How to cultivate one's intercultural communication ability?

First, cross-cultural communication and cross-cultural communication

What is cross-cultural communication? Cross-cultural communication refers to the communication activities between individuals, groups or organizations from different cultural backgrounds. For many readers, intercultural communication is still a strange word, but it is actually an ancient topic. The Silk Road in China's history, Xuanzang's learning from the scriptures and Zheng He's voyage to the West are all examples of cross-cultural communication. With the rapid development of transportation and communication tools and the increasingly obvious trend of world economic integration, cross-cultural communication is no longer a rare thing for us. With the rapid development and popularization of the Internet, people can have cross-cultural communication without leaving home. On the Internet, people can chat and play games with people from different cultural backgrounds at home and abroad through words, sounds and images. If communication is a way of life, then cross-cultural communication is a way of life of people in the "global village".

With the increasing cross-cultural communication activities, many practitioners of cross-cultural communication begin to pay attention to this phenomenon. Long ago, religious leaders of Buddhism and Christianity, ancient Greek philosophers Aristotle and Socrates, ancient Greek playwright Sophocles and British playwright Shakespeare noticed the importance of "speaking each other's language and adjusting communication skills according to the audience" (Sitham &; Cogdell, 1976, page 6). However, the first person who systematically studied cross-cultural communication activities was Edward? Hall, 1950s, Edward? Hall first put forward the concept of "cross-cultural communication" when he was working in the American Overseas Training Institute (FSI).

What is cross-cultural communication? Cross-cultural communication is founded by American anthropologist and cross-cultural research scholar Edward? Hall founded a discipline in 1950s, which was expressed as "intercultural communication or intercultural communication" in English and also translated as "intercultural communication" or "intercultural communication" in China. Cross-cultural communication, as a branch of communication, aims to study how people from different cultural backgrounds communicate, how to improve their cross-cultural communication ability and overcome cross-cultural communication obstacles. Cross-cultural communication is an interdisciplinary subject, which combines the research results of anthropology, culturology, psychology and communication. The main theories of cross-cultural communication can be found in books about cultural differences (cultural dimensions), especially Gilte? Geert Hofstede, Harry? Harry triandis, Fonz? Fonce pienaar, Salon? ShalomSchwartz and Clifford? In the works of Gilder and others. At present, the relevant theories of these scholars have been widely used in communication theory and communication scenarios, especially in the fields of commerce, management and marketing.

Second, the background of cross-cultural communication research in the United States and Edward? Hormuz people

(A) the background of intercultural communication research in the United States

It is no accident that cross-cultural communication originated in America. As we know, before the discovery of the New World, the native Americans were Indians, and then immigrants from all continents poured into the United States one after another, so the United States gradually became a big immigrant country and a multicultural society. In this multi-religious and multicultural society, whites are dominant, and immigrants from India, Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe are naturally dominant. As a result, ethnic contradictions and cultural conflicts began to spread.

The Second World War left many European and American alliances in ruins. In order to meet the needs of the Cold War and compete with the Soviet Union, the United States carried out the Marshall Plan and vigorously fostered European economic development, so a large number of experts, scholars and employees were sent to Europe. At the same time, the American economy was not greatly affected by World War II. The United States became a superpower politically and economically, attracting international students and immigrants from all over the world. The U.S. government found that many workers sent abroad by the U.S. government and enterprises could not adapt to the life of the sending country because of cultural differences, and finally returned in vain. Many immigrants and international students in the United States are experiencing this "culture shock". It can be said that in the 1950s, the number of immigrants, international students and tourists in the United States increased sharply, and the number of expatriate staff continued. The formation of a multicultural society objectively needs a brand-new discipline-intercultural communication to study related intercultural conflicts.

2 Edward? Hall's life

Edward? Hall happens to be in this era, and his life experience and professional background make him a person who undertakes this mission. Edward? Hall 19 14 14 was born in Missouri, USA on May 6, and received bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctor's degree successively, engaged in postdoctoral research in sociology/cultural anthropology. 1933- 1937 worked and studied in Navajo and Hopi Indian villages in the southwest of the United States, and wrote his autobiography1West in the 1930s. During World War II, Edward? Hall served in Europe and the Philippines, where he studied the concept of space in different cultures. In the 1950s, Edward? Hall teaches at the Foreign Service Institute, a U.S. government department, and trains foreigners in cross-cultural skills. During this period, he put forward "high context" and "low context" culture, and wrote several best-selling books on cross-cultural communication.