My intercultural communication at school Essay

My ESL classes at Heald College took six months and these were necessary requirements so that I could pursue major courses in Architecture. There were opposite students worry me from other countries and it felt good to belong to a group that was being taught the American way of life and farming. It felt good because it gave me the feeling that I was not al unmatched in my hardships. It did not feel so bad and fishy being with a group try with nuances of the English language and pronunciation and the idiosyncrasies of American culture.While I considered myself an out-group when I was with natural- natural Americans, I felt like a member of an in-group when I was with the foreign students. Probably, this feeling springs from the fact that matchless natur wholey feels out of place when all others arrange and talk in a different way. There is almost comfort developed from knowing that unrivaled is just like the others. My struggle to fit in was at multiplication frustrating, as I could not be properly understood by the teacher on account of misplaced accents or outright mispronunciations.At first I really felt stupid when the teacher would ingeminate my statement and ask if it was what I meant. When I would say it was not what I meant, another classmate would butt in with a genuine use to help me out but I would end up all the more(prenominal) confused and misunderstood. Realizing the setbacks of my lack of facility with the language, I resolved more than ever to master the English language. My Intercultural Communication at Work functional as a busboy and later, as a waiter in a restaurant gave me the chance to encounter more people and gain more facility with the English language.Finding work was quite an intoxicate experience for me. I felt that I could already communicate my ideas all the way and so I gained more confidence. Of course, there were still some instances when some patrons would fail to understand how I pronounce my words but whene ver such a thing happened, I would remember the word and practice saw it correctly when I got home. I had discarded my Dari-English dictionary and I could already carry on a conversation with a native loudspeaker of American English without fumbling for the right word or halting.I once attempted to be friendly with other waiters hoping to generate deeper comradeship while we were up and about with our tasks. To my horror, I found that Americans seem to be single- consciousnessed and so focused when they go about their work that kid is misconstrued as not being serious about work. From then on, I detected to be very business-like while doing my work, bearing in mind that I was not working in an Afghan setting consequence This profound reflection on my sojourn in America has do me realize a lot of things that I once took for granted.First, I accomplished that I possess the resilience and tenacity that is a hallmark of a true Afghan. I used to take for granted the lore and inv oice that due to the Afghan experience of a succession of foreign invasions, Afghans argon by nature strong in spirit and character. Indeed, it is no scant(p) task for an 18-year-old boy to force himself to become an adult almost long due to peculiar personal circumstances. I realized too that motion-picture show to another culture widens ones horizons and makes one more tolerant of other people. preoccupation into another culture truly begins and is facilitated by an earnest desire to learn the language to a level that one speaks it like one born into the language itself. Together with this is a keen sense of awareness of the plain insignificant cultural differences between ones culture of rail line and the host culture. Cultural sensitivity, if I may use the term, enables one to pencil lead clear of problematic situations. Indeed, it is not always wise to act and be hurt according to ones cultural orientation when one is in another cultural setting.My intercultural communica tion with the Peterson family was at first regulated by cues from the reactions of Mr. Peterson. I came to know what he disliked by spy how he reacted. Yet, the sincere sharing of cultural traditions was the factor that truly made our birth rise up to a higher level. Mutual respect and fellow feeling resulted from the open sharing and this could not brook happened by merely observing each others reactions. Truly, if one wants to have a meaty intercultural communication, it must begin with an honest sharing of culture and traditions.It makes it possible to diorama the other person from their own cultural perspective. The moment I halt my automatic comparison of Afghan and American values whenever I encountered an unfamiliar with(predicate) cultural practice, I became more accepting of American culture. As Holliday, Hyde and Kullman advise, practice aside simplistic notions about what is real and unreal in your light of another culture, and appreciate that every society is a s complex and culturally varied as your own.(10) The moment I began to have this lieu in my attempt to fully integrate myself into American society, I may have taken the first step towards intercultural competency. Alred and Byram (2002) define intercultural competence as the ability to behave appropriately in intercultural situations. the ability to change ones self-identity while mediating between cultures (340). I may have taken the first step but I still have a long way to go. All people regardless of culture have the innate need to feel a sense of belongingness.I am sure this is the reason why I felt at ease with my fellow Afghans as I did with other foreign students who were struggling to deal with language difficulties. Yet, once a genuine intercultural communication is initiated, it leads one to learn and marvel at the diversity and richness of all cultures around the world.Works Cited Alred, Geof and Mike Byram. Becoming an Intercultural Mediator A Longitudinal subject o f Residence Abroad. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 23. 5 (2002).Retrieved from http//www. multilingual-matters. cyberspace/jmmd/023/jmmd0230339.htm on April 25, 2007. Holliday, Adrian, Martin Hyde, and John Kullman. Intercultural Communication An Advanced Resource Book. New York Routledge, 2004. Questia. 25 Apr. 2007 . Robson, Barbara, Juliene Lipson with Farid Younos and Mariam Mehdi. Afghans Their History and Culture, Cross-Cultural and Adjustment Challenges, published by the Center of utilize Linguistics, The Cultural Orientation Resource Center last updated 6/30/02. Retrieved from http//www. cal. org/co/afghan/acult. html on April 25, 2007.