Culture is shared among members of one group or society, and has an
interpretative function for the members of that group. Culture is situated
between the human nature on the other hand and the individual personality on
the other. Culture is not inheritable or genetic, but culture is learned. Although
all members of a group or society share their culture, expressions of culture-
resultant behaviour are modified by the individuals´ personality (Dahl, 2004, p.
5-7).

1.3 Hofstede´s Dimensions

The cultural dimensions model of Geert Hofstede is a framework that
describes five sorts (dimensions) of differences / value perspectives between
national cultures:

Power Distance
This dimension indicates the extent to which a society expects and accepts a
high degree of inequality in institutions and organisations. In a country with a
large Power Distance, organisations are characterised by formal hierarchies and
by subordinates who are reluctant to challenge their superiors. The boss is very
much the boss. In a country with a small Power Distance, subordinates expect to
be consulted and the ideal boss is a resourceful democrat rather than a
benevolent autocrat (International business center, 2004).
Class distinction is very important when it comes to international business
e.g. in marketing when defining the target group in a given country whereas
knowledge of power distance in that country may apply to whom you select
as actors to feature various consumer products and the words you use to
describe them (Witiger - International business, 2005).

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Individualism - collectivism
This dimension relates to the extent to which people prefer to take care of
themselves and their immediate families rather than being bound to some wider
collectivity such as the extended family or clan. In terms of organisational life,
in highly individualistic societies, there will be a sharp distinction between work
and personal life. Task will prevail over relationships. Also individuals will
prefer work settings in which they can make their own decisions (International
business center, 2004).
What this means when e.g. promoting consumer goods in highly collective
countries it would be more successful if groups of people were in the
advertisement than only one person. For example a TV commercial for
promoting a cell phone in Japan would show how the person shared his new
cell phone with all his friends while in trying to sell the same product in
New York one would show an individual and how he used it to save time or
money (Witiger - International business, 2005).

Masculinity - femininity
Masculine societies value assertiveness, competitiveness and materialism as
opposed to the ‘feminine’ values of relationships and the quality of life. In terms
of the workplace, organisations in feminine societies will aim for harmonious
relations with a strong emphasis on social partnership. In masculine societies
organisations will be more task-oriented and motivation more materialistic.
Individual assertiveness is acceptable and appreciated. Within nearly all
societies men score higher in terms of the masculinity dimension (International
business center, 2004).
In some masculine cultures the difference between the men and women is
quite extreme as it relates to clothing, job opportunities, religious
regulations, language, human rights while in more feminine cultures the
differences between men and women are very little. In marketing it is
important to be aware of this dimension when adapting the promotional mix.
Things like the appearance of women´s clothing and status in
advertisements should be considered according to the cultural norms
(Witiger - International business, 2005).
Uncertainty avoidance
This refers to the degree to which a society prefers predictability, security and
stability. In societies with high scores on this index there is an emotional need
for rules, written and unwritten. Thus organisations in these societies will deploy

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formal rules in order to ensure that work situations are highly structured with
clearly defined task roles and responsibilities. Deviant ideas and behaviours are
not tolerated. Societies in which Uncertainty Avoidance is strong are also
characterised by higher levels of anxiety that in turn results in a pronounced
need to work hard (International business center, 2004).

Long-term versus short-term orientation

In his later work, Hofstede (1991) introduces a fifth dimension ... Hofstede
describes long-term orientation as characterised by persistence, ordering
relationships by status and observing this order, thrift, and having a sense of
shame, whereas short-term orientation is characterised by personal steadiness
and stability, protecting your “face”, respect for tradition and reciprocation of
greetings, favours, and gifts (Dahl, 2004, p. 13-14).

Criticism of Hofstede´s dimensions

The main criticism of Hofstede´s research is that it was conducted within a

single organization, IBM, which has a strong organizational culture.
Hofstede and his research team are from the Western part of the world,
hence it has been criticized that the research is culturally biased. Hofstede
has welcomed this criticism and amended his research based on the Chinese
Value Survey by adding a fifth dimension to his original four dimensions.
Additionally, Hofstede initiated the making and conducting of a similar
survey model structured in Africa. The results of the survey supported the
five cultural dimensions and their classification. It has also been criticized
that the research is being outdated whereas younger people´s value are
rapidly changing (International business center, 2004 and María
Guðmundsdóttir, 2004, p.15).

1.4 The Icelandic Business Culture in the light of Hofstede´s

dimensions
The Trade Council of Iceland has been working on a project named
Intercomm where a survey was conducted that was intended to cast a light
on the cultural environment in Iceland, from a business point of view.
According to María Guðmundsdóttir (2004, p. 5) the Icelandic business
environment has undergone some changes over a relatively short period of
time which has resulted in a shift in the Icelandic business culture. In

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general, power distance is low in Iceland even though some differences

were detected in the relation to gender and occupation. Uncertainty
avoidance is also low in Iceland. This is likely to be affiliated with the fact
that Icelanders are accustomed to a great deal of uncertainty with regard to
the ever-changing weather and the unstable natural forces in Iceland.
Individualism is becoming more dominant that collectivism as is the
masculinity now rated somewhat prevalent to femininity. Spontaneous and
expecting quick results, Icelander´s values reflect a short-term orientation.
However, a slow movement towards long-term orientation was identified.
The Icelandic business culture very much resembles that of the
Scandinavian countries. The only exception to this is the trend in Iceland
towards more masculine values than feminine ones.
The typical Icelandic businessperson is informal and casually dressed. He is
hard working and dedicated to delivering quality, although it can result in a
delay in the pre-set time schedule. On the first encounter he may appear to be a
cold person, but as the business relationship progresses his flexible manner and
humour will be revealed (María Guðmundsdóttir, 2004, p. 60).

1.5 Trompenaars Seven Dimensions

Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner classify cultures as a mix

of behavioural and value patterns and in their research they have mainly
focused on the cultural dimensions of business executives. In their book
“Riding The Waves of Culture”, they identify seven dimensions which some
of them can be regarded as nearly identical to Hofstede´s dimensions.
Trompenaars & Hampden-turner (1997, p. 6-10) indicate that it is useful to
think of culture as the way in which a group of people solves problems and
reconciles dilemmas. They discuss how every culture distinguishes itself
from others by the specific solutions it chooses to certain problems that
reveal themselves as dilemmas. Those dilemmas can again be divided into
three categories: Problems that arise from the relationships with other
people; problems regarding time and finally problems relative to the
environment.

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There are five orientations covering the ways in which human beings deal
with each other. Universalism versus particularism defines the preference
of people to follow standardized rules or a flexible approach to unique
situations. The universalist thinks that one rule should apply to everyone
while the particularist wants to take circumstances into account when
making decisions. Individualism versus communitarianism explores if the
culture focuses on individual performance and creativity or on the larger
group leading to cohesion and consensus. The Neutral versus emotional
dimension identifies how much the culture accepts the display of emotions
when communicating. The specific versus diffuse dimension goes into the
degree of involvement in personal relationships when doing business. In
specific relationships people have little personal contact while in diffuse
relationships people have a real and personal contact. Achievement versus
ascription describes how the culture judges people, whether it is based on
what one has accomplished or whether it depends on nobility, gender, age or
connections.

Societies look at time in different way. Some cultures lay great emphasis on
what people have achieved in the past while it is more important for some
cultures to have a good plan for the future. The dimension sequential versus
synchronic focuses on how people organize time. If they do it in a
sequential manner, doing one task at a time, or in parallel, keeping many
things active at once. This can also be described by defining time either as a
straight line with a sequence of different events or as a circle where the past
and present are together with future possibilities

An important factor in cultural difference can be found in the attitude to the

environment. Internal-External Control is a dimension that points out the
differences in personal drives. It reflects on whether people are stimulated
by their inner drive and the feeling that they can control their lives or if they
are adaptive to external events that are beyond control.

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According to Trompenaars & Woolliams (2003, p. 39) the behaviours in

intercultural encounters can be identified in the light of universalism versus
particularism in four ways.
Ignoring other cultures. People stick to their own standpoint either because
they believe that their way of doing things and their values are the best or
because they have not recognized others point of view or perhaps just have
no respect for them.
Abandoning own orientation and go native. People try to adopt the
customs of the other culture which on the other hand usually appears
superficial. The consequences will be mistrust from the people of the other
culture and that people will not be able to offer their own strengths to any
alliance.
Compromise. People compromise by sometimes doing things their way and
sometimes the way of the others. This leads to a win/lose solution or even a
lose/lose solution.
Reconciliation. This is the approach where the two opposing views can
come to fuse or blend – where the strength of one extreme is extended by
considering and accommodating the other. Reconciliation makes people
more effective and uses the strength and attribution of both parties in order
to create a win/win solution.

1.6 Adjusting to a new culture

Kenneth Cushner and Richard Brislin along with Craig Cherrie and
Mahealani Yong, developed the original book of Intercultural Interactions
around 100 “critical incidents” that were spread across several themes of
human interaction as a unique approach to learning about other cultures.
These themes can be organized around three broad headings:
People´s intense feelings
In adjusting to life and work in another culture, people are likely to
experience a number of emotional reactions such as anxiety, frustration
because of disconfirmed expectations, loneliness, irritation due to ambiguity
and other exasperation owing to feelings of displacement and unfamiliarity,
and because of their status as outsiders (Cushner & Brislin, 1996, p. 39).
(Further in Appendix 2)

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Knowledge Areas
Difficulties and misunderstanding concerning a number of commonly
mentioned topics usually rise regarding work-related issues, time and spatial
orientation, communication and language use, roles, importance of the
group vs. individual, rituals vs. superstition, hierarchies and finally
understanding values which is critical in cross-cultural adjustment (Cushner
& Brislin, 1996, p. 39-41). (Further in Appendix 2)
Bases of cultural differences
According to Cushner & Brislin (1996, p. 41-42) the attempt to understand
the ways in which people respond to and organize information in order to
communicate, gives a good insight into the cultural differences that people
find frustrating as they try to adjust to a new culture. They have come to the
conclusion that there are a few bases of cultural differences that can be
identified such as categorization, differentiation, in-group and out-group
distinction, learning styles and attribution.

Culture shock
Dr. Carmen Guanipa (1997) who has specialized in multicultural
counselling states that the term, culture shock, was introduced for the first
time in 1958 to describe the anxiety produced when a person moves to a
completely new environment. This term expresses the lack of direction, the
feeling of not knowing what to do or how to do things in a new
environment, and not knowing what is appropriate or inappropriate. The
feeling of culture shock generally sets in after the first few weeks of coming
to a new place.
Culture shock can be described as the physical and emotional discomfort
one suffers when coming to live in another country or a place different from
the place of origin. Often, the way that one lived before is not accepted as or
considered as normal in the new place. Culture shock has many stages,
which can be ongoing or appear only at certain times. The first stage is
called the “honeymoon” stage followed by the second stage where difficult
times and crises appear in daily life. The third stage is characterized by
gaining some understanding of the new culture resulting in the fourth stage
where one realizes that the new culture has good and bad things to offer.

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Finally the fifth stage is called the "re-entry shock." when returning to the
home country. (Further in Appendix 2)

1.7 Stereotyping
It should be kept in mind that culture describes the norms, values and
assumptions of a group. In the group there are individuals with a wide
spread of these attributions that does have an distribution around an average.
According to Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner (2003, p. 26) stereotyping is
using extreme and exaggerated behaviour of a person to generalize about the
nation. The danger is that this will give a highly skewed image of the nation
whereas a stereotype gives a very limited view of the average behaviour in
the country. People also often feel that if something is different then it must
be wrong. Finally, stereotyping disregards the fact that individuals in the
same culture do not necessarily behave according to the cultural norm.

1.8 Language as the vehicle of culture transfer

In most cross-cultural communication the parties also speak different mother
languages. To resolve this problem has the use of English as a trade
language been accepted in the business world.
It is obvious that even though the English is an important trade language it is
sometimes not sufficient. The results in a recent research that InterAct
conducted in UK stated that 40% of exporting companies in UK considered
that they had lost business because they didn´t have employees qualified in
the languages of their main customers (Rafn Kjartansson, 2005 b).
Sharing a language does not necessarily mean sharing a culture nor should a
difference in language always impose a difference in cultural values. It is a
question whether one can be bicultural without also being bilingual. Even
though the language belongs to the surface level of a culture, it is also the
vehicle of culture transfer. If one does not understand the language one fails
to notice a lot of the subtleties of a culture such as humour. What is
appraised as funny is very culture-specific. In cross-cultural encounters it is
very important to be aware of that jokes and irony are taboo until one is

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completely sure of the other culture´s conception of what represents humour

(Hofstede, 1994, p. 213-214).

In a survey that Aleksandrowicz-Pedich, Rafn Kjartanson, Lázar and

Skopinskaja (2001, p. 5) conducted in four countries, they investigated how
often English teachers include culture-related activities in the teaching of
English as a Foreign Language. The results indicated that culture was still a
neglected element in language instruction due to lack of intercultural
communication training in teacher education.

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2 Research
2.1 CEReS
“Cross Cultural Curriculum for European Regions and their Students“,
CEReS, is a two year project, started in October 2004 and is supported by
the Leonardo da Vinci programme. The Faculty of Management in the
University of Akureyri is leading the project in cooperation with InterAct in
UK, which is an international research and management team, specialising
in cross-cultural communication skills. The Trade Council of Iceland is also
a party of the CEReS project, as well as the Universities of Gabrovo in
Bulgaria, Bialystok in Poland and Tärnöskolan in Sweden.
The object of the CEReS project is to find out the position of cross-cultural
education and training in the partner countries, with special emphasis on
business related material as well as suggesting remedial actions and
designing cross-cultural curriculum suited for undergraduates as well as for
companies involved in international business.
In order to be able to have normal business relationship with people it is
better to know something about their background and values. Same laws
can be applied to general communication so it can be expected that the
educational system in general will make increasing emphasis on cross-
cultural curriculum in their syllabuses, e.g. in relation with teaching foreign
languages. Such basic education in all stages of school would contribute to
reducing prejudices and conflicts of groups with different background. In
the long run it is the prospect that the results of the CEReS project will be
useful when making cross-cultural curriculum for other faculties, such as in
teachers education as well as in other areas (Rafn Kjartansson, 2005 a).

2.2 Research methods

In this research there will be made an attempt to find out as accurately as
possible the position of cross-cultural training and curriculum in broad
spectrum in Iceland.
Resources such as web sites of educational parties were inspected, teachers
and others concerned were interviewed either by phone or e-mail and a

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quantitative research was conducted among 270 language teachers in

colleges. The questionnaire was sent three times by e-mail. First March 8th
which 70 teachers replied to and again to those who had not answered
March 14th and 28th. The final results were 127 replies or return rate close to
47%. When sending the questionnaire it was sent in groups to each college
so the replying teacher only had access to the database of e-mails of his
fellow teachers.

2.3 The position of cross-cultural training in Iceland

2.3.1 Trade Council of Iceland

As a result of studies conducted in co-operation with InterAct International,

UK, the Trade Council of Iceland is now able to offer companies several
seminars where cross-cultural communication training is included.
The PROTOCOL I and PROTOCOL II projects focused on the training of
intercultural consultants, with specialist contributions from the British
Chambers of Commerce, for the benefit of Icelandic companies involved in
trade abroad. This training programme has subsequently been expanded in
the EURIKA project, which includes several European countries, with a
special emphasis on Eastern Europe (Rafn Kjartansson, 2005 b).
The objective of Protocoll II is to increase the competence of Icelandic
export companies by assisting them to establish a communication strategy in
foreign communication. Knowledge of traditions, habits and customs of the
customers and systematic use of language can open many doors, expand the
market area and lead to productive business (Trade Council of Iceland,
2005).
The Cross-cultural consultants offer the service of analyzing the
communication of export companies with their foreign customers and their
marketing of goods. The consultant visits the company for couple of days,
makes inquiries and after some research issues an “Export Communication
Review – Importance of Cross Cultural Issues in International Business”
where the content is quite standardized but again customized to the
company. The report analyses the current position of cross-cultural issues,

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written and verbal communication along with personal interaction as well as

listing up the company’s literature and supporting material.
Then the report makes recommendations about those issues in the light of
whether the countries are deal-focused or relation-focused as well as how
the country is defined according to Hofstedes dimensions. Followed by
practical issues such as what is appropriate to do or say in concerned
country. Finally the report gives information about further remedial actions
and possible sources of available help such as the services of Intercultural
Centres, books of interest, courses in language and the importance of
making a communications strategy. It identifies obstacles and creates a
complete solution regarding the languages and cultures of clients while
providing a comprehensive solution to the staff. A recent co-operative
venture between Iceland Trade Council and InterAct International, the
INTERCOMM project has resulted in the production of a CD containing
material relating to intercultural communication training which companies
can use on their own to assist and prepare employees involved in
international business operations or preparing for a stay abroad (Guðjón
Svansson, verbal reference, March 9th 2005).

2.3.2 Companies
In spring 2005 approx. 70 export companies in Iceland are being
interviewed by the CEReS team, in order to find out possible barriers in
their intercultural communication and how they react to those problems. The
survey also contains questions regarding cross-cultural education which the
companies may offer their employees. When almost half of the companies
have replied, the results are that 17% offer their employees some education
in cross-cultural communication but very few companies enlighten their
employees, who move abroad to work for the company, about culture shock
or help their families in that respect, if they move too.

2.3.3 The Icelandic Red Cross - Intercultural Centres

One of the objectives of the Red Cross is to inspire mutual understanding,

friendship, cooperation and lasting peace among nations.

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Every year 20-30 Icelandic delegates work abroad for the Icelandic Red
Cross. In their training they get instructions about the international protocol
of the Red Cross with great emphasis on respect for different cultures. The
role-play “To be on the run” deals with intercultural matter as well. In fall
2005, the Icelandic Red Cross will be offering seminar called “Attitude and
respect” to organizations, companies and institutions. The seminar is based
on a successful seminar originally from South Africa and is intended to
reduce racism (Konráð Kristjánsson, verbal reference, April 7th 2005 and
The Icelandic Red Cross, 2005).

Intercultural centres
Intercultural centres are operated in three areas in Iceland: Reykjavík in the
south, Akureyri in the North and Ísafjörður in the West.
All three multicultural information centres provide services for immigrants
and publish information in a number of languages. The Reykjavik centre,
operated by the Icelandic Red Cross, offers an impressive selection of 12
languages: Albanian, Arabic, English, German, Hungarian, Lithuanian,
Polish Russian, Serb-Croat, Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese. The Intercultural
Centre works systematically to prevent prejudice in the society by providing
extensive educational programmes, introductions to different societies,
cultural events and by creating an inclusive forum where natives interact
with immigrants. The Intercultural Centre offers lectures and information
for wide range of customers such as: Companies, institutions, groups,
teenagers, adults, community centres, schools, directors, employees, parents,
teachers and organizations. The subject of the lectures is customised to each
group and can e.g. deal with the activity in the Intercultural Centre, issues of
the immigrants, human rights and racism, multicultural society,
communication in a multicultural work place, service to foreign customers
and more. A crucial aspect of the Intercultural Centre's activities and
objectives is the implementation of the multicultural policies developed by
the local authorities involved in the Centre. Both Reykjavík and Kópavogur
have issued multicultural policies (The Intercultural Centre, 2005).

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In addition to the Intercultural Information Centres, there are nine Centres of

Continuing Education around the country, which offer courses in Icelandic
as a second language as the need arises.

2.3.4 Exchange students/volunteers organizations

AFS is an international volunteer and education organization, which has the
objective to increase communication and understanding between nations and
people of different cultures, widen the horizon of young people and increase
their education. All exchange students, 15-18 years old, take a preparation
course before they leave for a stay in another country. And when they arrive
in the host country they receive intercultural training for few days before
moving to their host families. These courses are intended to help the
exchange students to adjust to new situations and increase their
understanding of different cultures. AFS sends approx. 100-120 Icelandic
exchange students abroad every year and welcomes 35-40 foreign students
to Iceland (AFS, 2005).
International Cultural Youth Exchange (AUS) is operated in Iceland and is a
sending and hosting organization for young people between 18-30 years old
willing to join voluntary activities abroad and experience living in a
different culture. AUS is a non-governmental and non-profit making
organization, promoting peace and understanding among people and
nations. Around 20 Icelandic volunteers go abroad every year and approx.
15 people come to Iceland through AUS (AUS, 2005 and Anna
Lúðvíksdóttir, verbal reference, April 19th 2005).

2.3.5 International student programs in universities

The universities take part in international co-operative ventures such as the
SOCRATES and LEONARDO programmes of the EU, and the Nordic
schemes NORDPLUS and NorFA along with the ERASMUS programme.
Through these programmes along with regular channels the universities
welcome around 700 foreign students every year. Most of the universities
(HÍ, HA, Bifröst) offer a reception programme for foreign students in order
to help them adjust to the school life and also a course, which introduces

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Icelandic culture. According to the International coordinators of the

universities, there are presently very limited opportunities for the foreign
students to contribute formally to cross-cultural education in the schools
(Guðný Gunnarsdóttir, verbal reference, April 25th 2005, Klemenz B.
Gunnarsson, verbal reference, April 19th 2005, Sigrún Hjartardóttir, verbal
reference, April 20th 2005, Valgeir Bjarnason, verbal reference, April 19th
2005).

2.3.6 Consulting Companies

There are several independent working consultants in Iceland that offer
service in cross-cultural communication.
Fjölmenning ehf has been a leading company in teaching Icelandic to
immigrants along with offering general counselling regarding multicultural
communication and reception of foreign. The company has offered
customised seminars in multi-cultural communication to companies and
institutions where the object is to introduce cross-cultural proficiency and to
help people to find ways to communicate effectively in practice
(Fjolmenning, 2005).

IMG is a consulting company, which offers a wide variety of courses

relating to business management, human relations in the workplace,
marketing, salesmanship, decision-making etc. The company offers one
course in intercultural communication training: Cultural Difference in
Business Operations. This course is tailor-made for individual companies
and specific markets. The course begins with a needs analysis within the
company in question and the training is in the form of lectures, reading
materials, videos, case studies, role-play and simulations, music, literature
etc. (Rafn Kjartansson, 2005 b).

2.3.7 Universities
The following information about the position of cross-cultural curriculum in
Icelandic Universities is cited from “The CEReS Report on Culture and
Education” which Rafn Kjartansson has based on interviews, e-mail, Web
sites and the syllabuses of the universities.

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The University of Akureyri – (HA)

The University of Akureyri offers courses in European Studies and

International Business. Some aspects of these courses have involved
cultural characteristics and culture comparisons, esp. with regard to
international communication in the area of business transactions. For some
years HA has offered Business English “with an Intercultural Flavour”
which contains an element of intercultural communication introducing
Hofstede´s dimensions. Intercultural Studies as an optional sequel to the
first year course on the basics of intercultural studies. The focus is on
intercultural communication in business settings, e.g. in relation to
marketing and advertising and the basic reading are of Trompenaars and de
Mooij.

Bifröst School of Business

In undergraduate study programmes at Bifröst, two courses are in
preparation that relate to intercultural studies and cross-cultural
communication skills: Negotiation across Cultures is due to begin in the
autumn semester of 2005 and focuses on a sensitive area of intercultural
communication. In 2006 a new Faculty of Social Science and Economics is
due to be launched. One of the courses featuring in this faculty is going to
be The Developing World – Different Cultures, i.e. involving comparative
culture studies with a focus on certain areas.
As part of a new Master’s programme, which began in 2003, Bifröst offers
the curriculum option of European Studies that contains two courses with a
cultural focus, which are The Nations of Northern Europe and The
Mediterranean Nations. These courses may be regarded as a blend of
country-specific cultural study and general culture comparison since they
involve a number of European national cultures. The Master’s programme
also offers the course: Contemporary analysis – different cultures.
During the past few years, about 40% of undergraduate students have
completed one or two semesters of their study at a foreign university, e.g. in

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Europe, Canada or the US. It is the general aim of the university that every
year at least 40% of third-year students undertake a study period abroad.

Iceland University of Education

The Iceland University of Education has responded to recent developments
in Icelandic society by offering two types of education relating to
intercultural communication with a special emphasis on the educational
setting of the primary school and its students. These courses, which were
first on offer in 2002, are taught by distance at postgraduate level offering
graduation with a diploma (Dipl.Ed.) after two semesters. The former course
is Teaching children of immigrant families which deals with Icelandic
language and society and methods of providing immigrants with language
training and helping them to adapt to Icelandic community and culture. The
latter is General intercultural communication and discusses general
cultural differences with the aim of broadening the students’ perspective

The University of Iceland - HÍ

A Master’s Degree in International Relations is a programme that begins

in autumn 2005. As indicated in the university prospectus, this new degree
is intended to meet the growing need for specialised knowledge in
international relations – a specialisation which until now has only been
obtainable by study abroad. The programme presents five different
specialisations, one of which is Intercultural Studies that offers two courses.
Cultural Diversity which is a course beginning autumn 2006 and studies the
part played by culture, particularly religion in the modern world. The
Integration of Politics and Religion is a course starting autumn 2006 and
deals with the integration of politics and religion with special regard to
Islam in the Middle East. Special study will be made of the social structure
of the Middle Eastern communities. Other specialised fields within this
Master’s Programme which may be of relevance to the topic of intercultural
communication are European Studies and Small States: vulnerability,
status and influence

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The undergraduate programme of the Department of Business

Administration offers a course entitled Culture and Markets. The course
deals with aspects of cultural life in Iceland, such as book publishing, music
and theatre and relates them to the market. The role of culture in tourism is
discussed as well as the marketing of culture in general.

Reykjavik University
In autumn 2004, the School of Business at Reykjavik University launched
an undergraduate programme of business-related language study. The
programme consists of the equivalent of 150 credits in business studies and
30 ECTS in either English or Spanish. The language courses are spread
over the three-year study period, with about half of them taking place
abroad. At the end of the study period, the students should have obtained
either the Spanish diploma superior/básico or Certificate of Advanced
English/Proficiency in English. In addition to the business and language
elements, all students enrolled in the programme are required to take a
course in international relations and intercultural communication skills.

Hólar University College

Hólar is a small, recently established university college which emphasis on
the area of tourism and agricultural studies.
The Tourism Faculty already offers, or is preparing to offer, a total of six
courses which include aspects relating to different cultures and customs.
Two of these focus on the culinary arts and their manifestations in different
cultures, a field is obviously of considerable practical value, for example
when preparing international meetings and conferences.
Culture-related courses on offer at Hólar University College are as follows:
Service and Quality begins autumn 2005 and has an emphasis on the need
for services to adapt to different customs and cultures.
Catering and restaurants is a course where the students are trained in the
importance of recognising cultural variation (awareness) to study culture-
related differences pertaining to food customs and composition (knowledge)
and to be able to put this knowledge to practical use when receiving tourists
from other countries (skills).

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Culinary arts and culture. The main part of the course deals with cultural
influences, e.g. with respect to religion and customs on the culinary habits of
nations and communities and how this impacts upon the operations of tourist
services.
Intercultural workshop (in preparation) From 2006 a regular workshop
course for third year students on intercultural communication is envisaged.
The Tourism Faculty offers two additional culture-related courses, which
are more inward looking and deals with the Icelandic culture and tourism.
A seminar on culture and tourism focuses on the dynamic between cultures,
such as the relationship of Icelandic culture to other cultures as manifested
through cultural influences such as immigration, emigration and tourism as
well as cultural exchange in commerce, arts and sciences.

2.3.8 Continuing Education - University of Iceland

Foreign trade, economic geography and business procedures is a course in

Marketing and exporting studies programme. In the course the students
study regions, which are important in international business and learn about
the economic, politic and cultural factors that influence business across
borders.
Continuing Education offers a diverse course for college teachers who will
teach Icelandic as a second language. The course is intended to make the
teachers more aware of diverse ways in assessment, making curriculum and
cross-cultural teaching having integration of subjects in mind.
Teaching immigrants in colleges is a course for college teachers as well as
head masters (Continuing Education, 2005).

2.3.9 Colleges – Questionnaire to language teachers

A questionnaire was sent by e-mail to all language teachers in 28 colleges in

Iceland, total of 273 teachers: 110 English teachers, 61 Danish teachers, 49
German teachers, 31 French teachers, 17 Spanish teachers, 2 Italian teachers
and 1 Russian teacher.
The gender division of the teachers was 71 male and 202 female.

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The questionnaire was divided into two parts. The former part was intended
to give information about how important teachers felt discussing the culture
of target language area, how much time they used in their classroom for that
subject and which sectors of culture they considered most important to
discuss. The question about what kind of teaching material they used to
present the culture was intended to cast light on which “distribution
channels” the teachers were accustomed to regarding cultural teaching.
The latter part of the questionnaire focused on cross-cultural communication
in general such as to find out the knowledge of the teachers in cross-cultural
studies and how much they discussed the inner-layer features of culture,
such as values and norms. Finally there are some questions intended to
reflect on how much the teachers dwell upon culture shock, stereotypes and
differences between cultures regarding general communication. (Further in
Appendix 1 - Questionnaire)
Reply rates according to gender
37% of male teachers replied.
50% of female teachers replied.

Reply rates according to languages

64% of Spanish, Italian and Russian teachers replied
49% of Danish teachers replied
46% of English teachers replied
42% of French teachers replied
41% of German teachers replied

Division of genders in replies

Male: 21%
Female: 79%

Age – distribution of the teachers who replied

20-29: 6%
30-39: 22%
40-49: 30%
50-59: 30%
60 + : 12%

The combination of replies according to languages

English teachers: 39%
Danish teachers: 24%
German teachers: 16%
French teachers: 10%
Spanish teachers: 9%
Italian and Russian teachers: 2%

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Lived abroad working or studying: 93%

Length of living abroad

Less than a year: 10%
1-5 years: 44%
6-10 years: 22%
More than 10 years: 7%
Born abroad: 17%

Number of foreign countries lived in:

1 country : 67%
2 countries: 17%
3 countries: 12%
4 countries: 4%

The importance of giving students insight into the culture of relevant

language area
Rather important: 10%
Important: 26%
Very important: 64%

When asked why they thought it important to involve education about the
target country in the language teaching, 30% of the teachers stated that
culture and language were interwoven and inseparable. “Language is the
bridge to culture. Without the insight into the culture of the country you
cannot really understand what is written. We learn the language to connect
us to the culture because it matters to us. It would be ridiculous to build a
bridge without an attachment on the other side” (21)

15% of the teachers regarded discussion about the culture, made the
language study more interesting and diverse and therefore easier for the
students while they become curious and feel the study has more purpose.
“The students can appreciate and “feel” the language better if they have
some understanding of the culture” (1)

14% of the teachers mentioned that involving culture in language teaching

was important to increase the interest of the students in the target country
and prepare them for a visit or stay.
“It influences how the students understand some of the texts they read; they
need to understand the cultural implications of certain kinds of language

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use; its interesting for them to hear about different cultural customs; as a
native speaker its a way of building a bridge to the students; it also builds
the bridge between learning the language for academic purposes and for
other real-life purposes such as travel, study abroad, developing friendships
and contacts with foreigners”. (107)
“Language and culture are closely related, culture helps understanding the
language and to associate with people e.g. regarding business, travel and
study”. (26)

10% of the teachers considered that it was important to dwell upon the
culture in language teaching because it would provide deeper understanding
to the students, broaden their horizon and reduce prejudices. “To make
communication better, get deeper understanding on the way target country
thinks – realize what is similar and what is different between cultures” (7)
“Insight in other cultures increases the broadmindedness of students so they
become more tolerant human beings – all knowledge of other cultures
reduces prejudices” (96)
“Language cannot be pure words and grammar, it is alive and used by
people who are raised in different cultures. The meaning of words is often
originated from the culture and by learning a foreign language it opens a
view into another culture both to find out mutual things and different. By
knowing the differences and try to understand without judging, the
communication between nations will be easier and friendlier. Breaking
down the barriers in our own head, creating understanding between nations
and intrigue what is different are the main subjects of language teaching”
(6)

There is a positive correlation between age and the opinion of importance

of teaching the culture of given language area. The older the teachers are,
the more important they consider cultural teaching.

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Parts of culture which teachers think is most important to discuss with

their students

Important parts of cultural teaching

140
120
100
Teachers

80
Culture
60
40
20
0

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H g

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Va y

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R t ry
So s

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Ar

b y io n

Bu por

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Ed et
in

io
to

lu

s
liv

ci

ne
at

g
is

-S
i
el

si
of

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ay

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W

H
Cultural issues

Figure 1. Cultural issues that teachers consider important

Time used in class for cultural discussion

Occasionally: 9%
Depends on given time: 6%
When possible: 54%
Good part of the time: 11%
Major part of the time: 19%

Material used to introduce the culture of relevant language area

Material in cultural teaching % A lot Something Little Nothing

Own experience 46 39 13 2
Schoolbooks 34 50 12 5
Internet 20 60 18 3
Magazines and news-papers 13 47 36 4
Video 11 49 36 4
Other books 10 32 46 12
CDs 9 42 42 7
Visiting the country 3 8 26 63
Communication with foreign students 1 15 41 43

Participation in seminars/lectures/courses in cross-cultural

communication: 25%
Half of the teacher who had attended cross-cultural seminars or lectures did
so in Iceland, mostly in some courses related to post-graduate studies,
continuing education or short seminars for language teachers.

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Knowledge of Hofstede´s dimensions: 3%

Introduction of Hofstede in class: 0%

Discussion of different values in societies

Nothing: 3%
Little: 28%
Something: 52%
A lot: 17%

Discussion of culture shock

Nothing: 11%
Little: 57%
Something: 30%
A lot: 2%

60 teachers reflected on how they discussed culture shock with students.

30% of them did so by mainly telling about their own experience. 24% of
the teachers used chapters in schoolbooks and literature. Over 30% used
other resources as articles, Internet, films, role-play and cases. Finally a few
teachers had immigrants, exchange students or students themselves recount
their experiences.

Discussion of cultural differences between countries: 98%

Appropriate conversation topics: 55%
Appropriate greetings and leave-taking: 85%
Appropriate ways of criticizing and complimenting: 38%
Appropriate ways of showing gratitude or turndown: 83%
Appropriate personal space: 44%

Discussion about stereotyping

Nothing: 7%
Little: 47%
Something: 37%
A lot: 9%

Discussion about prejudices due to stereotyping

Nothing: 8%
Little: 47%
Something: 30%
A lot: 15%

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Cross tabs
Teachers who claim that they use good or major part of their time in class
for cultural discussion:
Danish: 47%
German: 35%
French: 23%
English: 22%
Spanish, Italian and Russian: 21%

Teachers who think it is very important to teach about the culture of target
language:
Spanish, Italian and Russian: 86%
Danish: 80%
German: 60%
English: 54%
French: 46%

2.3.10 Colleges – Courses

There are 28 colleges in Iceland. Twenty of them offer language fields and
eleven colleges hold out business fields.
According to the web sites of the colleges the syllabuses of most of the
language courses contain similar objects. Following are some examples of
objects describing what the students are expected to gain from the study:
• Obtain knowledge of Spanish culture and the vast world of Spanish
language
• Have knowledge of Danish culture and be able to use that knowledge
in communicating with Danish people and other Scandinavians.
• Have general perspective of the culture and the way of living in
English speaking countries and realize the significance of the
English language for further education.
• Know the diverse culture in France and among French speaking
nations and will be able to use that knowledge in communication
with them.
• Have obtained some insight into the culture, customs and habits of
German speaking nations, as well as German educational system
and media.

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The Commercial College of Iceland (2005) is the college that has been
offering the most developed international stream in Iceland. It offers four
courses that are culture related.
Cultural studies (MEN103). The course deals with culture and particularity
of nations and the students try to analyze the characteristics of the Icelandic
nation. Among other things the students learn about cultural concepts,
freedom, democracy, independence and how different cultures can have
different understanding and views about these concepts.
Cultural studies (MEN203). The course discusses nations outside Europe
and the diversity of their cultures. Globalization, cultural monotony /
diversity, social situations and how these factors mould the society today as
well as future development.
International studies (ALÞ103). Foreign policy, Cooperation of the Nordic
Countries, ESB, EFTA, EES. Major countries in Icelandic export/import.
Finally there is an emphasis on that students get to know how different
cultures can affect business across borders. The project “Immigration in
Europe” which is funded by Socrates/Comenius programme of EU is being
processed in the course. One European country is visited every year. This
year a group of students went to Russia.
Reading material: Cross Cultural Business Behaviour by Richard R.
Gesteland
International studies (ALÞ203). Continuing of ALÞ103 plus discussion
about institutions such as The Red cross, Amnesty International, and United
Nations. The business environment of the ESB countries along with major
export/import countries in Asia and America. Particularly looked at business
procedures of the countries Iceland has most communication with along
with cultural factors.Reading material: Mind your Manners by John Mole
and Cross Cultural Business Behaviour by Richard E. Gesteland.

Heiðrún Geirsdóttir (2005) teaches the Cultural Studies. She says that every
year around 25 students take the cultural and international courses. She feels
that a good humanistic education must include education about different
(and similar) cultures and analysis and comparison of diverse experience

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and values of individuals and nations. She said that the students were quite
keen on the cross-cultural matters.
Foreign communication is increasingly becoming an important factor in the
Commercial school of Iceland in the form of communication through e-mail,
student exchange and visits from other countries.

8 colleges offer a course Anthropology (FÉL323) in the field of Sociology,

which discusses the diversity of cultures.
The College of Akureyri (2005) is offering course in tourism Going
abroad where students learn about culture, customs and travelling habits of
other countries. Visits to and from foreign schools will be used to compare
countries and cultures.
:

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3 Analysis - evaluation
It is of particular interest to note the rapid growth in courses, both at
university level and with a broader appeal, have appeared in the past 2-3
years and are in preparation for this year and the next.
12 courses that deal with cultural aspects are now being taught both in
under- and postgraduate in Business fields. Most of the Business courses
deal with certain geographic areas or international relations but also a little
with intercultural communication. 7 more courses are in preparation for the
next two years that partly dwell upon cultural aspects.

Courses offered now

• The Nations of Northern Europe- MA
• The Mediterranean Nations – MA
• Foreign trade, ec. geography and business procedures (Cont. ed.)
• European Studies and International Business. BS
• Business English “with an Intercultural Flavour” BS
• Intercultural Studies BS Culture and Markets BS
• International relations BS
• Intercultural communication skills. BS
• Service and Quality (In general cultural differences) BS
• Catering and restaurants (In specific cultural differences) BS
• Culinary arts and culture BS
• Tourism and Icelandic culture (In culture-specific studies) BS
Courses in preparation
• Cultural Diversity MA
• The Integration of Politics and Religion MA
• European Studies MA
• Small States: vulnerability, status and influence MA
• Negotiation across Cultures BS
• The Developing World – Different Cultures, BS
• Intercultural workshop (In specific cultural differences) BS

Iceland University of Education now offers two courses, which deal with
cross-cultural communication, and the Continuing Education offers two
seminars on the subject.

Courses offered now

• The School and multicultural society - B.Ed

• Religion in a multicultural society – B.Ed
• Cross-cultural teaching (Cont. ed.)
• Teaching immigrants in colleges (Cont. ed.)

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Many students in the universities go abroad for a semester or a year as part

of their studies and come home wiser and more able to communicate across
cultures. As well do the universities welcome hundreds of foreign students
by offering a reception programme along with a course introducing
Icelandic culture.

At the college level, there is only the Commercial school that offers 4
courses relating to culture, a few colleges that offer a course in
Anthropology that mentions cultural affairs and one holding out a tourism
course where different cultures are discussed.

On the other hand, the language teachers seem to be the vehicles of culture
in colleges whereas 90% of them consider it important or very important to
teach their students about the target culture and 30% of teachers use good or
major part of the time in class to discuss culture. The remarks from them
were quite enthusiastic about how culture and language were intertwined.
The cultural issues that they thought was most important for the students to
know was the way of living, history, values and norms, the structure of the
society and education.
This absolute interest in teaching culture may be related to the fact that most
of the teachers had lived abroad, whereas 17% were of foreign origin and
approx. 30% had lived in another culture for more than 5 years.
Surprisingly the Danish teachers or 47% of them seem to make the most
effort in class to discuss cultural matters followed by 35% of the German
teachers.
When dealing with culture, teachers mostly used their own experience and
schoolbooks along with the world web.
Although 25% the teachers had attended some sort of a cross-cultural
seminars only 3 of them had heard of Hofstedes dimension which makes
one wonder if there is a wide gap between the theoretical world and the
practical world!
Almost 70% of the teachers discussed different values and norms in cultures
in terms of something or a lot. Notably fewer or just 32% had discussed

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culture shock in class by sharing their own experience, using schoolbooks

and other resources.
Almost every teacher talked to their students about cultural differences
between countries; mostly about appropriate ways of greetings and leave-
taking and ways of showing gratitude and turndown.
Finally less than half of the teachers discussed stereotyping and the
prejudices due to such generalization.

Language teachers seem to be highly motivated in dealing with cultural

matters so introducing cross-cultural content into language courses could be
a first step in the direction of improving the cultural competence of
Icelandic people.

The Trade Council of Iceland has responded to the need of the business
sector in Iceland for culturally competent management and staff by training
inter-cultural consultants and issuing information about cultural matters and
cross-cultural communication available for companies.
Furthermore, consultant companies, such as Fjolmenning and IMG have
offered tailor-made seminars for companies regarding different cultures and
cross-culture communication.

The intercultural centres seem to be playing a vital role in the cultural

education for immigrants and help them to adjust to Icelandic society as
well as making the presence of them more visible and positive in the eyes of
other Icelandic people.

The exchange student/volunteers parties contribute to the cross-cultural

education by assisting around 200 young people every year in gaining
valuable cultural competence through their stay abroad.

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4 Possible remedial action

4.1 The content of cross-cultural training programs

What is the best approach to, and content for, cross-cultural training
programs? People often lack the vocabulary to discuss issues when cross-
cultural problems emerge. They typically respond first on an emotional level
where they may become quite irritated and make negative judgments about
others which often leads to a frustrated ending of the interaction. It is
therefore very important for people to develop categories and vocabularies
that will help tem to discuss freely the confrontation they experience thus
enabling them to work out the problems before they get out of hand
(Cushner & Brislin, 1996, p. 7).

According to Cushner & Brislin (1996, p. 20) the goals of cross-cultural

training is to help trainees to:
• Manage the stress of cross-cultural interaction and thus make good personal
adjustments
• Develop and maintain interpersonal relationships
• Complete the tasks they originally set out to accomplish
• Restrict the time they need for successful adjustment to what would be expected in
a more familiar context.
In designing actual training programs, most trainers choose a combination of
following ways to accomplish these goals (Cushner & Brislin,1996, p. 21-
23):
Cognitive training covers facts about the target country and its culture as
well as information about what commonly happens to the sojourners in that
culture. Teaching methods include lectures, group discussions, presentation
of written materials, and conversations with someone who has experienced
that particular culture. Quite a lot of detailed information can be transferred
to trainees in a relatively short period of time through cognitive training but
has little affect on people’s ability to function effectively in another context.
Behaviour modification discusses the roles of rewards and punishment in a
person’s life where typical methods involve asking trainees to visualize

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what is rewarding and what is punishing for them in their own culture.
Experiential training places emphasis on activities in which trainees
participate such as in role-playing problematic situations, taking part in
simulations of other cultures for up to two weeks at a time, and going for
fieldtrips. Also included are such classic cross-cultural simulations as Bafa
Bafa and Barnga, which effectively re-create many of the experiences,
encountered in real cross-cultural encounters.
Cultural self-awareness emphasizes the importance of culture by examining
common experiences people have in their own countries and cultures.
Typical teaching methods may include group discussions in which people
might explore the roots of the value placed on individualism/collectivity in
their culture.
In Attribution training people learn about how one makes judgements based
on the causes of behaviour.
The typical method of attribution training (called the culture assimilator or
intercultural sensitizer) involves reading short case studies, called critical
incidents that involve cross-cultural interaction and potential misunderstandings
on the part of hosts and sojourners. Trainees are asked to choose from among a
range of alternative explanations for each incident, each explanation
representing a different attribution concerning the causes of behaviour (Cushner
& Brislin, 1996, p.22).

In their book, International Business, Czinkota, Ronkainen & Moffett (2003,

p. 55-56) point out that in order to increase cultural awareness and induce
innovative thinking inside a company, it is preferable that the employees get
some cultural education. The objective of formal training programmes is to
encourage responsiveness, sensitivity, tolerance and flexibility in
employees. The programs may include culture-specific information, general
cultural information such as values, practices and assumptions and finally
self-specific information where one identifies ones own cultural pattern,
values, beliefs and perceptions about others.

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4.2 The CEReS action

The CEReS project is innovative in the way it approaches the preparation
and design of the curriculum whereas the users of the intended material, the
students and companies, contribute systematically to the project.
The curriculum will be published in Icelandic, Polish, Bulgarian, Swedish as
well as English and will partly reflect on the cultural differences between
these countries.
The university students that take part in the project will visit companies in
all of the five partner countries and take video interviews with managers
who are willing to reveal their perception of the main cross-cultural issues
and barriers in their company. Emphasis will be placed on critical incidents
in cross-cultural communication verbal and written, socialising, levels of
formality, hospitality, body language, general etiquette, managing, attitude
to time and more. The students will also keep ´video diaries´ about their
experience in the visits to the companies as well as other interactions in their
visits to the countries, which will be used along with sketches from the
video interviews in making the curriculum
The actual experiences of the companies and students will thus be
intertwined with the theoretical studies. The results will hopefully contribute
to building a bridge between the academic and the business world whereas
they will be distributed through networks of associations of vocational and
training bodies as well as in the educational system. A Website and a set of
CD-ROMs will further ensure that the results of the project will continue to
influence teaching and training in cross-cultural communication (Rafn
Kjartansson, 2005 a and Hagen, 2004).

Comment [H1]: What ‘actions

are considered for this’?

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5 Discussion
In the light of rapidly increasing number of immigrants and foreign students
there is a reason to think that Icelanders have easier access to cross-cultural
training in practice whereas many natives work or socialize with
immigrants. Or do the increased cross-cultural communication in Iceland
evoke cultural barriers that are difficult for many people to overcome as a
recent survey indicated in the form of growing prejudices of young people
towards immigrants.
Do we need help from the educational system early in life to be able to
benefit from these inter-cultural encounters? Is it perhaps vital for the
Icelandic community to react quickly to prevent problems that are rising due
to cultural differences? Is it possible for us to grasp the opportunity due to
the growing diversity of our society, right from the beginning, and stand up
to the challenge of adapting to new ideas and perspectives instead of digging
the same grave as our neighbours in Scandinavia.

There are hundreds of exchange students in Icelandic colleges and

universities every year who are a valuable resource in cultural aspects for
their fellow students. They usually get some assistance in adjusting to
Icelandic culture but there are few opportunities for them to contribute their
own culture in order to increase cultural understanding in their schools.
Icelandic exchange students come home every year with a great deal of
cross-cultural knowledge and experience as well. It seems like a worthy
project to find ways to activate this hidden treasure of cross-cultural
proficiency in educational programmes of some sort.

Whereas the language teachers seem very motivated it might be a debate

for the syllabuses constructors to reconsider the weight of grammar and
writing in language courses in colleges and put more emphasis on culture
and communication across borders. It surely would generate more tolerant
and culturally aware individuals into the society and presumably increase
the quality of their life as well as others around them.

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6 Conclusion
Icelandic society is rapidly changing from a homogeneous community to a
multicultural society with growing international business. Trade Council of
Iceland has recently reacted to the need of exporting companies for cross-
cultural training and the education system, particularly the business
departments of universities, are just beginning to respond to those changes
by offering and preparing new courses in cross-cultural matters.
Furthermore, language teachers in colleges play an important role in
discussing cultural issues. Very few of the courses which are available now
discuss the theories of Hofstede, Trompenaars or Hall in connection with
cultural differences of nations. At this moment it appears that the majority
of Icelanders most likely do not have the proficiency to communicate
effectively across cultures. In order to improve the situation the general
education system has to act quickly and add intensive intercultural training
into the teaching education as well as introduce cross-cultural
communication in the schools. There is a growing need for intercultural
teaching material adapted to Icelandic situations that provide training in
intercultural awareness, proficiency and practical skills.
The CEReS project will produce educational material that will partly fulfil
these needs and hopefully lead to more innovation and development in the
field of cross-cultural education.

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Reference
Books - reports:

Aleksandrowicz-Pedich, L., Kjartansson R., Lázár, I. and Skopinskaja, L.

(2001). Incorporating intercultural communicative competence in pre- and
in-service language teacher training. Workshop report 2/2001. Graz
Austria.

Cushner, Kenneth and Brislin, Richard W. (1996). Intercultural Interactions

– A practical guide. California: Sage Publications, Inc.

Czinkota, Michael R., Ronkainen, Ilkka A., Moffett, Michael H. 2003.

International Business. Mason, Ohio: Thomson; South-Western.

Hagen, Stephen. (2004). Application for the CEReS project to Leonardo da

Vinci: InterAct International, UK

Hofstede, G. (1994). Cultures and organizations: software of the mind:

intercultural. London: HarperCollins.

María Guðmundsdóttir. (2004). Icelandic Business Culture. Unpublished BS

thesis: The University in Reykjavik.

Rafn Kjartansson. (2005 a). CEReS Introductory Letter: University of

Akureyri

Rafn Kjartansson. (2005 b). The CEReS Report on Culture and Education
(Unpublished report): The University of Akureyri.

Trompenaars, F. and C., Hampden-Turner (1997). Riding the waves of

culture; understanding cultural diversity in business. London: Nicholas
Brearley

Trompenaars, Fons & Woolliams, Peter ( 2003). Business Across Cultures.

Chichester: Capstone Publishing

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World wide web:

AFS. Web site. Retrieved April 18th 2005 from http://www.afs.is

AUS. Web site. Retrieved April 18th 2005 from http://www.aus.is

College of Akureyri. Web site. Retrieved March 3rd 2005 from

http://www.ma.is/namsgr.asp?cat=fag&gr=FER&tonn=V05

Commercial College of Iceland. Web site. Retrieved March 3rd 2005 from
http://www.verslo.is/verslo/framhaldsskoli/leidakerfi/nam/namsgreinar/nam/
?id=11

Continuing Education – The University of Iceland. Web site. Retrieved

April 18th 2005 from http://www.endurmenntun.is

Dahl, Stephan. 2004. Intercultural Research: The Current State of

Knowledge. Middlesex University Discussion Paper No. 26. Retrieved
March 29th 2005 from http://ssrn.com/abstract=658202

Dr. Carmen Guanipa. (1997). Culture Shock. Retrieved March 28th 2005
from http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/CGuanipa/cultshok.htm

Fjölmenning ehf. Retrieved February 2nd 2005 from

http://www.fjolmenning.is

International business center. Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions.

Retrieved February 26th 2005 from http://geert-hofstede.international-
business-center.com/gooderham.shtml

NSI - National Statistics of Iceland. Population relating to country of birth

and nationality December 31st 2004. Retrieved April 18th 2005 from
http://www.hagstofan.is/template25.asp?pageid=218&nid=1425&Redirect=
False

The Icelandic Red cross. Web site. Retrieved April 7th 2005 from
http://www.redcross.is

The Trade Council of Iceland. Communication in Exporting. Retrieved April

9th 2005 from http://www.icetrade.is/category.aspx?catID=1183

The Intercultural centre. Web site. Retrieved February 12th 2005 from
http://www.ahus.is

Witiger - International business. Cultural Considerations – Hofstede.

Retrieved February 24th 2005 from
http://www.witiger.com/internationalbusiness/culturalconsiderationsHofsted
e.htm

42 Steinunn Aðalbjarnardóttir
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Verbal reference

Anna Lúðvíksdóttir, manager of AEU. April 19th 2005. E-mail.

Guðjón Svansson, project manger in the Trade Council of Iceland. March

9th 2005. Interview in the University in Akureyri.

Guðný Gunnarsdóttir, international coordinator of the University of Iceland.

April 25th 2005. E-mail

Heiðrún Geirsdóttir, teacher in the Commercial College of Iceland. March

17th 2005. E-mail

Klemenz Bjarki Gunnarsson, international coordinator of the University of

Akureyri. April 19th 2005. E-mail.

Konráð Kristjánsson, project manager of Volunteering and advocacy of the

Icelandic Red cross. April 7th 2005. E-mail.

Sigrún Hjartardóttir, international coordinator of Bifröst. April 20th 2005. E-

mail

Valgeir Bjarnason, co-rector of Hólar. April 19th 2005. E-mail

43 Steinunn Aðalbjarnardóttir
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Appendices
Appendix 1- Questionnaire
CULTURE IN LANGUAGE TEACHING
QUESTIONNAIRE TO LANGUAGE TEACHERS IN COLLEGES IN ICELAND
MARCH 2005

1. Gender: ___________________________

2. Year of birth: ______________________

3. The language you teach: ____________________________________

4. Have you lived abroad, working or studying? ________

If yes, where and for how long? ____________________________

Culture of particular areas

5. How important do you think it is to give students insight into the culture of relevant language area?
___ Not important
___ Rather important
___ Important
___ Very important
Why do you think so? ____________________________________

6. Which part of the culture do you think is the most important to discuss with your students?
(Mark which an X in front of 5 items)

___ Religion
___ Art
___ Way of living - tradition - customs
___ Education
___ Industrial structure
___ Sports and hobbies
___ Structure of the society - class division - generations
___ History - Events of today
___ Business procedures
___ Values and norms
___ Other things, what? __________________

7. How much time do you use for education and discussion about culture in your teaching?

___ No time
___ Occasionally,
___ Depends on given time
___ Try to intertwine it into the teaching when possible
___ Is a good part of my teaching
___ Is a major part of my teaching
Comment: ____________________________________

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8. How much do you use following to introduce the culture of relevant language area?
(Mark with an X in front of one option in each line)

Schoolbooks ___ Nothing ___ Little ____ Something ___ A lot

Other books ___ Nothing ___ Little ____ Something ___ A lot
The Internet ___ Nothing ___ Little ____ Something ___ A lot
Articles from magazines /newspapers ___ Nothing ___ Little ____ Something ___ A lot
Own experience ___ Nothing ___ Little ____ Something ___ A lot
Videos ___ Nothing ___ Little ____ Something ___ A lot
CDs ___ Nothing ___ Little ____ Something ___ A lot
Visit the country ___ Nothing ___ Little ____ Something ___ A lot
Communication with foreign students ___ Nothing ___ Little ____ Something ___ A lot

Anything else, what? _____ ___ Little ____ Something ___ A lot

Cross-cultural communication
9. Have you attended any lectures/courses/seminars in cross-cultural communication?
If yes, what kind? ____________________________________

10. Do you know Hofstedes definitions about cultural dimensions in societies?

(Power distance - individualism/collectivism - Masculinity/femininity - Uncertainty avoidance)
________

If yes, have you introduced them to you students? _______

11. Do you discuss different values in societies with your students?

E.g. what is considered to be: Bad/good - dirty/clean - ugly/beautiful - unatural/natural -
abnormal/normal - illogical/logical - irrational/rational
___ Nothing ___ Little ____ Something ___ A lot

12. How much do you discuss culture shock with you students?
___ Nothing ___ Little ____ Something ___ A lot

How do you do that?

_________________________________________________________

13. Do you discuss with your students the cultural difference between countries?

If yes, please mark with an X behind appropriate items

a. Appropriate conversation topics _____

b. Appropriate greetings and leave-takings _____
c. Appropriate ways of criticizing and complimenting _____
d. Appropriate ways to show gratitude or turn down _____
e. Personal space, how close it is appropriate to stand to someone, touching and so on _____

14. How much do you discuss with you students about stereotyping?

___ Nothing ___ Little ____ Something ___ A lot

15. Do you discuss the prejudices that arise because of the stereotyping?

___ Nothing ___ Little ____ Something ___ A lot

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Appendix 2 – Adjusting to a new culture

People’s intense feelings

• Anxiety: As people encounter many unfamiliar demands, they are
likely to become anxious about whether or not their behaviour is
appropriate.
• Disconfirmed expectations: People may become upset or
uncomfortable not because of the specific circumstances they
encounter, but because their experiences in the other culture differ
from what they had expected.
• Belonging: People have the need to fill a niche, to feel that they
belong and are accepted by others, but they often cannot when
interacting in another culture because they have the status of outsider.
• Ambiguity: In their own cultural contexts people learn appropriate
responses to a wide variety of social stimuli. When living and working
across cultures, they may receive messages that are often unclear, yet
they must still make decisions and take appropriate actions. People
who are effective at working across cultures are known to have a high
tolerance for ambiguity.
• Confrontation with one’s prejudices: Part of socialization into a
culture involves treating others who are noticeably different with
reserve. People may discover that their previously held beliefs about
certain groups may not be accurate or useful once they find themselves
interacting with other cultures (Cushner & Brislin, 1996, p. 39).

Knowledge Area
• Work: Differences in the amounts of time people spend on task versus
time spent socializing, who has the obligation of control, and the
manner in which decisions are made are examples of differences that
may occur in this area.
• Time and spatial orientation: Various attitudes exist regarding the
importance of adhering to clock time in certain situations, as well as
the proper spatial orientations people adopt with respect to one another
during different interpersonal encounters.
• Communication and language use: verbal and nonverbal
• Roles: Tremendous differences may exist with respect of the
occupants of roles such as family provider, the boss, the volunteer, the
leader, and how they are enacted in different cultures.
• Importance of the group and the importance of the individual: All
people act at times in their individual interest and at other times
according to their group allegiances. The relative emphasis on group
versus individual orientation varies from culture to culture and may
have a significant impact on people’s decision-making processes,
choices of peers and associates, and the degree to which they perform
effectively on their own. Of all the differences found to exist between
cultures, group versus individual orientation seems to be one of the
most significant.

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• Rituals versus superstition: All cultures have rituals that help people
meet their needs as they cope with life’s everyday demands. People in
all cultures also engage in behaviours that outsiders may label
superstitious. One culture’s “intelligent practices” may be seen as
another culture’s rituals and superstition.
• Hierarchies – class and status: Whenever a large number of people
have to interact frequently, leaders emerge and power becomes
unevenly distributed. One manifestation of the unequal access to
power is the division of people into various social class groupings.
People often make distinctions based on various markers of high and
low status, and these distinctions differ from culture to culture.
• Values: As part of their socialization, people learn to accept as proper
a small set of ideas within such broad areas as religion, economics,
aesthetics, political organization, and interpersonal relationships. Such
learning becomes internalized and affects attitudes, preferences, and
views of what is desirable and undesirable. Understanding these
internalized views, or values, is critical in cross-cultural adjustment
(Cushner & Brislin, 1996, p. 40-41)

Bases of cultural differences

According to Cushner & Brislin (1996, p. 41-42) the attempt to
understand the ways in which people respond to and organize
information in order to communicate, gives a good insight into the
cultural differences that people find frustrating as they try to adjust to a
new culture. They have come to the conclusion that there are a few
bases of cultural differences that can be identified:
• Categorization occurs where people group the information into
categories for more efficient organization. People in different
cultures may place the same individual elements into different
categories such as defining who is a friend, what a hard-worker
is, causing confusion for people when communicating across
cultures.
• Differentiation: People are likely to use the categories they
have become accustomed to when faced with new information.
People in another culture may differentiate pieces of
information, treating those pieces as if they were quite distinct.
This applies for example to when trying to overcome the red
tape (any official routine or procedure marked by excessive
complexity, which results in delay or inaction. If people do not
differentiate information in the same manner as hosts, they may
be treated as naïve or ignorant.
• In-group / out-group distinction: People divide fellow men
into in-groups that are made up of those people with whom
interaction is sought and out-groups who are held at a distance
and are often the targets of rejection. People from other culture
are often considered to be in the out-group and there are some
activities or behaviours associated with in-group membership
in which they will never participate.

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• Learning styles: The styles in which people learn best may be

different between cultures. One way may seem attractive and
efficient to one while it hits others as absurd way of learning.
• Attribution: People observe the behaviour of others as well as
reflecting upon their own behaviour and then they make
judgments about the causes of behaviour. Such judgements are
called attributions.

Stages of Culture Shock

Culture shock has many stages. Each stage can be ongoing or appear
only at certain times. In this first stage, the new arrival may feel very
happy and be pleased by all of the new things encountered. This time
is called the "honeymoon" stage, as everything encountered is new
and exciting.
Afterwards, the second stage presents itself. A person may encounter
some difficult times and crises in daily life. For example,
communication difficulties may occur such as not being understood. In
this stage, there may be feelings of discontent, impatience, anger,
sadness, and feeling incompetence. This happens when a person is
trying to adapt to a new culture that is very different from the culture
of origin. Transition between the old methods and those of the new
country is a difficult process and takes time to complete. During the
transition, there can be strong feelings of dissatisfaction.
The third stage is characterized by gaining some understanding of the
new culture. A new feeling of pleasure and sense of humour may be
experienced. One may start to feel a certain psychological balance.
The new arrival may not feel as lost and starts to have a feeling of
direction. The individual is more familiar with the environment and
wants to belong. This initiates an evaluation of the old ways versus
those of the new.
In the fourth stage, the person realizes that the new culture has good
and bad things to offer. This stage can be one of double integration or
triple integration depending on the number of cultures that the person
has to process. This integration is accompanied by a more solid feeling
of belonging. The person starts to define him/herself and establish
goals for living.
The fifth stage is the stage that is called the "re-entry shock." This
occurs when a return to the country of origin is made. One may find
that things are no longer the same. For example, some of the newly
acquired customs are not in use in the old culture.
These stages are present at different times and each person has his own
way of reacting in the stages of culture shock. As a consequence, some
stages will be longer and more difficult than others. Many factors
contribute to the duration and effects of culture shock. For example,
the individual's state of mental health, type of personality, previous
experiences, socio-economic conditions, familiarity with the language,
family and/or social support systems, and level of education (Dr.
Carmen Guanipa, 1997).

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