Intercultural Communication: Chinese and American Perspectives

This presentation delves into the complexities of intercultural communication, specifically focusing on the misunderstandings that arise between Chinese and American cultures. It begins by outlining the key elements involved in these misunderstandings, including the roles individuals play, the impact of the audience, and the perception of time. The presentation highlights how different cultural interpretations of these elements can lead to communication barriers and mistrust. It provides examples, such as differences in telephone etiquette and the approach to business negotiations, to illustrate these points. The presentation concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding cultural nuances and offers recommendations for organizations to address these issues, such as hiring individuals who are adaptable, observant, and analytical of other cultures. The overall goal is to foster better intercultural understanding and reduce miscommunications.

Formal Speech Outline
Title: Misunderstandings and lack of trust based upon intercultural issues between Chinese
and American cultures
Name:
General Purpose: To inform
Specific Purpose: To inform the audience more about the concept of misunderstanding and
lack of trust based upon intercultural issues between the Chinese and
American cultures.
Time: 3 minutes
A. How many people in this class have ever been in a misunderstanding with people from
other culture? How many of you have ever had trust issues with people from other
cultures?
B. Most of you who raised their hand to ask questions indicated that they don't understand
why there are those such situations.
C. Things we will discuss include the major elements involved when misunderstandings
arise during intercultural communication, we will then look at the conclusions and
recommendations thereof.
Transition***the first among these points of discussions are the elements involved in
misunderstandings in an intercultural communication context.
Transition*** Now that we have outlined what will inform our discussion, let us now
discuss deeply and individually the elements involved in misunderstandings in an intercultural
communication context. The first element is roles.
Roles by individuals in intercultural communication plays a major part in establishing
misunderstanding between the Chinese and American cultures. Role is an important aspect in
establishing misunderstandings. Intercultural conflicts occur because different roles are
associated with certain behaviour in different cultures. For instance, take the case of the Chinese
and American cultures. The Chinese form personal relationships with people close to them, for
example, they develop closeness with people in the same department but not with others while
the American Culture allows people to bond with anybody despite the proximity of the audience.
Transition*** Now let's look at the next element which is the audience.
The audiences are the elements that develop performance in a communication context.
Different cultures have a different meaning for the role and performance of an audience in
communication. I looked at the difference in telephone etiquette between the American and

Chinese cultures. Chinese talk loudly with their phones, and that is okay to them, however,
among the Americans this is considered rude.
Transition*** Now let’s look at our last element which is time
Time is interpreted differently in different cultures. Misunderstandings occur if one person does
not understand the time in another culture.
For example, a comparison between the Chinese and American cultures in the meaning of
banquet of time. The Chinese associate it with a relaxing time that can be used to extend business
negotiations in the restaurants while taking alcoholic drinks. However, Americans, see this as the
time to relax and entertain themselves without bringing business into the picture because they
believe that business ideas cannot be made when drunk.
Recommendations
Organizations can solve the issue through hiring an earnest participant who is willing to accept
other people's ideas. He/she should be an acute observer, in knowing what aspects make up the
new culture in which they are in. He/she should also be a profound analyst in learning about the
different cultures and the different behaviors and ideas associated with the different cultures
Conclusion.
Misunderstandings often occur due to the various interpretations associated with different roles,
audiences and time in different cultures. Individuals are too involved in their own culture that
they fail to adapt to new cultures in the business, leading to lack of trust and misunderstandings.
The difference in the meaning of similar behaviors among the different cultures is the sole root
of all the problems in intercultural communication Different cultures have different meanings,
and if individuals fail to master the aspects of being an earnest participant, an acute observer, and
a deep analyst, then this problem is likely to persist.