Types of communication between people of different cultures and problems of their interaction. Problems of intercultural communication and intercultural conflicts

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Types of communications between people of different cultures and problems of their interaction

The variety of types of social interaction, social contexts and intentions of the participants in communication is reflected in the variety of speech genres - from everyday chatter to emotional confessions, from business meetings and negotiations to speaking in the media. At the same time, speech communication through images, motives, attitudes, emotions determines social and interpersonal relationships, speech constitutes them.

Even a superficial observation of people's behavior makes it possible to single out a special group among them, which is distinguished by high sociability. People of this type can easily establish contacts with other people and acquire acquaintances, feel comfortable in any company. According to the observations of psychologists, such people consciously or unconsciously use certain methods of attraction, that is, the ability to win over the interlocutor. Special studies of foreign scientists have determined that the nature, form and style of communication largely depend on the first minutes, and sometimes seconds of communication. There are many very simple techniques that allow in almost any situation to facilitate the initial stage of communication, which determines the entire further course of this process. Such techniques include a smile, addressing the interlocutor by name, a compliment, etc. Well-known to every person, often unconsciously used in everyday practice and effective communication techniques allow you to win over the interlocutor and lay the foundation for long-term and effective communication.

Depending on the combination of different methods, techniques and styles of communication in communication science, it is customary to distinguish three main types of intercultural communication: verbal, non-verbal And paraverbal.

According to experts, three-quarters of the communicative interaction of people consists of verbal (verbal) communication. In the process of communication, people mutually influence each other, exchange various ideas, interests, moods, feelings, etc. To do this, each culture has created its own language system, with the help of which its carriers have the opportunity to communicate and interact. In science, various forms of linguistic communication are called verbal means of communication. Verbal communication is understood as linguistic communication, expressed in the exchange of thoughts, information, emotional experiences of interlocutors.

Studies of the communication process show that speech (verbal) communication is the main type of human communication, but it is accompanied by various kinds of non-verbal actions that help to understand and comprehend the speech text. The effectiveness of any communication contacts is determined not only by how clear the words or other elements of verbal communication are to the interlocutor, but also by the ability to correctly interpret visual information that is transmitted by facial expressions, gestures, body movements, the pace and timbre of speech. Although language is the most efficient and productive tool of human communication, it is not the only means of communication. The fact is that only factual knowledge can be transmitted by means of verbal communication, but they are not enough to convey the feelings of a person. Various kinds of feelings, experiences and moods that are not amenable to verbal expression are transmitted by means of non-verbal communication. The sphere of non-verbal communication is made up of all non-linguistic signals sent by a person and having a communicative value. These means combine a wide range of phenomena, including not only facial expressions, gestures, body postures, voice timbre, but also various elements of the environment, clothing, appearance design elements, etc.

> Non-verbal communication in science is understood as a set of non-linguistic means, symbols and signs used to convey information and messages in the process of communication.

In the process of communication, the spoken word is never neutral, and often even more important than the content of the message. The meaning of the statement may change depending on what intonation, rhythm, timbre, phrasal and logical stresses were used to convey it. All these sound elements of information transmission are called paralinguistic means. Researchers identify the following acoustic means that accompany, supplement and replace speech sounds: tempo, pitch, loudness, speed, timbre, rhythm, pauses, intonation, sighs, groans, coughing, etc.

Voice characteristics are among the most important factors of perception, since speech shades affect the meaning of the statement, signal emotions, the state of a person, his confidence or uncertainty, etc. Therefore, along with verbal and non-verbal means of communication, paraverbal means are used in communication - a set of sound signals, which accompany oral speech, introducing additional meanings into it. An example of this kind is intonation, signaling the interrogative nature of the sentence, sarcasm, disgust, irony, etc. In other words, during paraverbal communication, a certain part of the information is transmitted through voice shades, which are given a certain meaning in different languages.

Intercultural interactions carried out in different types of communication using different means led to different results in terms of changing cultures, preserving or partially losing their identity, spiritual enrichment (due to borrowing someone else's experience) and even to the emergence of new cultures as a result of direct mutual influences.

Cultural contacts are an essential component of communication between nations. When interacting, cultures not only complement each other, but also enter into complex relationships, while in the process of interaction each of them reveals its own identity and specificity, cultures mutually adapt by borrowing the best products. The changes caused by these borrowings force people of a given culture to adapt to them, mastering and using new elements in their lives. In addition, the need to adapt to new cultural conditions is faced, for example, by businessmen, scientists, who travel abroad for a short time and come into contact with a foreign culture; foreign students living in a foreign country for a long time; personnel of foreign companies; missionaries, administrators, diplomats; Finally, emigrants and refugees who voluntarily or involuntarily changed their place of residence, moved to another country forever, they must not only adapt, but become full-fledged members of the new society and culture. Usually voluntary migrants are better prepared for this than refugees who were not psychologically prepared to move and live in a foreign country. As a result of this rather complex process, a person, to a greater or lesser extent, achieves compatibility with the new cultural environment. It is believed that in all these cases we are dealing with the process of acculturation.

Study of acculturation processes at the beginning of the 20th century. was started by American cultural anthropologists R. Redfield, R. Linton and M. Herskovitz. At first, acculturation was considered as the result of a long-term contact of groups representing different cultures, which was expressed in a change in the initial cultural models in both groups (depending on the proportion of interacting groups). It was believed that these processes proceed automatically, while cultures are mixed, and a state of cultural and ethnic homogeneity is achieved. Of course, a really less developed culture changes much more than a developed one. Also, the result of acculturation was made dependent on the relative weight (number of participants) of the interacting groups. It was within the framework of these theories that the famous concept of the United States of America as a melting pot of cultures arose, according to which the cultures of peoples who come to the United States mix in this melting pot and as a result a new homogeneous American culture is formed.

Gradually, researchers moved away from understanding acculturation only as a group phenomenon and began to consider it at the level of individual psychology. At the same time, new ideas about this process appeared, which began to be understood as a change in value orientations, role behavior, social attitudes of the individual. Now the term "acculturation" is used to refer to the process and result of the mutual influence of different cultures, in which all or part of the representatives of one culture (recipients) adopt the norms, values and traditions of another (donor culture).

So, this is evidenced by modern research in the field of acculturation, which was especially intensified at the end of the 20th century. This is due to the real migration boom experienced by mankind and manifested in the ever-increasing exchange of students, specialists, as well as in mass migrations. After all, according to some data, more than 100 million people live outside their country of origin today.

The main forms of acculturation. In the process of acculturation, each person simultaneously solves two major problems: he strives to preserve his cultural identity and is included in a foreign culture. The combination of possible solutions to these problems gives four main strategies for acculturation: assimilation, separation, marginalization and integration.

> Assimilation is a variant of acculturation, in which a person fully accepts the values and norms of another culture, while refusing their own norms and values.

> Separation is the denial of a foreign culture while maintaining identification with their own culture.

In this case, members of the non-dominant group prefer a greater or lesser degree of isolation from the dominant culture. If members of the dominant culture insist on such isolation, this is called segregation.

> Marginalization means, on the one hand, the loss of identity with one's own culture, on the other hand, the lack of identification with the culture of the majority.

This situation arises from the inability to maintain one's own identity (usually due to some external reasons) and the lack of interest in obtaining a new identity (perhaps due to discrimination or segregation from this culture).

> Integration is identification with both the old and the new culture.

Until recently, researchers believed that the best strategy for acculturation is complete assimilation with the dominant culture. Today, the goal of acculturation is considered to be the achievement of cultural integration, resulting in a bicultural or multicultural personality. This is possible if the interacting majority and minority groups voluntarily choose this strategy: the integrating group is ready to accept the attitudes and values of a new culture, and the dominant group is ready to accept these people, respecting their rights, their values, adapting social institutions to the needs of these groups.

It is believed that the success of acculturation in the psychological aspect is determined by a positive ethnic identity and ethnic tolerance. Integration corresponds to positive ethnic identity and ethnic tolerance, assimilation - negative ethnic identity and ethnic tolerance, separation - positive ethnic identity and intolerance, marginalization - negative ethnic identity and intolerance.

The most important result and goal of the process of acculturation is long-term adaptation to life in a foreign culture. It is characterized by relatively stable changes in individual or group consciousness in response to environmental demands. Adaptation is usually considered in two aspects - psychological and socio-cultural.

Psychological adaptation is the achievement of psychological satisfaction within the framework of a new culture. This is expressed in well-being, psychological health, and a well-formed sense of personal or cultural identity.

Sociocultural adaptation consists in the ability to freely navigate in a new culture and society, to solve everyday problems in the family, at home, at work and at school. Since one of the most important indicators of successful adaptation is the availability of work, satisfaction with it and the level of one's professional achievements and, as a result, one's well-being in a new culture, researchers have recently singled out economic adaptation as an independent aspect of adaptation.

Of course, the aspects of adaptation are closely related, but since the factors influencing them differ quite a lot, besides, psychological adaptation is studied in the context of stress and psychopathology, and sociocultural adaptation is studied within the framework of the concept of social skills, then its aspects are still considered separately. .

Adaptation may (or may not) lead to a mutual correspondence between the individual and the environment, and may be expressed not only in adaptation, but also in resistance, in an attempt to change one's environment or to change mutually. And the range of results of adaptation is very wide - from a very successful adaptation to a new life to the complete failure of all attempts to achieve this.

It is obvious that the results of adaptation will depend on both psychological and sociocultural factors that are quite closely related to each other. Good psychological adjustment depends on the type of personality of a person, events in his life, as well as social support. In turn, effective sociocultural adaptation depends on knowledge of culture, the degree of involvement in contacts, and on intergroup attitudes. And both of these aspects of adaptation depend on the individual's belief in the benefits and success of the integration strategy.

A normal person, no matter how non-conflicting he may be, is not able to live without any disagreements with others. “How many people - so many opinions”, and the opinions of different people inevitably come into conflict with each other.

In modern conflictology, the emergence of conflicts is explained by a variety of reasons. In particular, there is a point of view according to which enmity and prejudice between people are eternal and rooted in the very nature of man, in his instinctive "hostility to differences." Thus, representatives of social Darwinism argue that the law of life is the struggle for existence, which is observed in the animal world, and in human society manifests itself in the form of various kinds of conflicts, that is, conflicts are as necessary for a person as food or sleep.

Conducted special studies refute this point of view, proving that both hostility towards foreigners and prejudice against a particular nationality are not universal. They arise under the influence of social causes. This conclusion fully applies to conflicts of an intercultural nature.

There are many definitions of the concept of "conflict". Most often, a conflict is understood as any kind of confrontation or discrepancy of interests. Let us note those aspects of the conflict that, in our opinion, are directly related to the problem of intercultural communication. Based on this, the conflict will be considered not as a clash or competition of cultures, but as a violation of communication.

The conflict is dynamic in nature and occurs at the very end of a series of events that develop from existing circumstances: the state of affairs - the emergence of a problem - conflict. The emergence of a conflict does not at all mean the cessation of relations between communicants; rather, this implies the possibility of a departure from the existing communication model, and further development of relations is possible both in a positive direction and in a negative one.

The process of transition of a conflict situation into a conflict does not have an exhaustive explanation in the special literature. So, P. Kukonkov believes that the transition from a conflict situation to the conflict itself goes through the awareness of the contradiction by the subjects of relations themselves, i.e. the conflict acts as a “conscious contradiction”. An important conclusion follows from this: the carriers of conflicts are the social factors themselves. Only in the case when you yourself define the situation as a conflict, we can talk about the presence of conflict communication.

K. Delhes names three main causes of communication conflicts - personal characteristics of communicants, social relations (interpersonal relations) and organizational relations.

The personal causes of conflicts include pronounced willfulness and ambition, frustrated individual needs, low ability or willingness to adapt, repressed anger, intractability, careerism, lust for power or strong mistrust. People endowed with such qualities often cause conflicts.

The social causes of conflict include strong rivalry, insufficient recognition of abilities, insufficient support or willingness to compromise, conflicting goals and means to achieve them.

Organizational causes of conflict include work overload, inaccurate instructions, unclear competencies or responsibilities, conflicting goals, constant changes in rules and regulations for individual participants in communication, deep changes or restructuring of entrenched positions and roles.

The emergence of conflicts is most likely among people who are in a fairly dependent relationship with each other (for example, business partners, friends, colleagues, relatives, spouses). The closer the relationship, the more likely conflicts will arise; therefore, the frequency of contacts with another person increases the possibility of a conflict situation in relations with him. This is true for both formal and informal relationships. Thus, in intercultural communication, the causes of communication conflicts can be not only cultural differences. Behind this are often issues of power or status, social stratification, generational conflict, etc.

Modern conflictology claims that any conflict can be resolved or significantly weakened if one of five behavioral styles is consciously adhered to:

¦ competition- “The one who is stronger is right” - an active, non-cooperative style. This behavior is necessary in a situation where one of the parties with great zeal achieves its goals and seeks to act in its own interests, regardless of what effect this has on others. This way of conflict resolution, accompanied by the creation of a “win-lose” situation, the use of rivalry and playing from a position of strength to achieve their goals, comes down to subordinating one side to the other;

¦ cooperation“Let's solve it together” is an active, collaborative style. In this situation, both sides of the conflict seek to achieve their goals. This behavior is characterized by the desire to solve the problem, to clarify disagreements, to exchange information, to see in the conflict an incentive for constructive solutions that go beyond the scope of this conflict situation. Since the way out of the conflict is considered to be finding a solution that is beneficial to both parties, this strategy is often called the “win-win” approach;

¦ escape from conflict“leave me alone” is a passive and non-cooperative style. One side may acknowledge that there is a conflict, but behave in a way that avoids or stifles the conflict. Such a participant in the conflict hopes that it will resolve itself. Therefore, the resolution of the conflict situation is constantly delayed, various half-measures are used to drown out the conflict, or covert measures to avoid a sharper confrontation;

¦ compliance- “only after you” - a passive, cooperative style. In some cases, one of the parties to the conflict may try to appease the other side and put its interests above their own. Such a desire to appease the other implies compliance, submission and compliance;

¦ compromise- "let's meet each other halfway" - with this manner of behavior, both sides of the conflict make mutual concessions, partially renouncing their demands. In this case, no one wins and no one loses. Such a way out of the conflict is preceded by negotiations, the search for options and ways to mutually beneficial agreements.

Along with the use of one or another style of conflict resolution, the following techniques and rules should be used:

¦ do not argue over trifles;

¦ do not argue with those with whom it is useless to argue;

¦ do without sharpness and categoricalness;

¦ try not to win, but to find the truth;

¦ to admit that you are wrong;

¦ not be vindictive;

¦ Use humor if appropriate.

Like any other aspect of intercultural communication, the style of conflict resolution is determined by the characteristics of the cultures of the participants in the conflict.

In the process of intercultural communication, one partner perceives the other along with his actions and through actions. Building relationships with another person largely depends on the adequacy of understanding actions and their causes. Therefore, stereotypes make it possible to speculate about the causes and possible consequences of one's own and other people's actions. With the help of stereotypes, a person is endowed with certain traits and qualities, and on this basis his behavior is predicted. Thus, both in communication in general and in the process of intercultural contacts in particular, stereotypes play a very important role.

In intercultural communication, stereotypes are the result of an ethnocentric reaction - an attempt to judge other people and cultures from the standpoint of one's own culture. Often, in intercultural communication and evaluation of communication partners, communicants are initially guided by established stereotypes. Obviously, there are no people who are absolutely free from stereotypes; in reality, we can only talk about different degrees of stereotyping of communicants. Studies show that the degree of stereotyping is inversely proportional to the experience of intercultural interaction.

Stereotypes are rigidly built into our value system, they are an integral part of it and provide a kind of protection for our positions in society. For this reason, stereotypes are used in every intercultural situation. It is impossible to do without the use of these extremely general, culturally specific schemes for assessing both one's own group and other cultural groups. The relationship between the cultural affiliation of a particular person and the character traits attributed to him is usually not adequate. People belonging to different cultures have a different understanding of the world, which makes communication from a “single” position impossible. Guided by the norms and values of their culture, a person himself determines what facts and in what light to evaluate, this significantly affects the nature of our communication with representatives of other cultures.

For example, when communicating with Italians gesticulating animatedly during a conversation, Germans who are accustomed to a different style of communication may develop a stereotype about the “irritability” and “disorganization” of Italians. In turn, Italians may develop a stereotype of Germans as "cold" and "reserved", etc.

Depending on the ways and forms of use, stereotypes can be useful or harmful for communication. Stereotyping helps people understand the situation of cultural communication as an independent scientific direction and academic discipline. During this process at the turn of the 70-80s. 20th century issues of attitude to another culture and its values, overcoming ethnic and

In our world there are a huge number of cultures and peoples. In the process of the formation of a common human civilization, people from different communities constantly communicated with each other, built cultural and trade ties. In general, this is how intercultural communication arose. What is it and how is this phenomenon described by modern scientists? This material is devoted to the answers to these questions.

General concept

This is the name of communication and communication between representatives of different cultures. The concept of "intercultural communication" implies both direct interaction between people and communities, and indirect communication. The latter refers to language, speech, writing, as well as communication via the Internet and similar means of communication. Often this way of communication in the scientific literature is referred to as "cross-cultural" (the English term is cross-cultural).

Scientific background

It should be noted that this scientific discipline is studied in the context of other teachings. These include: psychology and cultural studies, sociology, anthropology and history, as well as a new discipline, the ecology of communication means and methods. The famous professor A. P. Sadokhin gives the following definition of this discipline: “Intercultural communication is the totality of all means and methods of communication in general, as well as communications both between individuals and entire groups belonging to different cultures.”

What is communication?

By the way, it would be nice to understand the key concepts of all this wealth. So, in many domestic universities now there is a program "intercultural communication". Everything would be fine, but the very concept of “communication” is often not fully disclosed even by teachers. It is time to correct this gap in education!

The Russian (and not only) term “communication” comes from the Latin expression communicatio from communicare, which can be translated in several ways at once: to bind, to make common, a means of communication. Let's take a look at how the concept of intercultural communication is interpreted by different areas of human knowledge.

This scientific discipline is studied by sociology, anthropology, psychology, rhetoric and computer science, cybernetics and medicine... This word is necessary and important, but how do modern specialists interpret it? Note that today there are two generally accepted meanings of the term:

As a transport route that allows you to connect not only social groups, but even entire continents. Includes underground, air, sea, road communication networks (roads, routes, ways).
It implies communication and transfer of information both between individuals and between entire social groups and human cultures. Do not forget that in this case, the interaction is carried out through language and other signal forms of communication.

By the way, when did the term intercultural communication appear? This definition (no matter how incredible it may sound) arose literally thirty or forty years ago, but has already managed to spread literally in all spheres of human activity. Most likely, this phenomenon is explained by the fact that the word is very capacious, it can be used in various contexts, putting into it a variety of meanings. In principle, there are some generally accepted designations that are especially common in specific scientific fields:

In sociology, we are most often talking about mass communication, which implies the ways and norms of communication between large groups of people (including the media, of course).
If they talk about psychology, then in this case we are probably talking about interpersonal, individual communication.
Ethnographers, as you might guess, study the relationships and interactions between different peoples and cultures.
Art (cinema, painting, music, writing) understands under this term the achievement of mutual understanding between the author and the one to whom his work is addressed.
Education thus interprets the process of communication between the teacher and the student taught by him.

You probably understand that in different cases not only different meanings of the term are used, but also different technologies. For example, communication can be verbal and non-verbal, oral and written, printed and electronic. They can be considered in the aspect of space and time, in the context of both ethnic and global, international interaction.

But! Whatever the specific concept is, there are some signs that allow us to state with confidence whether we are talking about interaction in one or another of its manifestations, or something completely different is implied. It must be understood that the means and purpose of communication is information (both textual and verbally transmitted), as well as understanding (sensual or conscious). Technologies that allow all this data to be transmitted efficiently and quickly are only an auxiliary, but at the same time an essential “addition”. Now let's talk about the most important conditions of communication.

Conditions for successful communication

First, opponents must accept and rely on certain intersubjective norms. Secondly, they must be communicatively competent. At the moment, one of the most important branches of human knowledge is precisely intercultural communication; articles on this topic appear almost weekly in the world's largest scientific publications.

Scientists are still arguing among themselves about the unambiguous, generally accepted definition of this process. In order to better understand the mechanisms and stable characteristics of this phenomenon, recently they have begun to widely use the method of mathematical and computer modeling. Such a model not only makes it possible to determine the general patterns of the process, but also to follow any part of it without interrupting the main development of the model.

However, one should not be especially guided by any particular model, since its effectiveness and content directly depend on the scientist who created it. But today, many sociologists know the so-called "Lasswell formula".

He himself created his theory and model only in order to give at least some structural organization to discussions about the very essence of the communicative process. Harold Lasswell preferred to use it to label various lines of research in this area. The "Lasswell Formula" perfectly reflects the specifics of early ideas about communication. Thus, it assumes that the communicator always (even if subconsciously) seeks to influence the opponent. Simply put, earlier researchers assumed that almost every form of communication is, in its essence, some kind of belief.

Since Lasswell's theory turned out to be quite viable (although far from being correct), many researchers preferred to develop some of its directions further. Thus, the American mathematician and one of the first associates of cybernetics, Claude Shannon, laid out the theory in a mathematical interpretation, proposing to use it to model global, global communication processes.

Importance of culture for this concept

The fact is that culture is a fusion of various forms of human occupation. This is a kind of reduction of "codes" that largely determine human behavior, exerting a managerial influence on him. Therefore, one should not be surprised that in order to understand a person of a different nationality and nationality, it is necessary first of all to study the cultural characteristics of his country or nationality.

The famous philosopher Kant said that it is equally important to take into account the culture of education. He notes with regret that scientific and technological progress is progressing by leaps and bounds. His displeasure is based not on the denial of progress as such, but on the fact that morality has not kept pace with its development.

Thus, culture and intercultural communication are inextricably linked with each other, which should always be taken into account in practice.

The Importance and Importance of Electronic Communications

In the modern world, the prevailing role, no doubt, belongs to them. However, do not forget about the importance of the old means of communication. Some researchers are generally of the opinion that they should be considered together, since without the old there would be no new. It should be noted that such a point of view has a right to exist.

Take, for example, language. Both intercultural communication and communication between people is impossible without understanding each other's dialects. It seems to be. But remember the famous Morse code. The simplest means of communication that allows using coded signals to transmit the most important information, which can sometimes save people's lives!

Alas, in our country, electronic means of communication until the mid-2000s were in secondary roles, which still adversely affects many sectors of the economy, science and culture. Yes, and research in these areas is not carried out linearly and consistently, but "in a crowd": when it suddenly dawns on all leaders that it cannot continue like this, an instruction is given to "catch the gap as soon as possible." It turns out it's not very good.

When did intercultural communications become a full-fledged scientific industry?

In general, the very concept of "intercultural communication" was introduced only in the 50s of the last century by the American anthropologist Edward T. Hall. His work was applied in nature, as he developed methods of behavior and communication of American diplomats for their fruitful communication with representatives of other cultures, nationalities and religions. He did a lot to break some of the stereotypes that are specific to this area.

Thus, it was Hall who was the first among scientists to uncompromisingly conclude that culture needs to be taught. After that, the theory of intercultural communication officially became one of the most important scientific and educational disciplines.

Of course, this process was not easy. The teaching of this subject began in some US universities only in the 60s of the last century. And only after 10 years the course ceased to be purely practical, and began to accumulate useful theoretical information. This may seem very strange, but everything is logical: by that time there were more than enough practical aspects of communication between peoples, but not a single more or less holistic scientific theory was observed.

In Europe, the theory of intercultural communication turned into a science much later, and this was due to completely different reasons.

The fact is that immediately after the creation of the European Union, the borders of states turned out to be almost completely open to many people. All this quickly led to what we have now: a conflict of interests and values of people from different socio-cultural backgrounds. It is not surprising that European scientists soon began to take a keen interest in this issue. Having become acquainted with the American experience, the Europeans opened corresponding faculties at the universities of Munich and Jena.

It should be noted that the problems of intercultural communication in Europe are still very great. Many scientists attribute this to the fact that the EU government is trying to put into practice several communication theories at once, especially without delving into their essence. By the way, what kind of theories do exist? Let's talk about it!

Theory of adaptation Y. Kim

According to this theory, a person gradually, passing through many stages, adapts to a new socio-cultural environment. The dynamics of this process is largely expressed in the formula "stress and addiction". Researchers like to add: "Two steps forward and one step back." The fact is that adaptation is sometimes interrupted by periods of regression, retreat. This is caused by a culture shock, rejection of some traditions and customs of the opponent.

Simply put, the peculiarities of intercultural communication are that both parties should want (!) to understand each other, to be imbued with the peculiarities of each other's cultural, moral and religious traditions. Otherwise, nothing good will come of the attempt to communicate. Oddly enough, but the tolerance so stubbornly cultivated in the EU only gets in the way.

If a person is strictly motivated to accept a person from a different socio-cultural environment "as he is", he will not seek to understand the real reasons for his actions. Most often, this leads to mutual (even if suppressed) hostility, even at the interpersonal level. The notorious Sadokhin, in particular, wrote about this. Intercultural communication is a complex concept, one should not try to circumvent it with artificially instilled slogans and substitution of concepts.

In general, the Soviet Union faced a similar problem at one time. That same "brotherhood of peoples" came at a high price, since at first there was no understanding between completely different ethnic groups at all.

It should be noted that successful adaptation is possible only if several conditions are met at once. First, the frequency of contacts and communication with the new environment should be high enough. Secondly, a person must (!) know the country where he came, have positive motivation and full access to the media of this country. In addition, participation in various public events is highly encouraged.

The main problems of intercultural communication in all the same Europe are related to the fact that immigrants are not at all interested in learning a foreign language and are not involved in assimilation processes. They continue to live in closed enclaves where only their own are accepted.

Coordinated management of meaning and rule theory

Many scientists agree that the foundations of intercultural communication are an extremely shaky and vague concept, because all human communication in principle (verbal in particular) suffers from extreme imperfection. Since far from all communicative actions are aimed at attracting an opponent (no matter how paradoxical it may seem), mutual understanding in some cases becomes an unattainable ideal in principle. Most often, the goal is conscious fruitful interaction.

At the same time, its participants often subject each other's gestures and language to individual interpretation, which in many cases turns out to be very close to the truth. Simply put, it is not the social meaning of images that becomes important, but their consistency in a specific human environment, community.

In principle, these foundations of intercultural communication have been familiar to people since antiquity: let us recall the “motley” crews of pirate and merchant ships. People often did not understand the dialects in which they communicated among themselves, but this did not prevent them from working together, and quite effectively.

Rhetorical theory

It allows you to analyze communication and behavioral characteristics not only of a personal nature, but also in relation to large groups. Thus, intercultural business communication is often based on rhetoric. The fact is that the main feature of this theory is the analysis of unconscious manifestations of human mental activity in response to specific communicative events.

Simply put, “arms crossed on the chest is a sign of a person’s internal closeness” - this is precisely the sphere of rhetoric (no matter how strange it may seem).

Communication science

This is a science that studies the social functions of the media and their impact on human society (both in general and in the aspect of small groups). It is not surprising that in this scientific branch there are a whole bunch of subsections:

Separate, personal psychology.
Communication between people (interpersonal psychology).
Communication processes in the group.
The art of public speaking, public speaking.
Business contacts.
Organization of communication within organizations.
Finally, intercultural communication. Topics in this area are very diverse, including all of the above sections.

In general, the current state of communicative science is sad, since there are practically no single, verified approaches even to solving more or less typical problems. Even methodological justifications are often absent as a class. There is no single theoretical base, just as there is no normal terminology that scientists from different countries would understand, there are no unified, global information resources in this area.

In general, this paradox is well described by Professor Ter Minasova. "Intercultural Communication" in her performance is an excellent book that perfectly reveals the essence and many reasons for the current situation.

For example, in the USA and Europe, the ball is ruled by the same communication science, but very little attention is paid to linguistic aspects there. On the contrary, linguistics is (traditionally) extremely strong in our country, and intercultural communication very often turns out to be somewhere “in the backyard”. However, this is typical for civilian industries, while the military often have a wealth of experience (even if it is very specific), but they are not in a hurry to share it, for obvious reasons.

Simply put, language, culture and intercultural communication are inextricably linked parts of an ethnic community. Without knowing some aspects of the language or culture, you will definitely not be able to fully communicate with a foreigner.

When analyzing the process of interaction of cultures, the concepts of "intercultural communication" and "intercultural communication" are often used. The content of the term "intercultural communication" includes several interrelated aspects: communicative, which consists in the exchange of information between communicating individuals; interactive, consisting in the organization of interaction between them, i.e. in the exchange of not only knowledge, skills, but also actions; perceptual, which is the process of perception and knowledge of each other by partners and the establishment of mutual understanding on this basis. Russian culturologist A.P. Sadokhin believes that an important distinguishing feature of communication is its goal, which is to satisfy a person’s need for contact with other people. The concept of “intercultural communication” is used mainly at the level where direct interpersonal interaction takes place, in the family, community, primary team, village, tribe.

The term "intercultural communication" means a set of various forms of communication between individuals and groups belonging to different cultures. The content of intercultural communication includes the exchange of thoughts, ideas, ideas, information. The features of this process include: an important place in the information side, the process of transferring information from one subject to another; the specificity of the goal, which is to reach mutual understanding; as well as differences in culture between participants in the communication process.

At the micro level, the following types of intercultural communication can be distinguished: interethnic communication, communication between social classes and groups, communication between representatives of different demographic groups, communication between urban and rural residents, communication in business culture, etc. Interethnic communication means communication between persons representing different ethnic groups. This is the most complex type of intercultural communication, during which misunderstanding most often occurs.

Intercultural communication has its own characteristics, which include the following.

Awareness of cultural differences by participants in communication. Most people before contact with other nations do not think about the existence of differences between cultures, it seems to them that all people should think and behave in the same way as they do. However, having met with representatives of other cultures, they begin to think about the differences between cultures.
The emergence of the idea of someone else. In the process of intercultural communication, an idea of the alien arises, which is very important for understanding intercultural communication.
The emergence of affective reactions. One of the features of intercultural communication is affective reactions. Interaction with representatives of other cultures is accompanied by psychological stress, feelings and fear. It is believed that people from individualistic cultures make connections more easily than people from collectivist cultures.
Influence of cultural distance. The concept of cultural distance means the degree of proximity of cultures that interact with each other. The smaller the cultural distance, the more successful intercultural communication is. The subjective perception of cultural distance is influenced by many other factors: the presence or absence of wars or conflicts, both now and in the historical past; the degree of human competence in a foreign language and culture; equality (inequality) of partners' statuses; they have common goals in intercultural communication.
The possibility of misunderstanding and uncertainty. In a situation of intercultural communication there is always a risk of misunderstanding. This is due to the possibility of losing some information in the process of communication, as a result of which misunderstanding and uncertainty may arise. In order to successfully overcome uncertainty and misunderstanding, an active position is recommended, entering into direct contact with a representative of another culture, asking questions, striving to understand your interlocutor and clarify your position.

Ed.D. Progra Chair Human Resource Management, Franklin University, USA

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