Barriers to Intercultural Communication

"Culture is something that unites people."- Anastasiya O. Russia

 

Culture is the arrangement of shared beliefs, values, customs, practices, and artifacts that society members use to adapt to their world and with each other, transmitted from generation to generation through learning. However, in a broadly globalized world, not all individuals share a similar culture to the others. Practices that are sacred to one culture may be offensive to the other culture, so communication in a culturally different society is an incredible challenge. Intercultural communication is an approach of accepting and respecting the social contrast of different people. But it is not that simple since each of us has a hold to a certain standard towards our way of doing culture, so intercultural communication barriers exist.

It is when a person takes their standards or culture as superior to another culture. Instead of understanding the other culture from their perspective, that person tends to judge them and compare them based on their standards.

 

 

Stereotyping is a fixed, over summed up conviction about a specific group or class of people. By generalizing, we assume that a person has a whole scope of attributes and capacities that we consider all group members have. It is a barrier because some stereotypes are false assumptions that could hinder us from appreciating other cultures.

 

 

It is an unjustified, typically negative disposition toward an individual or group with practically little or no prior knowledge or interaction towards that specific group. Developing good communication with other cultures can be affected by prejudice since this attitude can inflict pain on other people.

 

 

Discrimination means mistreating a person because of who they are or because they possess specific characteristics that are not ordinary or unusual to a society. This barrier can make a person inferior or even ashamed of what he/she has because it has already been tattooed to their brain that they are different. Through this feeling of inferiority and insecurity, it might be one reason for them to be afraid to open themselves to other people.

                    

 I want to share with you how I also got through some of the Intercultural Barrier presented above.  

Since I was young, I am already a chubby girl and became fatter when I grew older. It came to the point where my doctor declared that I am already obese, and my heart is gradually covered with fats, the reason behind why I rapidly get drained and have short breaths. I have experienced discrimination and bullying just because of how fat I am. 

Each time I ride a jeep, drivers would consistently approach my mother to pay twofold for our fare since they are pointing out that I occupy two seats. Whenever my classmates have food, they would shroud it each time they see me moving towards them. They didn't know that I am also picky about what food I eat, but I tend to overeat my favorite food; that's why I am fat. Again, I would not ask for their food because I am not comfortable asking for food from other people except my mother.

I was also called 'taba' and 'baboy' by my playmates and cousins. That time I longed for being a majorette and being a dance troupe member, however when I saw that all who tried out have a nice body, skinny legs, and a pretty face, my insecurities crept in, then I gave up on those fantasies. I was body shamed to the point that I cannot see anything beautiful about myself. I see myself in a negative light and even afraid if I see people gazing at me because I knew at the back of their minds, they were judging me for how fat and appalling I am. 

At the time I reached grade 6, I decided to lose weight and discipline my dietary patterns. They say those fat people should lose weight to satisfy themselves, not to please others. But let's all face that there's always that little level of motivation to get more fit so others could appreciate and accept you. I'm not going to lie that it was one of my reasons; however, a significant piece of it is my well-being because I was advised to shred extra fats and discipline myself if I want to live healthier and longer. Up to this point, I am already a first-year college student; I kept an average weight, not too fat and not too thin. 

I may encounter prejudice and discrimination before, but I conquered it by dealing with myself better and making my body healthier. It is vital to be sensitive to how we treat and talk to others since words are significantly more powerful than we could think of that might make or break others' life.

 -Theresse Balmorida-