Chapter 1: Introduction to Intercultural Competence

THE DEMOGRAPHIC IMPERATIVE FOR INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

E.g. The U.S: Many cultural groups living together  Multicultural society
- New York public school > 160 different languages are ( Classrooms of Label )
- Los Angeles (CA) > 100 different languages are spoken
An overview of America
* Melting pot: A metaphor that assumes that immigrants( người nhập cư ) and cultural
minorities( dân tộc thiểu số) will be assimilated into ( đồng hóa) U.S majority culture, losing their
original cultures
 The American People – A Melting Pot of races
The United States of America is a diverse country, racially ( chủng tộc ), and ethnically(dân
tộc)
- Native Americans
- European Americans
- Asian Americans
- African Americans
- Hispanics /Latinos/ Latin American (gốc Tây Ban Nha)

- Worldwide multicultural society transformation

- The changing global distribution of people
 Emphasis on intercultural competence
* Religion
* The browning of America: the U.S is “browning” due to the rapid growth in number of
Hispanics, Asians, Multiracial Americans, along with the more moderate growth of blacks and
other non-white groups
* Classrooms of Babel: since a 1974 Supreme Court

THE TECHNOLOGICAL IMPERATIVE FOR INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

Marshall McLuhan coined the term “global village” to
describe the consequences of the mass media’s
ability to bring events from the far reaches of the
globe into people’s homes, thus shrinking the world.
It refers to a world in which communication
technology unites people in remote parts of the world.

- Technological advances, mass media

- Modern long-distance transportation
 Intercultural contacts increase

Communications media such as the Internet, communication satellites, cell phones now
make it possible to establish virtually instantaneous links to people who are thousands of
miles away./many world events are experienced instantaneously. Scenes of a flood in New
Orleans or Iowa, of an earthquake in China: viewed worldwide on local TV stations/ maintain
cultural ties by Internet chat groups.
Travel Channel: insights into distant cultures
webcam
The technological imperative has increased the urgency for intercultural competence.
* Intercultural links:
- 64 million U.S residents travel abroad annually
- Citizens of other cultures visiting the U.S
- Friedman analyzes globalization, primarily in the 21st century.
- A metaphor – view the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce wherein all
competitors have an equal opportunity.
- He is a strong advocate of those changes – historical and geographic divisions are
becoming increasingly irrelevant.
- Inevitability of a rapid pace of change
 - 64 million US people travel abroad + citizens of other countries visit US -> “The World is
flat”: increase the amount of communication among people from different cultures -> the
need for greater intercultural competence /the convergence of technologies
- Thomas Loren Friedman (born July 20, 1953) is an American journalist and author. He
is a three time Pulitzer Prize winner. Friedman currently writes a weekly column for The
New York Times. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global trade, the Middle
East, globalization, and environmental issues.

* Technology: human interactions across the globe  increased the amount of communication
among people from different cultures
- Youtube: encourage the widespread dissemination of visual and auditory ideas by anyone with
access to an inexpensive digital video camera.
- Internet-based social networking sites: MySpace, Facebook, Youtube
- Simulated world: Second Life
- “The World is flat.”??
The World is Flat: a metaphor for viewing the world as a level playing field in terms of
commerce, wherein all competitors have an equal opportunity
 Equal opportunities
- increase the amount of communication among people from different cultures
-> the need for greater intercultural competence /the convergence of technologies

THE ECONOMIC IMPERATIVE FOR INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

- Links between world business partners
Ex: Chinese lady married to Korean man when he had his business trip in China  moving to
Japan for his work  going to Vietnam for another project.
- The economic success of the U.S. depends on individual & collective abilities to communicate
competently with pp from other cultures.
- U.S. economic relationships require global interdependence and intercultural competence.
- Corporations can also move people from one country to another, so within the workforce of
most nations, there are representatives from cultures throughout the world.
- The increasing cultural diversity within the nation’s workforce
A journalist asks a Dell computer manager where his laptop is made.
 The answer?
- Co-designed in Texas & Taiwan
 - Microprocessor: made in Intel’s factories in the Philippines, Costa Rica, Malaysia,
China
- Memory: from factories in Korea, Germany, Taiwan, or Japan
- Keyboard, hard drive, batteries: made by Japanese, Taiwanese, Irish, Israeli, or
British firms with factories mainly in Asia
 Laptop: assembled in Taiwan

THE PEACE IMPERATIVE FOR INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

* Hate group: is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence
towards members of a race, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual
orientation or any other designated sector of society.
• The need to understand & appreciate those who differ from ourselves has never been
more important.
The U.S.:
- In 2007, nearly 900 “hate groups”
(40% increase in just 7 yrs)
- In 2002: ~4,000 hate crimes committed
But in 2006: ~8,000
• Ku Klux Klan – KKK: advocated extremist reactionary positions – white supremacy,
white nationalism, anti-migration, anti-Catholicism
• Racist skinheads: the white supremacist movement against Jews, blacks, LGBT
• Neo-Nazis: a hatred for Jews and a love for Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany
- 3Ks: used terrorism (physical assault and murder) against groups and individuals whom
they opposed -> the purification of American society
- Neo-Nazi groups share a hatred for Jews and a love for Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.
While they also hate other minorities, gays and lesbians and even sometimes Christians,
they perceive "the Jew" as their cardinal enemy.
- Mr Trump has been criticised by diplomats, by the African Union and members of his
own party after it was reported that during a discussion about immigration he
demanded: “Why are we having all these people from sh**hole countries come here?”
- Neo-Nazis say his comments show that he thinks like them

THE INTERPERSONAL IMPERATIVE FOR INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

- Ability to communicate competently w/ pp from other cultures  higher quality of life
- The consequences of failing to create a harmonious intercultural society are obvious:
+ human suffering (hatred/jealousy/hostility/prejudice)
+ hatred passed on from one generation to another (Taiwan vs. mainland/Đại Lục) – (Ame.
Vs Asian Ame.) – (Euro vs. Asian)
+ disruptions in people’s lives (not willing to interact/cooperate/work
+ unnecessary conflicts

Q: Which of the imperatives is the most powerful motivator for you to improve your
intercultural competence?
- There are several factors afecting intercultural competence demographics, technological,
economic, peace or interpersonal
+ Demographics: it entails knowledge about the cultures of the world. We come to know the
peculiarities of different culture and how each culture has unique identity and dynamics. Each
culture gives different life experiences to a person and comprises of several traditions and
beliefs with help in building the values and personality of an individual
+ Technological: innovation has made the entire world as global village. With a single click, we
can reach out millions of people all over the world and interact with varied culture and traditions.
Thus, it has created a medium to communicate over wider range
+ Economic: under the economic domain, we have international trade which allows countries to
have comperative advantage in various goods and services. It has made it posible for countries
to reach the global market and sell their commodities.
+ Peace: we no longer live in a time where the world was in a gruesome state with world war
killing millions of people
Today, we live in a state of peace where citizens of various countries interact to each other and
make peaceful contracts and agreements
+ Interpersonal: we have the communication skills. We have myriads languages all cross the
world but still we communicate to each other and share our life experiences
 out of all thế categories, the most important is technology as it has allowed human beings to
surpass the traditional agricultural society and build a world with technological advancements.
Today, we have dominated the world with technology.

1) The United States is now a ……………………… society.

2) Across the globe, there is now a worldwide ……………………… into multicultural
societies.
3) ……………………… imperative refers to the changing in the distribution of people
and the intensifying of the political & social tensions.
4) The “global village” is an image that is used to describe the worldwide web of
interconnections that modern ……………………… have created.
5) Mass media such as the Internet, communication satellites, and cell phones now
make it possible to establish virtually ……………………… links to people who are
thousands of miles away.
6) Cultural mixing implies that people will always feel completely comfortable as
they attempt to communicate in another language or as they try to talk with
individuals who are not proficient in theirs. TRUE/FALSE
7) A ……………………… is a word/ action/ object that stands for a unit of meaning

4 characteristics of this definition:

1) All communication could be called interpersonal as it occurs between (inter) 2 or more
people. Relatively small number of people such as couples, families, friends, work
groups,… (# much larger numbers of people such as public rallies/ massive TV
audiences)
2) PP interacting exclusively with one another:
- Involves clearly identified participants who are able to select those w/ whom they
interact.
- Use many sensory channels to convey info. (looks, grunts, touches, postures, nods,
smells, voice changes, & other specific behaviors,..)/ non face-to-face channels
(Internet)
3) Adapted to specific others:
 Chapter 2
CULTURE AND RELATED TERMS
• Nation
- a political term
- referring to a government & a set of formal and legal mechanisms regulating the
political behavior of its people.
NOTES:
- Nation & culture: NOT equivalent terms
- Most nations contain multiple cultures within their boundaries
• Race: refers to shared physical similarities (skin color, eye shape,…) that mark
different groups of people.
NOTE:
- Political & societal term, NOT a biological one
- Invented to justify economic & social distinctions

Ethnicity: Refers to a wide variety of groups who might share a language, historical origins,
religion, nation-state, or cultural system.
Nationality: refers to the relationship between a person and his/her state of origin.

Ethnicity Nationality

- Refers to racial ancestry - Means one’s country of origin

- Termed as a cultural - Termed as a legal concept
concept
- Creates patriotism
- Creates thoughts of racism

* Subculture
- Refers to racial and ethnic minority groups sharing
+ same nation-sate
+ some aspects of the larger culture
Ex: African Americans, Arab Americans, Asian Americans,…: subcultures within the U.S.
 Subordination to larger groups
* Co-culture:
- Used to avoid the implication of hierarchical relationship between cultural groups, BUT
- Suggests a single overarching culture

FORCES THAT MAINTAIN CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

Cultural differences are created & sustained by a complex set of the forces that are deeply
embedded within the culture’s members.
1) HISTORY: unique experiences that have become part of a culture’s collective wisdom.
Ex: wars, inheritance rules, religious practices, economic consequences, prior events, etc.
One important consequence: unchallenged expectation that all popolation increases were
desirable, as new births would replace those who had died and would thereby lead to increased
standards of living. This belief predominated for more than 400 yrs  ignore: over-crowding in
some cities: cause of disease and famine.
VOCAB:
- Sustain /səˈsteɪn/ sb/sth: provide enough of what somebody/sth needs in order to live/exist.
Which planets can sustain life?
- Exhaustive /ɪɡˈzɔːstɪv/ including everything possible; very thorough or complete
exhaustive research/tests
This list is not intended to be exhaustive.
- Spree: a short period of time that you spend doing one particular activity that you enjoy, but
often too much of it
a shopping/spending spree
He's out on a spree.

The Black Death arrived in Europe by sea in October 1347 when 12 Genoese trading ships
docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after a long journey through the Black Sea. The people
who gathered on the docks to greet the ships were met with a horrifying surprise: Most of the
sailors aboard the ships were dead, and those who were still alive were gravely ill.
Not long after it struck Messina, the Black Death spread to the port of Marseilles in France and
the port of Tunis in North Africa. Then it reached Rome and Florence, two cities at the center of
an elaborate web of trade routes. By the middle of 1348, the Black Death had struck Paris,
Bordeaux, Lyon and London.
Today, scientists understand that the Black Death, now known as the plague, is spread by a
bacillus (trực khuẩn) called Yersina pestis.

2) ECOLOGY: external environment in which the culture lives. It includes:

- Physical forces: climate, weather patterns, land & water formations, raw materials,…
Ecological conditions affect a culture’s formation and functioning in many important and often
subtle ways.
Effects of the culture’s ecology remain hidden to the members of a culture.
How does ecology affect a culture’s formation and functioning?
Cultures in which there is a high degree of physical contact or proximity. This is reflected in the
extent to which people within a culture touch, embrace, shake hands, or stand close to one
another. South American cultures are for the most part high contact cultures, whereas US and
Canadian cultures are low contact. Difficulties occur when people of both types of culture meet:
feeling your space is being invaded by someone standing too close; feeling that friendship and
trust are lacking because someone is standing too far away during conversation; uncomfortable
feelings from being touched; or a feeling of unfriendliness from not being touched, may arise. In
order to manage living and working in a culture successfully, knowledge about the expected
degree of contact is helpful.

3) Technology
- How can the changes in technology alter the balance of forces that maintain a culture?
• examples of technology that change the cultures
- The Internet, The media, The barbed wire, The stirrups, The microwave ovens, the
microprocessors ( vi mạch xử lí)
When wire fences became widely available in the United States in the late 19th century,
they made it affordable to fence much larger areas than before. They made intensive animal
husbandry practical on a much larger scale.
Barbed wire is often cited by historians as the invention that truly tamed the West. Herding
large numbers of cattle on open terrain required significant manpower just to catch strays,
but with an inexpensive method to divide, sub-divide and allocate parcels of land to control
the movement of cattle, the need for a vast labor force became unnecessary. By the
beginning of the 20th century the need for significant numbers of cowboys was not
necessary.[26]
--The humble stirrup was a game-changing invention that altered history.
• Microwave oven, fridge, freezers: changed a family’s food preparation in the world:
• U.S: two generations ago: relying on daily trips to the butcher + baker + regular
visits from the milkman + iceman
 • Grocery stores: stock very different food products
• Technological changes  greater consequences: microprocessors +
nanotechnologies artificial intelligence, stronger/lighter material, wireless
communications…
Special form: THE MEDIA – extend the ability to communicate beyond the limits to face-to-
face encounters.
Media: minimize the effects of geographic distance increase the speed, volume, and
opportunities with which ideas can be introduced from one culture to another in a matter of
seconds.
E.g.: K-pop fashion & Vietnamese youth
Media-generated stereotypes and technology: important consequences for the processes &
outcomes of intercultural communication.
4) Biology:
- P.40: all human pop.=same genetic origins
- Theory of human biological differences:
“ all human descended from common ancestors (northeast Africa/south of current Red Sea) >
100,000 yrs ago.
By 50,000 yrs ago: in tribes + common lang.
Migrations began + slow expansion: Mid.East India  Asia,Europe, Australia, the Americas,
… rest of the wld.”
- Common ancestry = similar genetic compositions
- Different races  genetic diversity within each race
- However, Biology can’t explain most of the differences among cultures.
- E.g.: variation in IQ : unrelated to cul.dif.
 edu. + eco.adv + prebirth intrauterine envi. childr.’ IQ scores.
 Hereditary differences: YES! But distinctions among human groups : because of
cul.LEARNING/envi.CAUSES.
“Biology = basis for acquiring capacities
Culture = specific skills  specific tasks + behaviors”
- 1950, U.N: race= NOT a biological term
- No scientific basis for race
- Race: biologically-based for pharmaceutical companies 
Target race-based health differences/ Crime scene investigators (narrow their search for
suspects)
 Biological similarities: helpful for many types of med.investigations.
Race: social, political, PERSONAL term
 those who are believed by themselves or by others to constitute a group of people who share
common physical attributes.
What is the difference in the way various religions organize and connect people?
- Christianity or Judaism: involve in religious practices, join congregation – clubs, Bible
study, Sunday school -> religious beliefs connect people
- Synagogue: a place of worship, the place to study, a community centre
- Hinduism: not holding regularly scheduled practices – go to temple – but not join the
congregation & attend prayer meetings – simply worship in whaterver temple
6) Interpersonal Communication Patterns
The face-to-face verbal and nonverbal coding system that cultures develop to convey meanings
and intentions
1.On one hand, Interpersonal communication patterns cause cultural differences -> maintain the
structure of a culture
2. On the other hand, cultures organize and assign level of importance to interpersonal
communication patterns
1. Interpersonal communication patterns are the means through which a culture transmits
its beliefs and practices from generations to another.
Parents: primary agents
-> message about thinking feeling, perceiving, and acting
2. Eg. In The US, college students live far from home to pursue the best education; but
Mexican college students refused to do so b/c family relationships are more important
Eg. In Korea, family members in a hierarchy base on age and gender .
->The oldest make relative has the final say in important matters
What are some patterns?
Interpersonal communication patterns are the means through which a culture transmits its
beliefs and practices from generations to another. Parents: primary agents -> message about
thinking feeling, perceiving, and acting
In The US, college students live far from home to pursue the best education; but Mexican
college students refused to do so b/c family relationships are more important
In Korea, family members in a hierarchy base on age and gender . The oldest make relative has
the final say in important matters
Understanding of cultural differences in interpersonal communication patterns is crucial
to becoming intercultural competent.
THE INTERRELATEDNESS OF CULTURAL FORCES
• Each force affects and is affected.
Example:
Population, religion, resource availability (Ireland & India, nineteenth century)
 Cultural values and practices in Ireland & India
1. In Ireland:
• Large population >< food shortage
• Birth control: not acceptable
-> cultural value and cultural practice : women not marry before 30
2. In India:
Harsh economic condition -> short life expectancy
-> cultural value: women marry around 12 or 13
-> for the survival of the culture
Each works in conjunction with the others by pushing and pulling on the members of a culture to
create a series of constraints that alter the cultural patterns.
Ex: In Ireland, the population was large relative to the available food, and severe food shortages
were common.
 Pressing need to reduce the size of the population.
Changes in a culture’s institutions or traditions cause its members to alter their behaviors in
some important ways. These alterations, in turn, foster additional adjustments to the institutions
or traditions in a continual process of adaptation and accommodation.
• Why were western European able to conquer the native cultures of North and South
America?
- The answer: not related to biological differences, intellect
- b/c of two environmental and ecological advantages of Western Europeans

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Intercultural communication is a symbolic, interpretive, transactional, contextual process in
which people from different cultures create shared meanings.
Intercultural communication occurs when large and important cultural differences create
dissimilar interpretations and expectations about how to communicate competently.
* How extended communication change the effects of cultural differences?
Initially one’s interactions could be very intercultural, but subsequent communication events
could make the relationship far less intercultural
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND RELATED TERMS
• Intracultural communication: between culturally similar individuals
• Interethnic and interracial communication: between racial and ethnic groups of the
same nation-state
• Cross-cultural communication: study of a particular idea or concept within many
cultures
• International communication: interactions among people from different nations
 CHAPTER 3: Intercultural Communication
Competence

METAPHORS OF U.S. CULTURAL DIVERSITY

- Melting pot /ˈmeltɪŋ pɒt/ [usually singular] a place or situation in which large numbers of
people, ideas, etc. are mixed together
- Oldest metaphor  describing multiple cultures in the US.
Represent the ideal blending of cultural groups at a time when the hardened steel that was
forged in the great blast furnaces of Pittsburgh helped to make the United States into an
industrial power.
US: stronger, better than the unique individual cultures of which it is composed.
The tendency for diverse cultures to melt together and assimilate their unique heritages into a
single cultural entity has never really existed.
 Adopting while maintaining unique & distinctive heritages.
- The traditional criticism about the melting pot was that what is special about American
culture isn’t its homogeneity, but rather its ability to absorb the elements of many
cultures, then pass them around to everyone.
- In the Melting pot metaphor individuals lose their individuality and everyone in society
become exactly the same.
- Literal meaning: a huge crucible/container – withstanding x-highly T.  to melt, mix,
fuse together metals/substances.
- Interpretation: (PROS)
- Dominant representation of ideal blending of cultural groups at a time.
- Immi.: work, live, mix and blend their original cultures together into one great
assimilated culture.
- Unfavorable term: (CONS)
- Diverse cultures with their unique heritages – melted together and assimilated into a
single cultural entity.
- Culture is not always as dynamic as M.P.
- all cul. (U.S)-blended to overcome their indi.weaknesses
TRIBUTARIES/ TRIBUTARY STREAMS
• Literal meaning:~huge cultural watershed & numerous paths in which the many
tributaries can flow towards their common destination.
• Interpretation:
- Different cultures maintain their unique identities as they work together – acceptable +
desirable.
 • Unfavorable term:
-Tributary streams: small & secondary, ultimately flow into a common stream to form a
major river.
- Hidden assumption: cultural groups will ultimately and inevitably blend together into a single
and common current
 Subordinate to or less imp.than the mighty river into which they flow.

TAPESTRY
• Literal meaning: a decorative cloth made up of many strands of thread woven together
into an artistic design.
• Interpretation:
- each thread = a person; a group of similar threads = a culture
- types of threads: vary in their thickness/smoothness/color/
Texture/strength  many threads: interwoven with many others
 no single thread is distinguished but distinguishable clumps.
• Unfavorable term:Tapestry: rather static & unchangeable.
- Cultural groups (US): more fluid, likely to change;
- Migrations, immigrations, and mortality patterns all alter the cultural landscape.
 Still preferable to the previous two.

GARDEN SALAD
• Literal meaning: a garden salad made up of many distinct ingredients that are being
tossed continuously.
• Interpretation:
- U.S: made up of a complex array of distinct cultures: blended into a unique (tasteful)
mixture.
- Substitute one ingr. for another: the entire flavor of the salad might change. Mix it differently =
the look+feel differ.
- A blend of ingr.(cultural groups) stands for a unique combination of tints, textures, and tastes
(cultures) that tempt the palate (attracting immi.+visitors into the U.S)
• Unfavorable term: Always moving & changing (absence of firmness/stability)
- No fixed arrangement + in a state of flux.
- Cultural groups (U.S): not always moving, mixing, mingling.
 Still preferable to the previous ones.
WHAT DO YOU CALL SOMEONE FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?
Americans:
(x) How about people from Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala, and Central + South America
(Châu Mỹ) known collectively as the Americas.
(x) Term: imperialistic + insulting  “The Americas” are less central/imp.
- People from Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala, Mexico, and many other Central & South American
countries also consider themselves American, as they are all part of the continents known
collectively as the Americans.
North Americans:
(x) How about people from Canada, Mexico, etc.?
(x) Friction/Misuds. When conversations with Cana+Mex.: not an ideal term.
commonly used by pp from many Central & South American countries to refer to people from
the U.S. However, North American refers to an entire continent and pp from Mexico and
Canada are also North Americans.
United Statians/United Staters: not comfortable, artificial and unlikely to be widely used
U.S. Americans: retain the word American but narrows its scope to refer only to those from the
U.S.A. Still regard as odd

CULTURAL GROUPS IN THE UNITED STATES

As the population of the U.S. becomes increasingly more varied culturally, it is extremely urgent
that we find ways to refer to these cultures with terms that accurately express their differences
but avoid negative connotations and evaluations.
Dominant suggested the economic & political power of white U.S. America, referring to the
control of important sources of institutional & economic power.
 (-) white U.S. Americans: somehow better or superior pp from nondominant cultures:
somehow subordinate or inferior
As more and more cultural groups have gained political and economic power in the U.S.,
dominant no longer accurately reflects the current reality.
- Majority culture: implies that the majority of U.S. Americans are from a particular cultural
group.
Majority was often coupled with the term minority.
Had negative connotations fro members of other groups -> not important as members of the
majority group
Now increasing number of non-white population -> white U.S. Americans no longer a majority
What’s wrong with the terms?
 Dominant culture:
- the economic & political power of white U.S. America
- The control of one cultural group
- pp from nondominant cultures: somehow subordinate or inferior
 no longer accurately reflects the current reality.
What’s wrong with the terms?
 Majority culture:
- the majority of U.S. Americans are from a particular cultural group
- had negative connotations for members of other groups -> not important as
members of the majority group
- Now increasing number of non-white population -> white U.S. Americans: no
longer a majority

• African Americans: black Americans

• European Americans: their com.cul.heritage is predominantly Europeanwhite U.S
cul.mem.
But obscuring the differences among those whose heritage may be E, Fr, I, or German.
 White/Caucasian: NOT appro. term./ inter.com

Hispanic: /hɪˈspænɪk/a person whose first language is Spanish, especially one from a Latin
American country living in the US or Canada
(derives from the dominant influences of Spain and the Spanish language) refers to all groups of
people who have Spanish surnames and who use the Spanish language.
Chicano (Chicana): /tʃɪˈkɑːnəʊ/ a person living in the US whose family came from Mexico refer
to the “miltiple-heritage experience of Mexicans in the U.S” and speaks to a political and social
consciousness of the Mexican American.
Chicana: a girl or woman living in the US whose family came from Mexico
Latino /læˈtiːnəʊ/: a person, especially one who is living in the US, who comes from Latin
America, or whose family came from there.
cultural and linguistic term that includes “all groups in the Americas that share the Spanish
language, culture, and traditions.”
Latina: a woman or girl, especially one who is living in the US, who comes from Latin America,
or whose family came from there
Caucasian: kɔːˈkeɪziən/ đại chủng âu
In the United States, the root term Caucasian has also often been used in a different, societal
context as a synonym for "white" or "of European ancestry"
caucasian (adj) belonging to one of the races of people who have pale skin
(n) a member of any of the races of people who have pale skin

COMPETENCE AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

1. Intercultural communication competence:
- Communicative competence: social judgment about how well a person interacts with
others.
- Involving “social perception”: specific to context & interpersonal relationship
Competent communication is interaction that is perceived as effective in fulfilling certain
rewarding objectives in a way that is also appropriate to the context in which the interaction
occurs.”

THE COMPONENTS OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

1) Context
2) Appropriateness & effectiveness
3) Knowledge, motivations, actions

1) Intercultural competence is contextual.

Competence is not independent of the relationships and situations within which communication
occurs.
Competence is not an individual attibute; rather, it is a characteristic of the association between
individuals.
Intercultural competence is judged with respect to:
- a specific relational context
- a particular situational context (Example/p.67)
2) APPROPRIATENESS AND EFFECTIVENESS
- Appropriate: proper & suitable
- effective: lead to the achievement of desired outcomes
3) KNOWLEDGE, MOTIVATIONS AND ACTIONS
Intercultural competence requires sufficient knowledge, suitable motivations, and skilled actions.
Each of these components alone is insufficient to achieve intercultural competence.
- behaviors: appropriate & effective
Appropriate (= proper & suitable)
Effective (= lead to the achievenment of desired outcomes)
Ex: 68
1st strategy: effective, accomplishing his objective of getting Mr. Thani to arrive at work more
promptly. But such behaviorL inappropriate.
2nd strategy: appropriate but not effective, causing no change in Mr Thani’s behavior.
3rd option: neither appropriate nor effective

Knowledge: refers to the cognitive information you need to have about

+ the people
+ the context
+ the norms of appropriateness that operate in a specific culture.
Homework: traditional greetings around the world????
Knowledge includes culture-general & culture-specific information:
+ culture-general info. provides insights into the intercultural communication process
abstractly and can therefore be a very powerful tool in making sense of cultural practices,
regardless of the cultures involved.
Ex: this book is an excellent example of a source for cultural-general knowledge.
+ culture-specific info. includes info about the forces that maintain the culture’s
uniqueness & facts about the cultural patterns that predominate.
Ex: exchange sts—seek out info. ab the educational system in the host country
Tourists—guidebooks that provide info. ab obtaining lodging, transportation, food, shopping,
and entertainment.
Many Southeast Asian cultures regard a display of the soles of the feet as very offensive.

Motivations  overall set of emotional associations that people have as they anticipate and
actually communicate interculturally.
Feelings ( tính dễ cảm xúc, tính nhạy cảm) emotional or affective states that you experience
when communicating with someone from a different culture.
NOTE: feelings: NOT thoughts; rather, emotional and physiological reactions to thoughts &
experiences
+ Intentions: what guide your choices in a particular intercultural interaction. Your
intentions are goals, plans, objectives, and desires that focus and direct your behavior.
Intentions: often affected by the stereotypes. (stereotypes reduce the number of choices &
interpretations you are willing to consider.) If intentions: positive, accurate, and reciprocated,
intercultural competence: enhanced.
Stereotypes: rập khuôn, ấn tượng sâu sắc, ấn tượng bất di bất dịch. (stereotype of Vietnamese
student: theoretically excellent 
Vietnamese ladies to Taiwan: married; to America: nails…
+ Actions: actual performance of the behaviors that are regarded as appropriate and
effective.

THE BASICS OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

What are 8 types of communication behaviors?
1) Display of respect
2) Orientation to knowledge
3) Empathy
4) Interaction management
5) Task role behavior
6) Relational role behavior
7) Tolerance for ambiguity
8) Interaction posture

1) Display of respect
- shown through verbal & nonverbal symbols
ex: verbal: use of titles, absence of jargon, etc.
nonverbal: position of the body, facial expressions, and eye contact in prescribed
ways.
2) Orientation to knowledge refers to the terms people use to explain themselves and the
world around them.
demonstrating that experiences & interpretations are individual and personal rather than
universally shared by others.
 A competent orientation to knowledge
Ex: Among European Americans: declarative statements expressing personal attitudeas or
opinions as if they are facts and an absence of qualifiers or modifiers: show an ineffective
orientation to knowledge.
 Mr. Know-all
(a) “New Yorkers must be crazy to live in that city.
 should be: “I find NY a very difficult place to live and would not want to live.
(b) “Parisians are rude and unfriendly.”
 “Many of the people I interacted with when visiting Paris were not friendly or courteous to
me.”
(c) “The custom of arranged marriages is barbaric.”
 “I would not want my parents to arrange my marriage for me.”
“Every person wants to succeed—it’s human nature.”
 “I want to succeed at what I do, and I think most people do.”

3) Empathy: ability of individuals to communicate an awareness of another person’s thoughts,

feelings, and experiences.
- The capacity to behave as if one understands the world as others do.
- Empathy; not just responding to tears and smiles of others, different up to cultural
interpretations.
- Tears and smiles = poor indicators of emotional states.
Empathetic behaviors include verbal statements that identify the experiences of others and
nonverbal codes that are complementary to the moods and thoughts of others.
NOTE: Empathy: NOT mean “putting yourself in the shoes of another.” However, it is possible
for pp to be sufficiently interested and aware of others that the appear to be putting themselves
in others’ shoes. This skill: behave as if one understands the world as others do.
4) Interaction Management:
Skills at starting and ending interactions among participants and at taking turns (verbally &
nonverbally) and maintaining a discussion.
Things: DETRIMENTAL to competence:
- Dominating a conversaton or being nonresponsive to the interaction
- Continuing to engage pp in conversation long after they have begun to display signs of
disinterest & boredom
- Ending conversations abruptly
5) Task role behavior:
Appropriate task-related role behaviors: very important.
- Initiating new ideas; requesting further info./facts; seeking clarification; evaluating the
suggestions; keeping a group on task.
- E.g.:Euro.Ame: socializing at a restaurant = a dismay to conduct a business negotiation.
6) Relational role behavior:
Efforts to build or maintain personal relationships with group members.
- mediating/harmonizing conflicts between group members.
7) Tolerance for ambiguity:
A person’s responses to new, uncertain, and unpredictable intercultural encounters.
New situations?
- Some: nervous, frustrated -> show anger, sarcasm
- Others: quickly adapt -> see them as a challenge
8) Interaction Posture: refers to the ability to respond to others in a way that is descriptive,
nonevaluative, and nonjudgmental.
Your messages should not convey evaluative judgements. Judgments of rights or wrongs,
fixed / not flecible framework of attitudes, beliefs, values make you evaluative and less
competent -> obstable in intercultural communication

DESCRIPTION, INTERPRETATION, AND EVALUATION

• D-I-E tool increases understanding, positive response, and appropriate behavior
• Description: what we see, observe. hear (receive information from the world around)
• Interpretation: process the information, base on our symbolic meaning, values, beliefs,
not aware of the sensory … to explain
• Evaluation: judgment , personal feelings
Examples
1. Kathryn arrived 10 minutes late after the start of the class.
-> Description
2. Kathryn doesn’t care much about this particular class.
-> Interpretation
3. I am really offended by that attitude.
->Evaluation
1. “My American friend is moving out of her house next month.” D
2. “She doesn’t really love her parents.” I
3. “Many American families do not have a close-knit relationship.” I
4. “She didn’t like my cooking.” I
5. “She didn’t finish all the food in her plate.” D
6. She doesn’t laugh at things that are funny. D
7. “My American girlfriend smiles frequently when she talks to men.” D
8. “ She is not a good woman. She flirts with strange men.” I
9. “ I saw my American boss serve coffee to a visitor. The secretary didn’t help.” D
10. “ The secretary is not good. She didn’t like to take care of her boss.” I
11. American teacher: “I gave a compliment to an Asian student on my English class. She
looked down and did not accept my compliment.” D

In Vietnamese culture, teachers are supposed to dress formally when coming to the class, and
students are supposed to use formal language to call their teachers.
In the U.S., teachers want to show friendliness and informality. They want their students to feel
comfortable.
Consider the observation of a Vietnamese student about his American teacher.
- My American teacher wants us to call him by first name.
- He sometimes wears T-shirt and jeans into classroom.

Group Discussion
For the purpose of intercultural communication, why is it advisable to avoid such emotionally
charged words as majority or dominant when we refer to the culture associated with white U.S.
Americans?
- dominant: suggest the economic and political powere of the whielte U,S America,
convery negative emarning to members of other cultural groups; suggest that people
from nondominant cultures were somehow subordinate or inferior to the dominant group
- Majority: has negative connotations for members of other cultural groups; suggest that
some people were not regarded as important or significant as members of the majority
Which term is more suitable for black Americans? Why?
- Many black Americans prefer to be identified by a term that distinguishes them by their
common cultural characteristics rather than by their racial attributes. Therefore, the term
African American Is preferred because it denotes a cultural rather a racial distinction.
- What are the set of terms usually applied to those residents of the United States whose
surname is Spanish? Explain the distinctions of these terms.

1) Which metaphor implies that multiple cultures in the U.S. melt together? Melting pot
2) What does the Tributaries metaphor suggest? Acceptable to maintain identities
3) What metaphor implies that the landscape of culture in the U.S is static &
unchangeable? Tributaries
4) What do people from the United States prefer to be called? American/ North
Americans/ U.S. Americans
5) Why is it advisable not to use the terms dominant culture or majority culture to refer to
white U.S. Americans? What is the most suitable? Negative connotations
6) What are the cultural groups in the U.S?
7) Hispanic refers to which cultural group in the U.S.?