Intercultural Communication: Towards Better Understanding and Learning

In humanity's pursuit for learning, it is inevitable that we will encounter diversity, or differences in people in the way they think, act, and behave. Most often, people whom we perceive as different are no more different than us -- that is, we may perceive them as different, but they also presumably assume us as different from the people they have been familiarized and acquainted with. This move towards crossing cultural boundaries in pursuit of learning is called intercultural communication, often defined as the "process that occurs when members of two or more cultures exchange messages in a manner that is influenced by their different cultural perceptions and symbol systems" (Adler, 1998:40).

How does intercultural communication relates to the development of understanding and learning? It is essential for any academic students to be acquainted with different cultures, within or outside the country, in...
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