Intercultural Communication

by Novinger, Tracy

• ISBN13: 9780292755710
• ISBN10: 0292755716
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-12-01
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr

Summary

Successfully communicating with people from another culture requires learning more than just their language. While fumbling a word or phrase may cause embarrassment, breaking the unspoken cultural rules that govern personal interactions can spell disaster for businesspeople, travelers, and indeed anyone who communicates across cultural boundaries. To help you avoid such damaging gaffes, Tracy Novinger has compiled this authoritative, practical guide for deciphering and following "the rules" that govern cultures, demonstrating how these rules apply to the communication issues that exist between the United States and Mexico. Novinger begins by explaining how a major proportion of communication within a culture occurs nonverbally through behavior and manners, shared attitudes, common expectations, and so on. Then, using real-life examples and anecdotes, she pinpoints the commonly occurring obstacles to communication that can arise when cultures differ in their communication techniques. She shows how these obstacles come into play in contacts between the U.S. and Mexico and demonstrates that mastering the unspoken rules of Mexican culture is a key to cementing business and social relationships. Novinger concludes with nine effective, reliable principles for successfully communicating across cultures. A real estate investment professional currently residing in Austin, Texas, Tracy Novinger writes from extensive research and her personal experiences of living and working in cultures as diverse as Aruba and Tahiti. She was born in the Caribbean, studied in Brazilian schools, speaks several languages, has traveled extensively, and has a master's degree in communications.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
PART ONE The Global Perspective of Intercultural Communication	1	(74)
Why Communicate across Cultures?	3	(9)
What Constitutes a Culture?	12	(14)
Obstacles of Perception	26	(19)
Obstacles in Verbal Processes	45	(8)
Obstacles in Nonverbal Processes	53	(22)
PART TWO Two Worlds: The United States and Mexico	75	(74)
The Mexico--United States Cultural Environment	77	(29)
Some Mexico--United States Cultural Issues	106	(18)
Day-to-Day Cultural Interaction	124	(25)
PART THREE Conclusion	149	(10)
Transcending Culture	151	(8)
Appendix: Author's Note	159	(2)
Glossary	161	(12)
Notes	173	(20)
Bibliography	193	(8)
Index	201	(8)
About the Author	209