Intercultural Communication and Cultural Differences

“People are alike, and people are different.” What a profound statement. This statement is an important concept in learning how to deal with intercultural communication issues, and with today’s population shift it is more important than ever to grasp it. In this essay we will examine how people are alike, and how people are different in relations to intercultural communication.

First, let’s look at how people are alike, and how these similarities relate to intercultural communication. Without trying to state the obvious, physiologically we are all basically the same, heart, lungs, blood, brains, etc. Also we all try to “seek pleasure and avoid pain.” (Samovar and Porter, 2001, 29). Protection of the ego is also a commonality among the human race as well. At some point in life we all realize that life is finite, that we are “isolated from all other human beings” (29), we all must make decisions, and that the world is given meaning by personal experiences. Also every culture has a language, a set of social rules based on the group member’s age and gender, and systems to regulate the community. (29). If we remember that we have these similarities then it is obvious that we are more alike than different. Using these similarities we can then relate to someone we thought we could not understand because they were “different.” And by altering slightly our views on the similarities, we can then begin to understand the differences in cultures.