Intercultural Miscommunication Research Articles

Intercultural Miscommunications of a Malaysian university students and Strategies to Overcome Them

The phenomenon of intercultural communication is increasing day by day due to the new trend of global economy which brings people from various ethnicities and nationalities to work together in the same places. There is a need to look into this type of communication and have a closer look at the possible causes of miscommunication. This paper looks into intercultural miscommunication between international and local students in one of the major multicultural universities in Malaysia. It examines the quality of intercultural communication through investigating the various challenges students face in this regard as well as the different strategies they use to avoid and fix miscommunication. Interviews were conducted on 20 students. It was found that the participants of the study face various challenges which were classified into linguistic and cultural ones. The present paper invites researchers to further examine the various challenges that face both groups of students in this regard.

Social Equity and Intercultural Communication in the Workplace

As questions of social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion have come into greater focus in the field of technical and professional communication (TPC), we have developed an assignment sequence in our TPC courses centered on these issues. This assignment sequence reframes our units on workplace communication and correspondence and asks students to practice a variety of genres in addressing and creating cases of intercultural miscommunication, insensitivity, and ignorance in the workplace. We have adopted a case study pedagogy for this assignment in an effort to preempt the resistance that can sometimes accompany discussions of social justice in courses where social justice is not traditionally addressed. We have found that this approach makes the instruction more authentic, provides students with realistic workplace situations in which to practice professional correspondence, and highlights the existence and reality of social issues in the contemporary workplace.

A Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Study of Online Complaints by Japanese and Malaysian Hotel Guests in English

This study examined the rhetorical moves of complaints and the complaint strategies used by Japanese and Malaysian hotel guests between two cultural groups. Swales's (1981) move analysis was applied to identify and analyse the moves, while Trosborg's (1995) taxonomy of strategies was employed to analyse the speech act of complaints. The study's objectives are to investigate the communicative moves used by Japanese and Malaysian when expressing their regret through TripAdvisor and to analyse the complaint strategies used by Japanese and Malaysians when performing complaints online. The descriptive qualitative research method was employed, and data comprised 40 negative reviews towards hotels in Langkawi. The study used online reviews from TripAdvisor's website, to examine the negative feedback from Japanese and Malaysian guests in the English language were posted. The findings showed that the complaints' communicative moves had six moves: Opening, Dissatisfaction, Explanation, Recommendation, Closing, and Compliment, which were adapted from Morrow and Yamanouchi (2020). Moreover, findings of the move frequencies revealed that both the Japanese and Malaysian hotel guests would elaborate their frustration in detail as the 'Explanation' move. However, Malaysian travellers indicated more reasons and sequences of frustration than Japanese travellers. Furthermore, the sequence of the moves is not in a proper structure of conveying a complaint on TripAdvisor, whereby the 'Compliment' move was found either in the beginning, in the middle or in the ending parts of the text. Taxonomy of the complaint strategies by Trosborg (1995) was verified as follows: 1) 27.5% of No Explicit Reproach, 2) 35% of Disapproval Expression, 3) 22.5% of Accusation, and 4) 15% of Blame. In summary, the findings revealed that the two groups have comparable approach selections but differ in terms of complaint moves, complaint strategies, and language phrases for expressing frustration. Thus, knowing cross-cultural similarities and differences in speech acts can help avoid possible intercultural miscommunication, and managing negative customer reviews is pertinent for the hotel industry to improve intercultural communication.

Diversity attitudes and sensitivity of employees and leaders in the German STEM-sector.

The increasing diversity of cultural backgrounds, migration status and age is shaping modern working life. Previous research demonstrated that the attitudes and competences of team members and leaders toward diversity play a crucial role in utilizing the potential of heterogeneous teams and preventing detrimental behavior and discrimination. But even though leaders appear to be key figures in the process of diversity management, their perception of diversity as well as related challenges and chances are poorly investigated. The current paper aims to contribute to the understanding of leaders’ perspective on and role in diversity management building on a comparative analysis of two explorative qualitative studies with 16 employees and 22 leaders. The overall research questions are how employees and leaders perceive diversity of culture and age from their specific point of view, which experiences are likely to contribute to their opinion on and perception of diversity and in how far do employees and leaders differ in these aspects. Participants come from the German sector of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), which is the most internationalized and least psychologically investigated sector in Germany. The results show that employees are aware of the topic of diversity in general but have poor competences in dealing with diversity in their daily work life. This seems to be associated with a lack of experience with intercultural interaction and a lack of support from the respective organizations/leaders. We further found that individuals with a migration background do not show any signs of stereotype threat rather than expressing a feeling of being isolated from employees without a migration background. By comparing perspectives of leaders and employees, the current study contributes to the understanding of the processes underlying the experiences of inequalities of migrants and experiences of intercultural miscommunication and faultlines of people without migration background. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Culture and the Court Interpreter

In New Zealand, interpreters provide ‘vital services for nearly 10,000 hearings a year in more than 150 languages’ (Ministry of Justice chief operating officer, Carl Crafer according to Nichols, 2021). Despite this, the Ministry of Justice Guidelines for Interpreters (Ministry of Justice, 2021) (‘MOJ Guidelines’) provide very limited guidance on how court interpreters are expected to approach issues related to potential intercultural miscommunication. In this paper, I use the phrase ‘potential intercultural miscommunication’ to mean the possibility of otherwise unrecognised interpersonal misunderstandings occurring, due to differing customs, norms, and behaviours. This paper aims to examine the potential for such undetected intercultural miscommunications to occur in the criminal court, the impact they can have and what obligations, if any, should be placed on court interpreters and judges when such issues arise.

Gender Differences in the Usage of Speech Act of Promise among Moroccan Female and Male High School Students

The study aims at examining and analysing speech act of promise used by male and female Moroccan high school students. Research studies conducted on speech acts in different languages and cultures serve to provide an insightful understanding of intercultural communication. They substantially help in reaching over communicative differences among speakers of divergent languages, and accordingly lay the ground for addressing and handling issues that arise from intercultural miscommunication. This article is a research endeavour that seeks to fill the void that has been mentioned above. The core of this study is on a pragmatic-based analysis of the speech act of promising in Moroccan Arabic. More precisely, it targets identifying and investigating the widely utilized techniques of promise among male and female Moroccan high school students.The data has been collected from questionnaires composed of 19 hypothetical real-life situations in Morocco. The respondents of the research have been Moroccan-Arabic native speaking students studying in three public high schools in Casablanca, Morocco. The sample consists of 60 male students and 60 female students belonging to the three high school levels: common core, first year, and second year of Baccalaureate. The analysis of the data has revealed that Moroccan high school students embark on six strategies while constructing promise utterances, namely, self-repetition, conditional promises that incorporate Al Istithna (exception) promises and if promises, swearing tactic, assurance-based expressions, self-praising attributions, and preferred adjacency pairs technique. Furthermore, the findings of this study have exhibited that there are significant differences in the use of those strategies among male and female Moroccan high school students as they perform the speech act of promising. It has been proven through the distinct use of promising strategies that both genders speak different languages. Unlike male respondents whose language seems to be assertive, adversarial, and strong, female respondents speak a language of support, politeness, cooperation, and social affiliation.

An Exigent Tool to Curb Intercultural Conflicts in Nigeria

Communication is crucial to societal development and relationship building. In every developed country of the world, communication between the people is deemed a priority. However, effective communication in homogeneous states is easier compared to cultural diverse states. Nigeria is an African country famous for its fascinating cultural diversity, and has over 250 ethnic groups. However, this cultural diversity has led to unhealthy competition among the groups for superiority. The stereotypes created by Nigerians about each other remains a major impediment to effective intercultural communication. The absence of mechanisms to control ethnocentrism reveals the low level of the Nigerian government’s dedication towards nation building. Corruption and insecurity have fueled over the past couple of years due to increase in intercultural conflicts. Communication should be a substitute for violence in instances of rising tribal tensions. This study investigated the history of intercultural conflicts in Nigeria and its relationship with intercultural miscommunication. The research findings depict that Nigeria has a very weak foundation for inter-ethnic and inter-religious co-existence. Nigeria must rebuild its foundation to ensure peaceful co-existence among the ethnic groups and religions in the country, and to facilitate development and security.

The Problem of Intercultural Miscommunication, Ways to Solution, and Their Implications to Intercultural Education:Observations by Prospective English Subject Teachers

The Problem of Intercultural Miscommunication, Ways to Solution, and Their Implications to Intercultural Education:Observations by Prospective English Subject Teachers

The joint effects of information and communication technology development and intercultural miscommunication on international trade: Evidence from China and its trading partners

It is expected that advancements in communication technology can promote international trade by reducing transaction costs, improving efficiency, and moderating information asymmetry. Moreover, intercultural miscommunication caused by cultural differences generates costs from communication breakdowns during international trade. Using bilateral trade data from China and its major trading partners, this study not only provides further empirical evidence to support these claims but also examines the joint effect of those two factors on international trade, which have not been addressed in the literature. This study reveals the mixed results of the joint effects of intercultural miscommunication and the three factors of communication technology (access, use, and skills). More specifically, individualistic behaviours and masculine attitudes contribute the most to the negative effect on the relationship between international trade and communication technology access and use. In contrast, communication technology skills interact with intercultural miscommunication in different ways.

Folklore: A Tool for the Enhancement of Intercultural Communication Competence

Foreigners can learn to speak a language, but still find it difficult to understand the culture of the speakers of the language. It is very important for one to understand the culture of the language speakers if one intends to be involved with them on a permanent basis. Knowing the vocabulary of a language is not enough for one to understand the culture of the speakers of the language. Some words are loaded with culture, which can be a stumbling block towards understanding their deeper meaning, thereby leading to intercultural miscommunication. One way of acquainting oneself with a foreign culture could be by staying with the people for some time. However, the shortest way of becoming acquainted with a foreign culture is by accessing folklore of the community concerned. The purpose of this article is to reflect on the importance of folklore as a tool towards acquiring intercultural communication competence in a multicultural society.

Expert–Novice Negotiation within Learning Opportunities in Online Intercultural Interactions

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) and e-communication tools have introduced new pedagogical tools and activities that contribute to the development of language learners’ academic, multilingual, and intercultural skills and competences. Moreover, CMC has reinforced communication and collaboration between individuals and educational institutions through projects of intercultural language exchanges (ILE). Most of these exchanges idealise ‘nativeness’, and assert the L1 speaker as an expert ‘by default’. These models of ILE believe that the incorporation of a L1S is key to the creation of learning opportunities. This paper contests this belief. The one-to-one online video conversations took place on Skype between language learners of English and/or French over a period of four months. The dyads comprise the following speakers’ constellations: a L1S of French with a L1S of English, and a L1S of English with an Algerian (L2/LF of French and English). To assure equity in the use of languages, I scheduled two sessions every week, one in English and the second in French. This paper investigates the expert/novice dichotomy and how it is negotiated in the learning opportunities they have created. It also casts light on the speakers’ communicative strategies and linguaculture(s) included in overcoming intercultural misunderstanding and miscommunication when using or not using their L1, French and/or English. These intercultural interactions have uncovered that the novice–expert roles alternate between the speakers despite the language of communication and their L1s. The interactants used several strategies and channels, namely pragmatic strategies such as repetition, nonverbal cues to ask for clarification and signal intercultural misunderstandings, translanguaging and their multilingual repertoires in order to construct meaning, achieve their communicative goals or in case of the lack of linguistic resources.

TRANSLATION OF KINSHIP TERMINOLOGY IN SELECTED BILINGUAL DICTIONARIES IN KENYA AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR CROSS - CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Kinship terms are culturally and socially tied to the society’s structure and communities’ values that have developed over a long period of time. In the different Kenyan social environments many kinship terms abound that are extremely definite and cannot be found in other Kenyan languages or English and consequently may generate some translation difficulties and misinterpretations. The intended meaning of these culturally bound kinship terms that exist in source languages which are embedded in the Kenyan socio-cultural scene cannot be transferred to the target language (English) through a word or group of words which are thought to be the English equivalents in the translation process. The paper presents a list of common kinship terms present in three Kenyan languages with comparable interpretation. Kinship terms that are mainly culture specifc certainly indicates the frm and close social ties that a community has established over the years. The present paper seeks to answer two main questions: i) How are the non-equivalences of kinship terms between English and the selected languages translated in different bilingual dictionaries? ii) What is the alternative model of translating kinship terms in the selected bilingual dictionaries? These kinship terms pose difculties and intercultural miscommunication when not properly interpreted. The present paper is based on Baker’s (2006) effected translation equivalence theory of Kinship terms and social structure model and equivalence theory of translation. The paper develops a model for translating kinship terms from the selected languages into English.

A theory of interactional systems: semantic connections and relational contextics

The aim of this paper is to develop a theoretical proposition based on the study of intercultural miscommunication, which has shown that the creation, evolution and ending of interactional misunderstandings can be understood by using systemic theories (Wagener, 2009a, 2010). In this perspective, human interactions obey basic principle that can be applied to biological life in its simplest expression, although said interactions draw on sophisticated devices used to trigger and maintain relationships and communication variations. We thus wish to combine the systemic, the pragmatic and the connectionist paradigms to represent both nuances and subtleties of human rapports. A systemic model of human interactions, namely the interactional system, would then draw on the flexibility and adaptability of its fundamental parameters. The main purpose of the present work is to elaborate on a theory of interactional systems by proposing a coherent and comprehensive approach of interactional dynamics, in order to present an accurate modelisation of the complexity of human interactions – especially when said interactions suffer situations of conflictual destabilisation.

A theory of interactional systems: semantic connections and relational contextics

The aim of this paper is to develop a theoretical proposition based on the study of intercultural miscommunication, which has shown that the creation, evolution and ending of interactional misunderstandings can be understood by using systemic theories (Wagener, 2009a, 2010). In this perspective, human interactions obey basic principle that can be applied to biological life in its simplest expression, although said interactions draw on sophisticated devices used to trigger and maintain relationships and communication variations. We thus wish to combine the systemic, the pragmatic and the connectionist paradigms to represent both nuances and subtleties of human rapports. A systemic model of human interactions, namely the interactional system, would then draw on the flexibility and adaptability of its fundamental parameters. The main purpose of the present work is to elaborate on a theory of interactional systems by proposing a coherent and comprehensive approach of interactional dynamics, in order to present an accurate modelisation of the complexity of human interactions – especially when said interactions suffer situations of conflictual destabilisation.

The refusal speech act in a cross-cultural perspective: A study of Iranian English-language learners and Anglo-Australian speakers

This study aimed to investigate the refusal strategies of Iranian English-language learners and Anglo-Australian students to shed light on possible areas of cross-cultural miscommunication. Data were collected through a discourse completion test. Sociocultural norms underlying refusals of Iranian students were also investigated through focus group interviews (FGIs).In interaction with addressees of higher social power, both groups of participants used more indirect strategies. However, while making refusals to status equals, the performance of the Iranian and Australian participants differed from each other to a degree that could lead to intercultural miscommunication. The FGIs revealed that first language cultural schemas of tă'ărof (ritual politeness) and ru-dar-băyesti (state/feeling of distance-out-of-respect) greatly affected the refusals of the Iranian students.

Explaining the Chechen schism in Georgia's Pankisi valley

This article explores the dynamics within the Pankisi Chechen community, which is divided between radicals and traditionalists, identifying the main obstacles thwarting their co-habitation and offering some ideas that would consolidate and reconcile the communities. It employs intercultural miscommunication theory, emphasising that when the parties are not especially aware of their differences, or of how members of different communities understand particular behaviours, tensions begin to mount. This article hypothesises that the feud within the Chechen community in Pankisi is caused by intercultural miscommunication and unwillingness to share and communicate what they have in common. This article analyses the development and genesis of the Chechen community in Pankisi, unravels internal frictions with regard to religion, customs and traditions, and concludes that tensions arise from misinterpretations of traditions and customs and a radicalised form of Islam, which brings different values. It suggests that a cultural Chechenisation process, with introduction of the Chechen language and the Chechen history in the schools’ curriculum would work towards the preservation of the Vainakh traditions, customs and history, and improve the intra-community communication process.

Philosophical and Practical Significance of the Inclusion of the Speech Acts in English Language Teaching Curriculum

 Abstract—This study aims at not only describing acts but highlights the importance of the teaching of acts as well. Recent second language research on acts represents a focus on pragmatics, based on the theories of acts proposed by Austin and Searle. It has been widely believed and shared in linguistic quarters that there has been very little or no systematic comparison of languages from the point of view of acts and rules of speaking. As a result, intercultural miscommunication is often caused by foreign language learners' falling back on their native language sociocultural norms in realizing acts in a target language. To make language learners attain pragmatic use of any foreign language requires first theoretical and then practical study of speech acts. The teaching of structural, functional and affective power of the language in actual use through student projects and classroom discussions of both on the structure, the function and the affect may well help learners to become effective communicators. Therefore, the inclusion of the functional and notional aspects of language being taught to the curriculum cannot be an issue to be ignored. The results of this study puts forward the possible sources of sociopragmatic failures of learners and describe the sociopragmatic development of foreign language learners. Therefore, as foreign language teaching and learning is considered to be a global issue throughout the world, the descriptions and teaching implications of this study may shed light over curriculum design and actual language teaching milieus.

How to Cultivate Intercultural Communication Competence of Non-English Major Students

In fact students have already received almost totally grammatical rules during their several years study, but they often lack of the ability to actually use English and to understand the use in normal intercultural communication. Misunderstandings caused by cultural differences have involved them frequently in intercultural miscommunication. The purpose of this paper is to present the concept of intercultural communication competence, focus its importance on foreign language teaching, and indicate how to cultivate students’ intercultural communication competence. The writer emphasis the relationship between culture and language, communication and culture, she briefly introduces the situation in foreign language teaching in the past and today. In this paper, the author try to illustrate how to cultivate students who are not English major to understand the cultural meanings of language, and try to help them use English properly, especially in special context.

(Mis)understanding and Obtuseness: “Ethnolinguistic Borders” in a Miniscule Speech Community

Building on two of Gumperz's foundational concerns—multilingual speech communities and linguistically linked intercultural miscommunication—I extend (or perhaps reduce) a couple of Gumperzian concepts to an almost limiting case: a single extended family in Chiapas, Mexico, where three deaf siblings interact with their hearing relatives of three generations. Here a spoken Mayan language (along with a little Spanish) is used side by side with a spontaneously emerging homesign or sign language. Linguistic tension emerges from misunderstandings and failures of communication in even this tiny speech community, and the complex pattern of interaction between its members suggests analogues of ethnolinguistic divisions, here even between siblings or parents and children, as well as nascent ideologies of language, mind, and identity familiar from much larger and more diversified speech situations. In particular I examine the crucial nexus of linguistically mediated social relations between the first deaf individual in the family and four categories of others: her parents, her deaf siblings, her hearing siblings, and her young (hearing) child.

Intercultural Miscommunication in the Production of Communicative Patterns by Arab EFL Learners

The present study is an attempt to describe how Arab learners of English produce culture-specific expressions that create potential miscommunication across cultures. Three related approaches - ethnography of communication, pragmatic failure and conversational Analysis - were reviewed so as to get insights into understanding such a phenomenon. The subjects of the study consist of 120 male Saudi and Yemeni learners of English. In order to elicit data for the study, the subjects were given a Multiple-choice Discourse Completion Test (MDCT) which consists of six situations wherein they picture themselves to be in the real situation and choose a response from the ones provided. The findings of the study showed that the hypothesized responses, which are Arab culture –specific communicative patterns, received high number of frequency compared to the other responses. Such communicative patterns are likely to cause miscommunication in situations like the ones described in the study. The study concluded that Arab speakers of English should be made aware of the misuse of such communicative patterns in order to minimize miscommunication in their communicative interaction across cultures.