INTRODUCTION

It is believed that man is a cultural being, which thus is an inescapable part of his life;
however, the complexity and differences among various human cultures have separated man and
had led to misunderstanding, misinterpretation and discrimination among them. Thus, to
establish a collaborating and violent-free society, man from different cultures have come
together to understand each other’s belief and ways of life. This is referred to as intercultural
communication, which explains where individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds, come
together to interact, understand, connect and coexist with each other. The attempts towards this
have contributed to global growth, peace, tolerance and cross-cultural understanding.

Hence, this work aims to examine the place of culture “as a way of living” and the
essence of intercultural communication among man and the various reasons why we should
study and understand it, as a tool to manage and acquire the necessary knowledge and skill in
dealing with the possible problems that could come from our different cultural backgrounds.

Conceptual Clarification

For a better understanding of this work, we shall clarify significant concepts which are
essential and related to the topic. Those themes include

Culture: The concept of culture is one that is commonly used and cross across all human
endeavors. It refers to customs, belief, values, norms, traditions, language, practices and ways of
life which is particular to certain group of persons at specific time, and most importantly
distinguishes them from other group. It also explains groups’ understanding, approach and
behavior towards reality; and as such encompasses and explains human identity, in the sense that
our religious, social and mental life and relationship are all controlled and determined by our
various cultures. It is often passed from one generation to another.

Communication: The term communication simply refers to the act of transferring or exchanging
information or data from the sender to the receiver. Thus, this implies that for communication to
be complete, it must pass through a sender, with a certain medium and channel to a receiver at
the other end. It is an exchange of meanings between individuals or groups through a common
system of symbols, signs or behavior.1However, information can be communicated verbal, non-
verbal, visual or written. Communication is essential and fundamental to human interaction and
thus contributes to sharing of ideas, building relationship, living well in the society etc.; this is so
following the fact that man is a social being who must communicate with others to fit in into the
society. For we can only convey ideas, understand others and establish relationship through
communication; which is said to be effective when it is effectively transmitted, actively listened
and provide an appropriate feedback.

Competence: In simple terms, the word competence refers to the quality or state of being able
and suitable for a particular role. It also refers to the ability to effectively do something
efficiently. It is closely related to skill, talent and ability to act in open and uncertain situations.
Thus, it also refers essentially to the sum of knowledge, skills, and personality traits or attitudes
to act creatively and self-organized in expected, open, sometimes chaotic situations. 2

Inter-Cultural: Flowing from the term culture, which refers to people’s way of living which is
peculiar and distinct them from others; the term intercultural refers to those borrowed cultural
practices common and practiced among people of various cultures. It involves the interaction,
exchange and communication of cultural practices and belief. Intercultural encompasses various
aspects; among them include the intercultural communication which closely explains the idea of
intercultural itself. It refers to the interaction and exchange of ideas or information about a
certain societal or cultural reality among individuals or groups of different cultural background.
It also refers to the understanding, tolerance, being open-minded and respectful towards other
people’s cultural practices. 3

Intercultural Communication

Intercultural communication embraces the cultures of people without discrimination but

offers an opportunity of enculturation, socialization, strengthen bonds and unity in diversity.
Given our understanding of culture as a way of life of a people and communication as the
sharing of information, intercultural communication will be the sharing of the beliefs, practices
and ways of live of a people with non members of that culture. When two or more people with
1
Gordon, G. N., “Communication.” Encyclopedia Britannica, May 17, 2024.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/communication Accessed 25 May, 2024.
2
Ibrahim Bekmezci, Competence Management system: processes, procedures, functions, and
importance(Germany: GRIN Verlag, 2006),2.
3
Adrian Holliday, Intercultural Communication and Ideology (London: SAGE publication, 2011), 2.
different cultural backgrounds interact and communicate with each other or one another, we
can say that intercultural communication is taking place. So intercultural communication can
be defined as the sharing of information on different levels of awareness between people with
different cultural backgrounds

Further, Intercultural communications are communications between people of different

cultures, backgrounds, or social groups. The definition of intercultural communication includes
both verbal and nonverbal forms of communication. Intercultural communications take place
regularly between people from different social groups. “The ways the communicating parties
speak to one another (including factors such as tone of voice and clarity) and present themselves
(through hand movements, facial expressions, and attitudes) can have a large impact on positive
interaction and productive exchange of information4.”

Intercultural communication refers to the effects on communication behavior, when

different cultures interact together. Hence, one way of viewing intercultural communication is as
communication that unfolds in symbolic intercultural spaces5.

The need for intercultural communication

There are many occurrences and situations that out rightly demand a high measure of
intercultural communication. While there are many instances to cite, let us look at this situation
between China and the US.

Several years ago, an international incident with potentially global consequences occurred
between the People’s Republic of China and the United States, stressing the need for competent
intercultural communication. The incident began on April 1, 2001, when a U.S. Navy
surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet in international airspace over the South
China Sea. As a result of the collision, the U.S. plane—an EP-3 electronic warfare and
surveillance aircraft—was damaged and nearly crashed. However, because of heroic efforts on
the part of the crew, the plane landed safely at a Chinese air base. The 24-member crew of the
U.S. plane was detained by the Chinese military. China and the United States disagreed as to the
cause of the collision, each side blaming the other.

China continued to seek an apology from the US but it was not forthcoming. Finally on
the 11th of April, US released a letter of apology China over the list of their pilot and for landing
in their space without permission. Though the word apology was not contend in the letter but the
word taht was eventually translated in Chinese met an admission of guilt. Thus, China accepted

4
Devon Denomme et al., “Intercultural Communication: Definition and Examples.” (Updated
11/21/2023) https://study.com/academy/lesson/intercultural-communication-definition-model-
strategies.html)
5
L. A. Arasaratnam,“Intercultural communication competence,”in A. Kurylo (Ed.), Intercultural
communication: Representation and construction of culture(Los Angeles, CA: SAGE
Publications, 2013): 47-68.
to release US crew6. This demonstrates the need to share some culturally nuances that appease to
people’s psychology in order to achieve the international and intercultural peace and unity that
the world advocates. This is necessary even at personal and interpersonal levels.
Barriers to Intercultural Communication
More than often, when there is a discourse on the barriers to intercultural
communications, the first basic assumptions for this is seen in language differences and
stereotypes against cultures. However, La Ray M. Barna in her work on “The Stumbling Blocks
in Intercultural Communication” recognizes that the primary barrier to effective intercultural
communication in the first place is the ability to perceive the relevant cultural
difference.7Although it must be noted that she did not limit the barriers to effective intercultural
communication to perceived cultural differences as she points out six major stumbling blocks to
intercultural communication. Hence, we shall consider some of the barriers to intercultural
communication here.

Language Differences

Languages are very essential in intercultural communications as every culture has a

spoken language which aids communication. Hence for communication to be effective, there
must be an understanding between the parties involved. However, if this understanding cannot be
attained then there is usually a challenge. In language, vocabulary, syntax, idioms, slangs, dialect
can pose difficulties however the greater challenge comes in the form of possible variation in
meaning, contextual understanding and misinterpretation of sentences, also tonal inflection can
pose a challenge.8 The perceived misconceptions and misinterpretation can serve to jeopardize
intercultural communication.

Prejudices and Stereotypes

Prejudices can be seen as the preconceived judgments ideas, opinions about a people
belonging to a particular social class which may not fully be based on experience. Stereotype on

6
James W. Leuliep, Intercultural Communication: A contextual approach, Seventh Edition (Los
Angeles: Sage Publication LTD, 2018): 37-38.
7
LaRay M. Barna, “Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication” inBasic Concepts of Intercultural
Communication: Paradigms, Principles & Practices, 2nd ed., ed., Milton J. Bennett (Boston: Intercultural Press,
2013)doi: 10.26649/musci.2016.142
8
Barna, “Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication”
the hand has to do with a kind of conventional or standardized ideas which are oversimplified or
exaggerated about a group of people. Both prejudices and stereotypes are closely related, they
are based on ethnicity, race, age, gender among others and can both positive and negative. They
are barriers to intercultural communication because they hinder the objective view and
understanding of the stimuli as people are reserved to the limited ideas or opinions already held. 9

Differences in Perception

Perception may be seen as a psychological or mental process in which “people classify and
categorize the input from an object, person or event according to the patterns and categories that
are stored in their memory, therefore we may see things that do not exist in reality.” 10Perception
can be seen as a worldviews which shape the behaviour of a people. People perceive things
differently and act differently because of their culturally lived experiences and as such this could
pose a stumbling block intercultural communication. It can problematic because people make
assumptions very easily and categorize people according to unreliable attributes, which may lead
to stereotyping and prejudice.11
Anxiety

This is another challenge to intercultural communication, although it may not be

considered or held in the same regards as the above stated barriers yet it is in measure a barrier to
intercultural communication. Anxiety is unpleasant mental state of uneasiness, a sense of
nervousness or concern about something uncertain, in this regards about a culture. As a barrier to
intercultural communication, it can seen as a feeling of discomfort or uneasiness in
communicating or sharing with people from other cultures. 12 This could discourage people from
intercultural exchange, hence it becomes a barrier to effective intercultural communication.

There are other varying barriers to intercultural communication which can be seen in the
form of assumption of similarity which people tend to feel all humans are the same including
experience, racial discrimination and ethnocentrism can also be barriers to intercultural
communication.

9
BajzátTünde, “The Most Common Barriers of Successful Intercultural Communication,” Multiscience- XXX.
microCADInternational Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference University of Miskolc, Hungary, 21-22 April 2016.
10
Tünde, “The Most Common Barriers of Successful Intercultural Communication,”
11
Tünde, “The Most Common Barriers of Successful Intercultural Communication,”
12
Lisa Coleman, Thomas King and William Turner, “Barriers to Intercultural Communication”
https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Courses/Southwest_Tennessee_Community_College/Competent_Communication/
02%3A_Culture_and_Communication/2.03%3A_Barriers_to_Intercultural_Communication (Accessed 3/6/2024).
UGWUANYI

Competence in intellectual Communication.

Meaning
The idea and meaning of competence can be defined in various ways. Generally,
competence can be seen as the quality or state of being capable for a particular task. From its
literally meaning competence can be traced from its adjectival form competent which implies
Knowledgeable, ability, skill and qualifications. That is to say, competence implies having the
“to do” or the will power and exercising it over a particular supposed issue.
Etymologically, “Competence” is a word which is derived from two Latin words “Cum” and
“Petere” that is, “union” and reaching or going or searching around someone or something.
In the context of this discipline “cultural anthropology,” competence can defined as the
state of one being capable of presenting cultural ideas to another culture effectively and his
disposition to also transfer or accept other cultural ideas to his own or another culture. In this
case, it reflects the closeness of many cultures or the ethno-relative mindset.13
Components of Competence in Intercultural Communication
There are many components of competence of intercultural communication which helps
one to make a great achievement and progress in gaining, understanding of many diverse
cultures and being open minded to accept their own cultural competence. The components are
empathy, cultural awareness, open-mindedness, adaptability, linguistic ability, patience, active
listening, non verbal communication, cultural intelligence, respect for diversity, curiosity etc.
However, among all these we shall discuss the three most important components. That is,
Motivation, knowledge of self and others, and tolerance for uncertainty.
Motivation: This is the base most of the components. It is the base because it is a deep desire to
create a connection or relationship with people from different cultures and practices. 14 The drive
can be intrinsic or extrinsic. But the underlying fact is that such a person is very willing to
communicate with people of any and every culture. However, there is a challenge here especially
in the relationship which involves people from dominant group and those from non dominant
13
1)Markus Deli GirikAllo,NilmaTaula’bi’, ElimTrikaSudarsih, Suri Toding,
Roberto SaluSituru’, Reni Lolotandung, Roni La’biran, ResnitaDewi, Intercultural Communication Competence, 245.
…..for bibliography 242-251).
14
Muhammad Umar Nadeem, Rosli Mohammed, SyarizanDalib,
“A Proposed Model of Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) in Malaysian Context” International Journal
of Educational Research Review 2, no. 2 (2017): 13. … For bibliography 11-20).
group. In this case, the drive is more or is more expected to be expressed by those from the non
dominant group. They are always the ones who must learn the new culture and not thereverse.
This is because they are the ones to gain from the ones from the dominant group. Therefore, the
dominant group express a very low competence. This is mostly seen in extrinsic motivation
where the dominant group has used external influence to make the non dominant group accept to
express competence always. This is not the same with intrinsic motivation because everyone
views the very act of intercultural communication rewarding and enriching in its own nature.
Knowledge of self and others: competence in intercultural communication is also important in
using this component as an approach. The knowledge usually comes after the motivation.
Knowledge in this sense means that one must be aware and mindful of his or her culture and
identity. Only then will be or she be able to communicate well with other cultures. This is
because knowing who you are opens one into knowing about others. Sometimes we learn our
identity by constantly interacting with people who are different to us and who have a different
experience of life and culture. During interaction we listen and observe how they conceive us
and our culture. Although, this discovery can be discouraging sometimes but it helps one to
develop his knowledge of self and perception about others. We can also learn about new cultures
by having a direct and thoughtful encounter with it which is where the importance of knowing
people’s language comes in. Because language itself unlocks the perspective and culture of any
people.
Tolerance: This is also a very crucial component of competence in intercultural communication.
Tolerance is the ability to withhold stress or tension or occasions that are not usual or
unfavorable. It is expected that one should put on a level of comfort when facing some
intercultural communication problems. Sometimes it can be a big and a demanding work to
speak or to create an revenue for interaction with people who are totally different from you. Such
a person will be struggling with the choice of word and how to present it and someone with a
low tolerance may not stand the pressure so he may be forced to abandon the situation or present
it poorly. However, this is why motivation is the principal key because if when the person
supports it with inner drive which comes naturally through curiosity not just in themselves but in
other people’s cultures.

Benefits of Inter-Cultural Communication

Culture is a universal thing since we find culture in every aspect of human life and every
part of the world that we find ourselves. However, people commonly feel that their own
customary behaviours and attitudes are the correct ones, thus they believe that people who do not
share those patterns are immoral or inferior. 15 Most misunderstandings come as a result of lack of
familiarity with other cultures and this is embarrassing since such blunders make it difficult, if
not possible, to reach an agreement with one another.16

One who has been critically exposed to different culture will be right to disagree with the above
claim as each culture is unique in its own way and to its own people. Also, as the world gets

15
Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember, Anthroplogy 5th edition (New York: Prentice Hall, 1973) 164.
16
“importance of inter-cultural communication” https://www.middlebury.edu/language-learning-why-
intercultural-communication-importantant Accessed on 30/05/2024
more interconnected, the ability to communicate successfully is becoming more and more vital
and thus, it is in this sense that we will discussing the benefits of intercultural communication.

The following are some of the benefits of intercultural communication;

 It enables us to understand the behaviours of individuals: one of the benefits of inter-

cultural communication is that; it allows one to know why people behave in a particular
way which could be as a result of the environment or background.
 It promotes tolerance: intercultural communication among humans promote love and
tolerance in the sense that people tend tolerate other when the know their cultural values
and norms.
 It facilitates communication across linguistic and cultural boundaries leading to more
tolerance, acceptance, and ultimately stronger relationships amongst people of diverse
backgrounds.
 Business Relationships: Respecting the social norms of another culture requires an
understanding that practices may vary. While the Americans for instance, value making
small talk with potential business, the British may try humor, while the Germans may
jump right to the point. Values differ in different cultures but if there is actually an inter-
cultural communication, the business relationship will have a strong bond.
 It increases the effectiveness of communication thus enhancing exchange of different
ideas which could lead to development in the society.
 It builds inter-cultural bridges that could avoid conflict between communities such as
wars, kidnaping etc. it promotes peace.
 Inter-cultural communication helps an individual to learn new ways of life, new
languages, make new friends, have different ways of seeing reality thus making the
individual person mature and more exposed to many realities of life.

The benefits of inter-cultural communication need not be overemphasized as seen from

above, both individual and societal benefits of inter-cultural communication.
Intercultural Communication Flexibility
Intercultural communication flexibility describes the easiness or the ability to
communicate easily between two cultures. It is the integrated knowledge, open mindedness
attitude, and the adaptive practice towards other cultures. The question is how do we come to
know when someone is intercultural flexible?17
Flexible intercultural communication pays more attention to the importance of our
knowledge integration and docile attitude and mindset, and actively committing these knowledge
and open mindedness into adaptive and creative practices in our everyday communication.
Flexible communication reflects an ethno-relative attitude. An ethno-relative mindset means the
understanding of communication behaviour from the other person’s cultural point of view or
reference. This helps us to form a flexible mindset, that combines an alert emotional awareness
and competent interaction and behavior, which makes us become dynamic and flexible
intercultural communicators18.

17
Stella Ting-Toomey and Leeva Chung, Understanding intercultural communication (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2012):28.
18
Ting-Toomey and Leeva Chung, Understanding intercultural communication, 28.
 On the other hand we have inflexible intercultural communication which lays emphasis
on the use of our own cultural values, judgments, and routines in our communication with others
from different cultural background and orientations. This shows an ethnocentric mindset and
attitude. An ethnocentric mindset means to remain and retain our own cultural values,
worldviews, as the basic and fundamental standards and principles to evaluate and judge other
cultures. This refers to the making of our culture as a tool of measurement or as the standard
culture in dealing with other people’s culture.19
The Content Component of Intercultural Communication Flexibility
This refers to the pillars that constitute good intercultural communication flexibility.
There are three of them: knowledge, attitude, and skills.
Knowledge
This is the gradual but systematic, deliberate, and conscious learning of the themes and
concepts in intercultural communication flexibility. This conscious learning can be developed
through a formal studying and learning or by informal but an experiential immersion and
involvement in the culture. By formal studying one can take classes in intercultural
communication and studies that are related with ethnicities, attending seminars on the subject
matter and other related trainings; also taking foreign language and history classes. Informal
classes could also involve international travels, studying abroad, volunteering for community
service and visiting of ethnic neighborhoods, temples, etc. this implies having or making contact
with other cultures.
Attitude
Attitude here refers to our readiness to put our own culture aside and the open
mindedness in order to learn other cultures with their differences. It also refers to the emotional
connection, the pity, sympathy, and empathy in discussing and reaching to other cultural groups
with their differences. This is the receptive and responsive behaviour in communicating
adaptively with persons from other and diverse cultural communities and background. What we
do here is to use ethno-relative thinking or mindset in understanding other people’s behaviour
from their cultural point of view.
Skills
This is the practical integration of knowledge and responsive attitude with adaptive
intercultural practice. The skills help us to communicate carefully in an intercultural situation.
Some of these skills are very important in the development and promotion of intercultural
communication flexibility. Some of these skills include: value clarification skills, mindful
tracking skills, attentive listening, verbal code switching, nonverbal sensitivity skills, and
intercultural conflict management skills.
Criteria for Intercultural Communication Flexibility

19
Ting-Toomey and Leeva Chung, Understanding intercultural communication, 28.
 The criteria for intercultural communication flexibility refer to the evaluative yardstick or
measure of whether an intercultural communicator is considered to be flexible or inflexible. One
who is considered a competent intercultural communicator is one who manages multiple
meanings in the communication exchange process. These criteria include: Appropriateness,
effectiveness, and adaptability.
Appropriateness refers to the rate the behaviours shown or related by the intercultural
communicator are considered to be proper and is in consonance and conformance with the
expectation of people in that culture.
Effectiveness refers to the rate in which the intercultural communicators achieve or arrive
at a mutually shared meaning and integrated goal-related outcomes or result. This is considered
to be when there seems to be a level of understanding and sharing of the same value between the
communicator and the people.
Adaptability refers to our willingness and ability to change our behaviours and methods
of interaction, aims and objective in order to meet the particular and specific needs of the
situation. This is just inferring the behavioral flexibility in dealing with the intercultural
miscommunication episode.20 It brings our minds towards other persons perspectives, views,
opinion, interest, etc. and our willingness to make adjustments and modification to our behaviour
and interaction to adapt to the situation.

20
Ting-Toomey and Leeva Chung, Understanding intercultural communication, 29..