Barriers to Intercultural Communication: Language and Cultural Differences

Running head: INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Intercultural communication
Name of the student
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INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Introduction
The aim of the report is to understand the barriers to intercultural communication. The issue of
intercultural communication has been debated and discussed in the academic discussion for long.
What has been observed here is that the study of intercultural communication is associated with
the process of interactions and communication between people of different cultures. One of the
barriers to the issue of effective intercultural communication is the problem of languages. This
paper will be briefly discussed the barriers to intercultural communication and the ways of
removing these barriers. It will be focused on the analysis of issue of language and cultural
barriers to communication.
Discussion
Within the pretext of an organization or social groups, one of the barriers to intercultural
communication is language. One of the examples of such difference occurs when the shopkeeper
speaks English while the shop is located in Japan. This leads to the process of lack of
communication between them due to the barriers of language. In terms of the verbal
communication, language is one of the first barriers that disrupt the effective way of
communication (Jandt 2017).
However it is important to consider that communication is both verbal; and non-verbal. The
process of non-verbal communication is associated with the body language of the speaker which
tends to influence the process of communication (Kelman et al. 2018). For example, it is
important to note that body language in context of a cultural communication creates barriers to
the process of effective communication. Due to the difference of body languages across culture,

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INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
body language is on neo the important parameters of barring effective communication between
people. for example, in case of the communication across the American and French people, there
is lack of smiling between communication of the French people which night convey the
message that the speaker is not interested to be listened by the listener. In case of the third barrier
to effective communication, it is important to note that there is negative stereotypes and
prejudices in some cultures which tend to impact the process of communication (Jandt 2017).
Moreover, it has been observed that the process of communication between cultures of the West
and that of the east , there are higher imposition of Ethnocentric belief leading to the process of
showing of one’s own culture as “ superior”. Such different in the perception of culture is what
tends to impact the process of effective communication (Savolainen, 2016). Lastly, the issue of
feelings and emotions are something that is impact communication across cultures. For example,
talking loud in any given context for an Englishman might become a source of embarrassment
while for the French individual; it is just the way of expressing excitement which creates cultural
rift in communication. However it is not to deny that cultural communication not necessarily
verbal, there are number of other non-verbal communication barriers that creates the process of
communication impossible. In terms of non-verbal communication, it has been observed that the
issue of “high culture” and “low culture” is something deeply impacting the process of
communication (Sorrells 2015). For example, countries with high culture have the tendency of
having conversation that is more structured and indirect whole in case of the low culture
countries, communication in the business environment is more of open and linear and precise.
These differences tended to create the damage to the effective non-verbal and verbal
communication. Moreover the issue of eye-contact within the diverse cultural communication
tends to impact the way message is delivered (Jandt 2017). Moreover the impact of gesture is