Cross-Cultural Communication Class

              In looking into conflict and how I have dealt with conflict in my life I was made aware of a few things I had never thought about in my readings for classes this week. Growing up I was always taught to say what I mean and to mean what I say, which according to Martin and Nakayama 2022 would be a more discussion style when dealing with conflict. The discussion style combines the direct and emotional restrained approaches to conflict with individuals being comfortable expressing disagreements but do so with their emotions in check. In further reading, understanding and examination of myself I have felt that I relate more to the accommodating style. Accommodating style combines the indirect and emotional restrained approaches to conflict. As I tend to be more silent and like to avoid conflict whenever possible I was shocked in my reading that this style related more to the way I handle conflict especially knowing th...

  When thinking about intercultural relationships , I never really thought about age and physical ability being part of the difference in a culture. According to Martin and Nakayama 2022, intercultural relationships are relationships that are formed between individuals from diverse cultures, with the possibility of differences in age, physical abilities, gender, ethnicity, class, religion, race, or nationality  (Martin & Nakayama, 2022) . The idea that age and physical ability is considered an intercultural relationship has given me more of an idea about the diverse cultures I am exposed to on a regular basis that I never considered. I always thought about intercultural relationships and culture to be based on more of the race and nationality standpoint. In reading this week’s readings I have feel more enlightened that intercultural relationships are much broader than I expected. Having a new understanding of intercultural relationships has opened my eyes to the amount o...

In thinking about how dominant the US is and how we get products to different regions it occurred to me that cultural imperialism   (Martin, 2022) is a real thing. I never used to think about why I never heard of, tried, or tasted different things from different regions however, in my readings this week it became clear. The US has dominated the spread of its products to different regions and with the monetary control they have it has made it more difficult to experience culture from other regions. In thinking about the control that the US has it also made me think about the shift of popular culture (Martin, 2022) . While I may not engage in much of the popular culture for those of my age/generation I still know about and contribute to some of the sharing of popular shows, music, and videos. Even though I don't consider myself to be well versed or even care much about popular culture the readings this week have opened my eyes to a new understanding of popular culture and the impact...

            In my reading for a class this week I came across a few terms that really caught me off guard. In my life I have heard about flight or fight responses but always thought mainly about animals or how people react to a startling sound or occurrence. Never had I thought about a flight approach or a fight approach in regard to adapting to ones surroundings/environment. These approaches were discussed in a transition model and one of the two I related to while the other makes me nervous to even think about doing.             Flight approach , is a strategy to cope with a new situation, being hesitant or withdrawn from the new environment (Martin & Nakayama, 2022) . Is one approach of the transition model that I can relate to and is how I tend to acclimate myself to a new or uncomfortable situation. While reading about this approach it discusses how these individuals tend to hang back an...

              While reading for a class to obtain my bachelor's degree I came across a chapter discussing cultural space. I never thought much about the space that I inhabit and how it changes. Cultural Space , according to Martin and Nakayama, is the particular configuration of the communication that constructs meanings of various places (Martin & Nakayama, 2022) . One of these spaces is the home in which we grow up in. The home usually stands as a safe, secure place for us to grow, mature, and learn. However, a home can be described in many different ways from a specific address to a particular state or nation. The importance of the home is that it has a particular tie to us as an individual and won’t have the exact same meaning for everyone. In looking at cultural space we also need to realize how it changes. There are several different ways a space can change. In thinking about those changes, it is important to consider...

  Communication is something that we all do on a daily basis, but do you ever think about your style of communication? According to Martin and Nakayama, communication style is the metamessage that contextualizes how listeners are expected to accept and interpret verbal messages   (Martin, 2022) . There are many different ways someone can differ from you in regard to communication, from being direct or indirect or being elaborate or understated. In completing some reading in an intercultural communication class I gained insight to another way of differentiation communication styles, high-context, and low-context communication. High-context communication is a style of communication in which much of the information is contained in the contexts and nonverbal cues rather than expressed explicitly in words (Martin, 2022) . While on the other hand low-context communication is a style of communication in which much of the information is conveyed in words rather than in nonverbal cu...