Cross-Cultural Communication Issues

            While doing the Creeper assignment I overheard the conversation between two people that came from two completely different cultural backgrounds. Listening to their conversation reminded me of my first weeks of freshmen year and the cultural shock that most international students experience after coming to US for the first time. It is probably the same feeling that everyone gets when they visit a place with a different culture. The cultural shock affects everyday life and it makes it difficult befriend people from other cultures and have a natural smooth flow of conversation.

            In the example above, the guy and the girl came from two different cultural backgrounds. It was easy to tell from far away because their body language was very different. The guy did not smile as much as the girl did and it seemed, as she was the one making the conversation feel more comfortable and natural. The girl was leaning back and it seemed as her personal space was invaded and the guy was standing too close to her. These are all traits of different cultures. For example, Westerners’ idea of personal space is much broader than Asians’. Westerners promote individualism and confidence in conversations while some another cultures promote humbleness and mutual respect. Also, Americans seem to be more concerned about the flow of conversations and silence is more of an uncomfortable gap in a conversation while for others it is a normal part of a conversation.

         After coming closer towards them and hearing their conversation I was sure now that they came from two different cultures. The guy had an accent. The girl was dominating in the conversation and it seemed as he only replied to her questions without engaging too much into the conversation. She was very outspoken and confident while the guy was more shy and humble. Although this can be just a personality trait it is also a trait of different cultural values. These differences directly affect the distance between different cultural groups. The conversation can seem awkward even though both sides might be eager to become closer to their conversation partner but their definitions of successful conversation are different.

During my first weeks at Northeastern I had the opportunity to meet students from the US and many other countries. Although I met people from all over the world world, my closest friends became those with similar cultural values and backgrounds. We did not speak the same language but our cultures turned out to be very similar. Without much effort we were able to have a natural conversation flowCross-.  Through similar jokes, the amount of irony and sarcasm in speech we bonded faster and easier than with people where it required more effort to keep up a conversation.

Cultural differences can make it difficult for people to relate, find common interests and they seem to prefer friendships with the people who come from the similar cultural backgrounds. But after living in a different cultural setting for a longer period of time, people start to assimilate. They accept the traits and values of the new cultural surrounding into their everyday life and it becomes easier to interact with the individuals who are part of the new community. That confusing and distinctively different part of the new culture becomes a normal way of behaving.