Barriers to Intercultural communication and levels of culture

Barriers to Intercultural communication and levels of culture

During the third class, the professor Heiko Schmidt explained how some barriers affects the communication between cultures. I will begin introducing each of them and highlight the barrier that in my personal opinion is the most difficult and leads to misunderstandings. Then, I will give my perspective how to deal with Sub-cultures inside Colombia especially Paisa culture. Finally I will exposed my research question about How to overcome intercultural barriers of communication?

When communicating with other cultures some barriers may appear, this is because the world is composed by hundreds of different cultures and sub-cultures that difficult communication because we don’t share same values, artefacts, traditions and language.

1. Assumption of similarities: it is about assuming that different cultures shares same values and artefacts.
2. Language differences: there are almost 600 languages around the world even if two languages are similar (romances languages) there is a 100% chance of having differences
3. Nonverbal misinterpretation: the use of gestures and movements to express ideas and feelings.
4. Preconception and stereotypes:  judgements that can be positive or negative.
5. Ethnocentrism: one’s own culture is central to reality, the vantage point from which we judge others (Schmidt, 2015).
6. Anxiety: we feel anxious when dealing with people that do not share the same language, values and artefacts.   

I would like to highlight preconception and stereotypes because it helps to understand how the image of a country is damaged thanks to some myths that through ignorance generalize an entire society.

Stereotypes: are judgements made about individuals based in group membership. Can be positive or negative (Schmidt, 2015).

Negative stereotype

One of the best examples of negative stereotyping is the movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith, film star by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt that shows Bogotá in the middle of the jungle and in a civil war. Indeed, Colombia is located in the tropic but the capital city is located at 2600 meters above the sea level, which influences the weather, fauna and flora.

Prejudices: irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, religion or sexual orientation (Schmidt, 2015). 

For example, some countries have the misconception that all Colombians are drug dealers, criminals and prostitutes. According to my friend´s, personal experience when they went to Hong Kong some female friends were asked to go to an interrogation room and were treated as prostitutes. We understand that there are many Colombian prostitutes but it is not a reason to treat all Colombian women as prostitutes besides it is disrespectful.

Different level of cultures

I want to emphasize the importance of subcultures within countries, considering my perception of being born in La Guajira and been living in Antioquia for four years. This also led me to think about how to deal with strong regional feelings within Colombia.

Paisa subculture

The Paisa subculture has been criticized as regionalist, in fact, Antioquia people is regionalist; they are proud of the city and the department, this is due to the period of isolation suffered by the department and its geographical position. During years, the department was uncommunicated with the country; this helped the local culture to be encourage, one example is the use of “Vos” “you” Antioquia and paisas are the only region that uses “Vos” in Colombia. In addition, the culture and sense of ownership towards public services such as the Metro, Metrocable, Metroplus and others is unique within Colombia, Paisas are proud of their services and try to care of them as if was a personal property. This is completely different to other regions of the country where public services are badly treated with lack of ownership of the public (Maintained for or used by the people or community (The Free Dictionary , n.f).  

The best example is when singing the National anthem and the Department anthem in a soccer game at the stadium, when the National anthem sounds little people sings, but when the Department anthem sounds, every single person at the stadiums sings.   

When dealing with Paisas, it is important to remember that they dislike being confused with Rolos, this is due to the strong competition between cities in which is better, more innovative, and more important and so on. In addition, they found disrespectful topics about the violent period of the city and being treated as drug dealers; However, dealing with Paisas is like treating with Colombians but do not assume that the country is homogenous, you have to take into account that Colombia is composed by different sub-cultures being Antioquia one of the strongest.

The regionalist feelings led to some separatist movements called Antioquia Federal that cached up the attention of the people in the 80’s and lately in 2012[1]. However, there are many Paisas that believes that Antioquia is part of Colombia and should remain so. However, others argue that the region should remain as part of Colombia but with more autonomy in budget and in taxes.

Finally, I would like to finish, leaving a Youtube video of a Medellín local TV channel (Cosmovisión) that exposes the posture of some commentators that talks about Antioquia Federal.

How to overcome barriers of communication?

While doing some research about intercultural barriers of communication I found interesting the steps given by the alumni of the Palomar College that explains how to deal with the barriers, have a better communication and fluent (Glyn Bongolan, n.f).

1. Do not assume, learn about people and their daily lives: assuming is the major problem when communication with people of other cultures, we believe that they share the same ideas, the same way of doing things and the same way of solving problems, which in many times is completely different to our expectations.
2. Acknowledge that many people have a hard time communicating: you are not the only one communicating, there is also people that tries to communicate and do not know to do it because 
3. Language and culture go hand-in hand: this has to do with nonverbal communication; some cultures express their thoughts through body language, which in some cases is annoying to other cultures.
4. Communication can be more difficult when it is done across cultures
5. Get to know their perception, values and attitudes: knowing the culture with which you are communicate helps to understand it better. In addition, the people appreciates when you try to understand their culture, it is a sight of commitment.  

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[1] More information about the movement Antioquia Federal http://www.elcolombiano.com/antioquia_federal-DAEC_276713

Bibliography

Glyn Bongolan, V. J. (n.f). Palomar College. Retrieved from http://faculty.palomar.edu/gbongolan/portfolio/outside_artifacts/InterculturalCommunication.pdf

Schmidt, H. (2015, 02 10). Communicating across cultures . (H. Schmidt, Performer) Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia .
The Free Dictionary . (n.f). The Free Dictionary . Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/public