Intercultural Experience

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Intercultural Experience

Man is a social animal and therefore cannot live in isolation. Communication can be described as the imparting of information through speaking. Communication facilitates a lot in removing barriers between people. America is a “melting pot” and is, therefore, home to people belonging from different cultural backgrounds. Language is the main barrier when communicating with people from different cultural backgrounds. Intercultural communication can facilitate a lot in removing language barriers, while also increasing the understanding of culturally mediated communication phenomena (Jones).

As mentioned earlier, due to diversity in the US, almost every person residing in America must have experienced a situation in which he or she had to deal with an individual belonging from a different cultural background. Recently, I also had an intercultural experience while I was out with my friends. Life in high school is a bit tough as one has to manage quizzes, assignments, and presentations. So in that tough situation, my friends and I decided to spend a night out so that we can free ourselves from the worries of high school, for one night. I, along with my friends, decided to go to the nearby pizza shop famous for its awesome pizza and ambiance. I have heard the name of Rey’s Pizza and its food quality, so I was very anxious to try their pizza. After deciding a place to sit and making ourselves comfortable, we proceeded to order. When we called the server and decided to order our food, I was shocked that the server was not fluent in speaking the English language. He was unable to understand the order clearly and had difficulties in understanding English language. However, after a lot of effort, we were able to place the order. After waiting for almost fifteen minutes, I saw the server coming towards us with the pizza. However, when I saw the pizza I was disappointed as it was not the same pizza that I ordered. So, I called the waiter again and told him that he had served us the wrong order but he immediately replied that this was what I ordered. I immedialtely became angry and was furious as I knew that I did not order the pizza that he served to us. Due to this reason, we both had an argument in which I tried to explain the server regarding what I ordered. At this moment I realized the struggles that people from different cultural backgrounds had to face when they had to communicate with other people.

Although in anger, one of my friends yelled at the server he did not say anything and just started to apologize. Seeing this, I became a bit sad as I realized that it was not the server’s fault because he is not fluent in speaking English language and he only knows Spanish. I told the server that instead of listening he should write the name of the pizza we want so that he can forward our order to the head chef. So I wrote my order and gave it to him. During this time, I remembered the lecture I took on the importance of non-verbal communication. So I searched for the picture of the pizza we wanted and showed that to him. He immediately recognized the pizza and thanked me for understanding his position. He then went and brought the pizza I ordered. My friends also realized their mistake and therefore offered him to take a slice of pizza, as well. He became very happy and we had great fun that night.

This experience taught me, not only the importance of intercultural communication, but also about non-verbal communication as well. I learned that good intercultural communication skills require a willingness to accept the differences and collaborate to build a friendly environment.

Works Cited

Jones, Anna, and Xuan Quach. "Intercultural communication." The University of Melbourn (2007).