This book explores communication, culture, and intercultural communication. The emphasis is on promoting understanding of and appreciation for the rich and varied perspectives encountered in intercultural communication opportunities. Interdisciplinary in nature, the book focuses on the need to develop self-understanding as a first step to intercultural understanding, and highlights the need for the intercultural state of mind to match our multicultural world, the difficulties inherent in the quest of such an objective, the excitement of challenges on the way and the rewards of the success that are sputtering with new energy and yet waiting to be discovered. Furthermore, the book represents an initial step in the process of building competencies which may facilitate effective communication in all types of cross-cultural settings. It gives a unique outlook of how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavor to communicate across cultures. The book grows out of the philosophy that developing better interpersonal, intercultural communication skills will profoundly benefit the seven billion people who share this planet and who increasingly interact with each other by producing some guidelines with which people can successfully cope with the realities of cultural diversity, the challenges of living in a multicultural world, the need to transcend the unpredictability of intercultural interactions, the accompanying fears that such interactions often encompass, and the feeling of joy and comfort in the discovery of cultural diversity.

The chapter addresses the problems of intercultural communication in the context of the new paradigm of education and the importance of an intercultural approach to the methodology of teaching foreign languages. The fact that the new educational paradigm implies changes in strategy and content, not only of contemporary language teaching but also the humanities, in general, is underlined. An important result of these changes is the integration of the elements of culture in the educational process.The aim is to outline the main problems in the field of intercultural learning and focus on some of the ways to build an integrated educational model including specific teaching and training methods. The emphasis is on the specific conceptual apparatus of Intercultural Communication as a subject as the main components of intercultural education are listed.

This volume provides an overview of communication study, offering theoretical coverage of the broad scope of communication study as well as integrating theory with research. To explicate the integration process, the chapter contributors -- experts in their respective areas -- offer samples in the form of hypothetical studies, published studies, or unpublished research, showing how theory and research are integrated in their particular fields. The book will appeal to graduate students and faculty members who want a thorough overview of not only the field, but also sample research stemming from its various component parts.

Books on intercultural communication are rarely written with an intercultural readership in mind. In contrast, this multinational team of authors has put together an introduction to communicating across cultures that uses examples and case studies from around the world. The book further covers essential new topics, including international conflict, social networking, migration, and the effects technology and mass media play in the globalization of communication. Written to be accessible for international students too, this text situates communication theory in a truly global perspective. Each chapter brings to life the links between theory and practice and between the global and the local, introducing key theories and their practical applications. Along the way, you will be supported with first-rate learning resources, including: • theory corners with concise, boxed-out digests of key theoretical concepts • case illustrations putting the main points of each chapter into context • learning objectives, discussion questions, key terms and further reading framing each chapter and stimulating further discussion • a companion website containing resources for instructors, including multiple choice questions, presentation slides, exercises and activities, and teaching notes. This book will not merely guide you to success in your studies, but will teach you to become a more critical consumer of information and understand the influence of your own culture on how you view yourself and others.

Presents the reader with a three-part approach to intercultural communication - communication, culture, and consciousness. The book argues that communication, culture, and consciousness combine to form one's intercultural perspectives. The tool of language is central to understanding the relationships between these three elements.

Today, students are more familiar with other cultures than ever before because of the media, Internet, local diversity, and their own travels abroad. As such, traditional intercultural communication textbooks which focus solely on the ′differences′ approach aren′t truly effective for today′s students, nor for this field′s growth. Using a social constructionist framework—which explores how culture is constructed and produced in the moments in which it is experienced—Inter/Cultural Communication provides today′s students with a rich understanding of how culture and communication affect and effect each other. Inter/Cultural Communication improves upon current textbooks in four significant ways: (1) It provides a differences approach and a social constructionist approach; (2) It explores the consequences of cultural moments on immediate communication and on larger scale social issues; (3) It is descriptive, not prescriptive, of how culture is communicated; and (4) It introduces intercultural topics, rather than interpersonal topics. Weaving multiple approaches together in order to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of and appreciation for the diversity of cultural and intercultural communication, this text allows them to become more aware of their own identities and how powerful those identities can be in facilitating change—both in their own lives and in the lives of others. In addition, the book will help students deal with unfamiliar cultures and understand those with whom they come in contact when they travel, in their communities, in the workplace, in their home, and online.

"This book explores the theory and practice of rhetoric and professional communication in intercultural contexts, providing a framework for translating, localizing, and internationalizing communications and information products around the world"--Provided by publisher.

This handbook deals with the question of how people can best live and work with others who come from very different cultural backgrounds. Handbook of Intercultural Training provides an overview of current trends and issues in the field of intercultural training. Contributors represent a wide range of disciplines including psychology, interpersonal communication, human resource management, international management, anthropology, social work, and education. Twenty-four chapters, all new to this edition, cover an array of topics including training for specific contexts, instrumentation and methods, and training design.

This popular text addresses the core issues and concerns of intercultural communication by integrating three different perspectives: the social psychological, the interpretive, and the critical. The dialectical framework, integrated throughout the book, is used as a lens to examine the relationship of these research traditions. This text is unique in its emphasis on the importance of histories, popular culture, and identities. The new edition features expanded discussion on globalization, computer-mediated technologies, and the role of religion in global and domestic contexts and how they relate to intercultural communication.

This comprehensive, user-friendly introduction takes a current approach to cultural differences, and guides students through the key concepts of communication and culture.