The first time I came to the United States I was 19 years old. I had never been to another country before. Everything seemed unfamiliar and strange to me. Businesses, social interactions, and school system were among the first things that made me realized that I was now living a different culture. When I went back to my birth country, DR, and then traveled to other countries such as Mexico and Canada, I started to become aware of the cultural differences surrounding me and to develop an interest in its peculiarities. Studying Intercultural Communication can help individuals to understand how to cope in this new global village so full of diversity around us.
One of the reasons to study Intercultural Communication is to learn adapt to diversity. Diversity can expand our conception of what is possible — linguistically, politically, and socially — as various lifestyles and ways of thinking converge. The quality if being different to others, meet up with more people who are different and still be able to communicate effectively have a major impact to the peace imperative that will help us work through issues such as racial and religious differences, which is something that most people want, to live in peace with each other.
Also, when we are exposed to the study of Intercultural Communication we become aware of ethnocentrism. The realization that one’s culture is not better than another’s will dig us into developing self-reflexivity. Self-reflexivity will help us to understand ourselves and our position in society. When learning about different cultures and practices, we learn about who we are as an individual within a society and we learn to see and appreciate other people’s culture.
Lastly, when we study Intercultural Communication, we improve our communication skills to interact with people from different backgrounds. This helps us to engage in the creative solving problem since we become more resourceful when exposed to people who are different to us. Learning to listen to the voices of others, to cultivate experiential knowledge and hearing about other experiences of people who are different from you can broaden your ways to view the world. As people relate their experiences to other people’s experiences, we learn many aspects of intercultural communication.
Studying Intercultural Communication will overall enhance our relationship satisfaction to connect we others and to challenge ourselves to become better people.
