Cross-cultural

Communication

Sender
Culture

Receiver
Culture

Culture

Cues/cultural
indexes

Artifacts/products
explicit

Norms/values

Basic
asummptions

implicit

implicatures
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Two Types of Crosscultural Communication

Ego

The
Others

[LINEAL]

Ego
[HIRARCHI
CAL]
etnocentrism

The
Others

Cue and Implicature

cue
iceberg

implicature

Interpretive
frame

Culture is like an iceberg: you can only see the top of it

cues and cultural indexes
We have to learn how to grasp the interpretive frame in a
cross-cultural communication to understand the cueimplicature relation

Cultural index

identify cues to understand their

implicature[s]
Cultural index= anything that can be
identified as a marker of a certain
culture
The interpretation of a cultural index
can be influenced by connotation and
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stereotyping

Stereotyping
Originates from connotation
It is OVERGENERALIZATION
We have to avoid stereotyping, but
our patient is expected to be
stereotyping
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Adlers Checklist on
stereotypes:

Stereotypes should be consciously held.

Stereotypes should be descriptive.
Stereotypes should be accurate.
Stereotypes should be the first best
guess.
Stereotypes should be modifiable.
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Cross-Cultural Learning
Start with openness to the Other
Willing to learn the culture of the
Other
Moving away from stereotypes
(moving from automatic processing of
information to more controlled
processing)

Cross-Cultural Learning
Understand the culture of the Other
means understanding ourselves
cross-cultural learning is a
prerequisite of good cross-cultural
communication
Doctor-patient interaction is basically
cross-cultural communication.
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