The Impact of Culture on Communication
Communication is an integral component of interaction, and without proper communication, people cannot express their feelings, intentions, ideas, and thoughts effectively. There are different factors that affect communication between groups or individuals. As such, cultural difference is one of the key factors that affect communication (DeVito, 2019). Different people across the globe have different cultural backgrounds and practices that influence how they relate and relay information to one another.
Culture can be described as the traits, strong beliefs, norms, traditions, and values that a certain group of people holds to be true and acceptable. Therefore, culture can be passed from one generation to another. Inside particular cultures, there may be further subdivisions or subcultures depending on various factors like religion, ethnic composition, and social status. According to DeVito (2019), people who belong to a similar culture often have a common way of thinking, communicating their feelings, thoughts, and ideas verbally and non-verbally. Since culture is diverse, the dissimilarities can affect the level of an individual’s confidence in communication when interacting with other cultures. Therefore, people should understand their cultural differences to be able to communicate effectively.
Cultural sensitivity is the ability to recognize other cultures and respect them while interacting with people from diverse cultural practices. There are various cultural sensitivity strategies that can be adopted while interacting with other cultures. Thus, some of the strategies that I would use to portray cultural sensitivity when working in the human service include seeking consent before touching or hugging the client to show respect for personal privacy regardless of the gender or age of the person. I would also adopt the strategy of using inclusive language rather than being personal in order to show respect. Additionally, before referring to a person in a specific, I would ask an individual to tell me their preferred pronoun so as to embrace the aspect of gender sensitivity. Besides, since different cultures may have different pronunciations, I would ask for the correct pronunciation whenever I am not sure. I will also take corrections positively and avoid being defensive as I endeavor to learn more about diverse cultures.
Orientation Assessment
While assessing my other orientation as a measure of self-awareness, I would say that I portray a high level of people-centered behavior. I always think about my environment and the people who surround me by being more considerate of their feelings, views, and opinions before I think of myself. For instance, at school, I help my colleagues out in comprehending assignments rather than just focusing on myself.
My greatest strength is my high listening skills. When communicating with others, I give them the chance to talk as I listen. I have overtime worked on my listening skills in order to help others whenever I can find solutions to their problems. I keenly take into consideration non-verbal cues that other people use in order to understand their feelings better. I also do my own research to understand the various cultures and the does and don’ts of the culture to ensure that I don’t become offensive when communicating with other people from diverse cultures.
From the personal communication strengths, I can describe my strengths from various perspectives. For instance, my strength in listening puts me in a position of understanding others, be it in school or outside school. This enables me to view life from other perspectives. While listening, I do not listen to respond, but rather, I try to understand and then act upon comprehending. I believe that my strengths have helped me in providing solutions that are tailored toward people’s needs instead of acting without a clear understanding.
The areas that I would like to improve on include judging others after listening to them. Additionally, I would also like to get better when it comes to maintaining eye contact and paying attention to non-verbal expressions that people show while communicating. I will tirelessly work on my public speaking skills to improve my confidence.
Subsequently, an other-orientation attitude also enhances human service and interpersonal communication. For this reason, other-orientation can enable professionals in human service to make their clients more candid and happier during communication. Putting emphasis on other people’s perceptions improves communication and inspires confidence among clients, colleagues, or customers. Anderson (2017) asserts that having a strong other orientation can help professionals in human services to influence proficiency and strong personality. Therefore, possessing other-orientation approaches like recognizing the opinions and ideas of customers and allowing individuals to communicate their ideas liberally helps in enhancing interpersonal communication.
Relevant Resources
Serving clients entail several factors, such as culture and self-awareness, which are key to interactive communication. Cultural intelligence is critical in the day-to-day interaction with clients. This calls for acknowledging that people come from diverse cultures, respecting the cultures, and having good interpersonal communication that respects the cultural differences. Also, it means having self-awareness, knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses, and then understanding how to use the strengths while communicating with others. Culture and self-awareness are not only critical when relating with others but also in decision-making.
Overall, through culture and self-awareness, professionals can acquire verbal and non-verbal communication skills to be applied during interaction with clients. Professionals also need to adopt verbal skills like simplicity strategy to make clients understand the complex words in their area of profession. Moreover, they should be aware of cultural differences and understand that words may have different meanings in various cultures. Finally, professionals need to use non-verbal cues, including facial expressions like smiling to convey joy and interest as well as nodding to affirm an action.
References
Anderson-Lain, K. (2017). Cultural Identity Forum: Enacting the Self-awareness Imperative in Intercultural Communication. Communication Teacher, 31(3), 131-136. Web.
DeVito, J. A. (2019). The Interpersonal Communication Book. Instructor, 1, 18. Web.