1. What is culture?On the surface: customs and behavior More deeply: what the behavior and customs mean to the people who are followingthem In a word: Culture is all about meaningsHall: Culture is everything and everywhere 4. What is Communication? It comes from the Latin word “communicare”, it means to give or to exchange. Now, the most common meaning of “communication” is to give or exchange information or ideas. Communication is our ability to share our ideas and feelings. (the basis of all human contact) Communication is a dynamic, systematic process in which meanings are created and reflected in human interaction with symbols. (J.T.Wood)Elements of communication Context (location, time, light, temperature, seating arrangements) Participants (relationship, gender, culture) Messages (meanings, symbols, encoding and decoding) Channels (sound, sight, smell, taste, touch) Noise (external noise, internal noise, semantic noise) feedbackLinear Model of CommunicationSenderReceiverChannel (message)encodingdecodingnoiseIs this an effective model of communication?Mode of CommunicationInteractive Model of CommunicationSender ReceiverSender ReceiverencodingdecodingnoiseFeedback is essential to good communicationdecodingencodingmessage / channelmessage / channel5. Characteristics of communication 1) Communication is dynamic 2) Communication is interactive 3) Communication is irreversible 4) Communication takes place in both a physical and social context.6. Intercultural Communication Samovar When one is sad or depressed, his/her voice traits would surely be the opposite.(2) Volume Control (2) Volume Control The English always speak in lower voice than Chinese when they make speech or a lecture, or talking with each other, or phoning. But Chinese often speak in loud voice in the aforesaid occasions. American are more skilled in regulating their voice volume and use very many different volume levels depending on the size of the audience and the physical environment.(3) (3) Silence Silence Silence can be longer between friends or intimates than the strangers who have to converse. Chinese pay more attention to the function of silence in the talking, and think that the pauses and silence have rich meanings. Silence may have many possible meanings: agreement -disagreement, thoughtful-ignorance, consideration- inconsideration, secrecy, coldness, submission, boredom and so on. Time systems (Hall, 1976): Do you still remember time orientation? lMonochronic Time (M-Time) lPolychronic Time (P-Time) 美国人类学家霍尔（Edward Hall）在超 越文化（Beyond Culture）一书中首次区分 了两种不同的时间观念,即“单向计时制”（ monochronic time）和“多向计时制”（ polychronic time)Monochronic Time (M-Time)It schedules one event at a time. In these cultures time is perceived as a linear structure just like a ribbon stretching from the past into the future. e.g. American People“单向计时制重视日程安排、阶段时间和准时”, 认为“时间是线性的、可分割的，就象一条道路或 带子向前伸展到未来，向后延伸到过去”。 Monochronic Time (M-Time) 在我们看来，同时做两件事几乎有点不道德。” 持有这种时间取向的英美人士把时间看成具体实在（ tangible）的东西, 可以节省（save）、花费（spend ）、赚得（earn）、浪费（waste）、失去（lose）、 弥补（make up）、计量(measure）、 甚至当成商品 一样买卖（buy, sell）和拥有（have）。 美国人特别 强调把时间分割成不同的时段来安排活动,强调守时, 严格按照日程一次做一件事情（do one thing at a time） Polychronic Time (P-Time)P-time schedules several activities at the same time. It is more flexible and more humanistic. People from P-time system emphasize the involvement of people more than schedules. They do not see appointments as ironclad commitments and often break them. e.g. Chinese, Latin American, Arab and most Asian cultures Definition of Ethnocentrism Definition“the view of things in which ones own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it” (William G. Sumner) Examples “China is a country with a long history.”“ arranged marriage”Reason for ethnocentric ideasAll cultures have the tendency to use the categories of ones own culture to evaluate the actions of others.Negative Impact of EthnocentrismIf people believe that their culture is the only true culture, they will discriminate against people who manifest cultural norms that fail to correspond to their values and behaviors. Stereotypes DefinitionStereotypes are a form of generalization about some group of people, or a means of organizing images into fixed and simple categories that are used to stand for the entire collection of people. (Walter Lippmann) Reasons Human beings have a psychological need to categorize and classify. Prejudice DefinitionIt refers to negative attitudes towards other people that are based on faulty and inflexible stereotypes. It is an unfair, biased, or intolerant attitude towards another group of people. ( Lusting & Koester) ExamplesExample 1: “Those Germans did it once, so I can never trust any of them ever again.” Example 2: “Dont pay the Mexicans very much. They dont have any education and will work for almost nothing.” Discr