Cultural Awareness is the foundation
of communication and it involves the ability of standing back
from ourselves and becoming aware of our cultural
values, beliefs and perceptions. Why do we do things in that way? How do we see
the world? Why do we react in that particular way?
Cultural awareness becomes central
when we have to interact with people from other cultures. People see, interpret
and evaluate things in a different ways. What is considered an appropriate behavior in one culture is frequently inappropriate in
another one. Misunderstandings arise when I use my meanings to make sense of
your reality.
As an Italian it is almost automatic
to perceive US Americans as people who always work, talk about business over
lunch and drink their coffee running in the street instead of enjoying it in a
bar. What does it mean? Italians are lazy and American hyperactive? No, it
means that the meaning that people give to certain activities, like having
lunch or dinner could be different according to certain cultures. In
Misinterpretations occur primarily
when we lack awareness of our own behavioral rules
and project them on others. In absence of better knowledge we tend to assume,
instead of finding out what a behavior means to the
person involved, e.g. a straight look into your face is regarded as
disrespectful in
Becoming aware of our cultural
dynamics is a difficult task because culture is not conscious to us. Since we
are born we have learned to see and do things at an unconscious level. Our
experiences, our values and our cultural background lead us to see and do
things in a certain way. Sometimes we have to step outside of our cultural
boundaries in order to realize the impact that our culture has on our behavior. It is very helpful to gather feedback from
foreign colleagues on our behavior to get more
clarity on our cultural traits.
Projected similarities could lead to
misinterpretation as well. When we assume that people are similar to us, we
might incur the risk that they are not. If we project similarities where there
are not, we might act inappropriately. It is safer to assume differences until
similarity is proven.
Adapted from: http://www.culturosity.com/articles/whatisculturalawareness.htm
by Stephanie Quappe
and Giovanna Cantatore.
1. Which one would be the best title
for the text? (Tick the appropriate choice)
o Cultural Consciousness o Cultural Unconsciousness o Cultural Misinterpretation
2. Decide if these statements are
true or false. Then, justify your answers.
a. Cultural awareness is unnecessary to communicate with other people.
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b. Misunderstandings occur when I see your behaviours in your own culture
appropriate.
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c. Becoming conscious of our cultural is an easy
task to do.
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d. Opinions of other people are useless for us to know about our cultural
characteristics.
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3. Answer the following questions in
your own words as far as possible.
a. When is cultural awareness very significant to us?
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b. Why have the writers made a distinction between Americans and Italians?
For what purpose?
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4. Find in the aricle
words that mean the same as:
a. Communicate (Parag. 2): .........................................
b. Suitable or right (Parag. 2): .........................................
c. See (Parag. 3): .........................................
d. Results (Parag. 3): .........................................
e. Considered (Parag. 4): .........................................
5. What does the underlined word in
the text refer to?
a. It (Parag. 1): .........................................