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MGT201. Communication and Soft Skills
2015 University of Management and Technology 1
Assignment 3
1. In the book's Preface, Tannen states: "...all communication is more or less crosscultural." What does she mean by this statement? Why is it important to approach communication among people as an exercise in understanding possible cross-cultural differences among them? Illustrate your points with examples.
Tannen states in her book, page 14, “all communication is more or less cross-cultural:” What she means is that the culture in which a person grew up has a great influence on how this person will behave among others. Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music, arts, it serves as the patterns of behaviors and interactions among people in the same culture, it is also how people interact and understand what are learned by socialization. Communicate with others encounters many barriers implemented by the family and society, i.e. culture which we grew up. As mentioned by Tannen “We learn to use language as we grow up, and growing up in different parts of the country, having different ethnic, religious, or class backgrounds, even just being male or female— all result in different ways of talking, all due to the culture each person absorbed growing up. And diverse in culture causes differences in conversational style which might result in individually minor but cumulatively overwhelming misunderstandings and disappointments. Despite good intentions and good character all around— our own (which we take for granted) and others’ (which we easily doubt) — we find ourselves caught in miscommunication because the very methods— and the only methods— we have of communicating are not, as they seem, self-evident and “logical.” Instead, they differ