The Physical and Cultural Context of Intercultural Communication

A day does not go by wherein we do not communicate to somebody. Communication is often thought of just communicating to people by talking to them, messaging, emailing and other types of Verbal & Non – Verbal Communication. What most of the individuals don’t know that there is more to just talking and messaging in the everyday communication process. But in fact communication is very sophisticated, it has numerous elements that go through processes wherein nobody could actually see. In summary Communication is just the process of conveying a message that has meaning, meaning on the other hand is something that is being decoded by the receiver, meaning is somewhat something that does not go hand in hand with communication it is just a part in communication that is essential in order to understand what is being communicated, meaning is also negotiated by individuals within social and cultural context.

Here lies a broad understanding about context, context is when the meaning is addressed through communicating then being interpreted by an individual.

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Context is somewhat like circumstances that surround the message that you want to deliver to a person, a small group or a big audience. These circumstances also include the place or setting, the status or position of the people you are talking to, and appropriateness of the topic you will be talking about. For example, having a person who loves to communicate to everybody, what makes him good at communication? This is basically because he knows the use of Context and its importance, or the circumstances and setting of communication.

All of us may know how to communicate to each other but we have never explored beyond on how communication really works. The way we communicate most likely changes when we are with somebody else, the events we are in or what is happening on that present moment, and wherever we are. Context is somewhat the amplifier to communication and is an essential key to making everything be easier for us to decipher the data being conveyed to the decoder, it somewhat makes it more concise in every way possible. The ideal communication situation is impossible to achieve, but considering its contexts as we communicate can move us closer to that goal. Digging in deeper to context, everything makes more sense when understanding the various types of context and know these types increase the way of using the communication more efficiently yet professionally. These contexts’ help the decoder have a wide range of perspective on what is meant to be said by the encoder and these could lead to positive or negative approach.

Context is then divided to various types such as Physical, Social, Historical, Culture, Psychological and Intrapersonal. All of them run a huge role but yet, Physical Context is one of the most main context that is common but easily forgotten. Forgotten in the sense that we live in a world that has leading edge technology such as Smartphones, Smart watches, Laptops and many more. Technology basically affects the Physical Context full time since you miss the interaction with somebody you’re talking to. For example, having to talk to somebody on the other side of the world, you talk to them but they can only see words, they don’t have the sense of emotion or the first hand feeling especially that it makes a difference when hearing the voice of somebody rather than just seeing plain texts. Gestures and other non-verbal communication fall under the effects of Technology; we cannot just predict on how the message of one person is delivered when in fact we don’t see on how they’re acting. You have less information on how they convey a certain message to you and it makes it difficult to comprehend, even more having transparencies like these can lead to miscommunication. One tip on this if either you are taking to somebody far away from you, it is better off to call or have a video call to have better information and you are basing on real emotions since you are live with that person when talking.

Next to the Physical Context is the Cultural Context, the rest of the context just moves around these two, Both Physical and Cultural play bigger roles than the rest, since they are often used and encountered on a daily basis. As scientists stated that everyone is part of one or more cultural groups (e.g., race, ethnicity, religion, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability). There are various businesses that are diverse in culture, since every now and then companies and businesses are open to various nationalities, take the Hotel Industry for an example, this business runs with the employees in it who serve their customers on a daily basis, Individuals who are in hospitality come from different countries. Having these types of people coming in to apply, they must have a standard on how to speak in English or at least go in an English academy to have a feel on a different environment and immerse their selves to that culture to be more flexible with their future customers. The main problem of culture differences is fluency to speak one’s desired language which is English, one of them may struggle when interacting and communicating in English. In cultural context these does not only apply to language or practices but values and their accords, one’s country may have a community that is free to do anything and the other may have strict rules to abide so it may be hard for other people to adjust in culture. Though the people now are very diverse and yet flexible with each other since they try their best to be united with each other, which may be a long term strategy to have better communication towards other individuals. So on we may not be left out nor discriminated to an extent.