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Cultural competence

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Intercultural competence is the ability for successful communication with people of other cultures. This ability can exist in someone at a young age, or may be developed and improved due to willpower and competence. The bases for a successful intercultural communication are emotional competence, together with intercultural sensitivity.

Interculturally competent is a person who captures and understands, in interaction with people from foreign cultures, their specific concepts in perception, thinking, feeling and acting. Earlier experiences are considered, free from prejudices; there is an interest and motivation to continue learning.

Basics

Cultures can be different not only between continents or nations, but also within the same company or even family: every human being has their own history, their own life and therefore also (in a certain extent) their own culture (geographical, ethnical, moral, ethical, religious, political, historical) resp. cultural affiliation or cultural identity.

Typical examples of cultural differences

The perception is different and often selective[1]:

  • Expressions are differenciated according their importance: for the Inuits (Eskimos) the snow is part of their everyday's life, so many different words exist to describe it (see also Eskimo words for snow and snowclone), and the Zulus know many expressions for the color Green.
  • In Arabic countries the odours (of condiments, coffee etc.) are often perceived in more differenciated ways than e. g. in northern America.
  • In Asian countries the perception of time is rather past-oriented (ancestors, values), in Latin American countries as well as south European countries rather present-oriented (taking out most of the present), and in western Europe as well as nothern America rather future-oriented (achieving goals).
  • Shaking head in horizontal direction means in most countries "no", while in India it means "yes", and (in hindi language) the voice goes downward at the end of a question.
  • Showing the thumb upwards means in latin America, especially Brasil, "everything ok", while it is understood in Islamic countries as a rude sexual sign.
  • "Everything ok" is shown in western European countries, especially between pilotes and divers, with the sign of the thumb and forefinger forming an "O". This sign means in Japan "now we may talk about money", in southern France the contrary ("nothing, without any value"), in Spain, some latin American countries, eastern Europe and Russia it indicates an indecent sexual sign.
  • In northern America as well as in Arabic countries the pauses between words are usually not too long, while in Japan there can rise an even contradictory sense (towards the spoken words) by the meaning of pauses. Enduring silence is perceived as comfortable in Japan, while in India, Europe and northern America it may cause insecureness and embarrassment.
  • Laughing is connoted in most countries with happiness - in Japan it is often a sign of confusion, insecureness and embarrassment.
  • In England, the word "compromise" has a positive meaning (as a consent, an agreement where both parties win something); in the USA it may rather cause negative feelings (as both parties lose something).
  • If invited to dinner, in some Asian countries it is well-mannered to leave right after the dinner: the ones who don’t leave may indicate not having eaten enough. In Indian sub-continent, European and northern American countries this is considered as rude, indicating that the guest only wanted to eat but wouldn’t enjoy the company with the hosts.
  • In southern European countries it is normal to arrive half an hour late for a dinner invitation, whereas in Germany this would be extremely rude.

Requirements

Basic needs are sensitivity and self-consciousness: the understanding of other behaviors and ways of thinking as well as the ability to express one’s own point of view in a transparent way with the aim to be understood and respected by staying flexible where this is possible, and being clear where this is necessary.

It is a balance, situatively adapted, between three parts:

  1. knowledge (about other cultures, people, nations, behaviors…),
  2. empathy (understanding feelings and needs of other people), and
  3. self-confidence (knowing what I want, my strengths and weaknesses, emotional stability).

Cultural differences

Cultural characteristics can be differenciated between several dimensions and aspects (the ability to perceive them and to cope with them is one of the bases of intercultural competence), such as:

Assessment

For assessment of intercultural competence as an existing ability and / or the potential to develop it (with conditions and timeframe), the following characteristics are tested and observed: ambiguity tolerance, openness to contacts, flexibility in behavior, emotional stability, motivation to perform, empathy, metacommunicative competence, polycentrism.

See also

Organizations

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