Chapter Review

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June 09, 2019

Review

The chapter provides a brief discussion of the need for studying intercultural communications. It identifies six imperatives for studying intercultural communications including the self-awareness, demographic economic, technological, peace and ethical. Judith Martin has managed to address all the questions related to the intercultural communications such as reasons for understanding a new language, intercultural interactions and appropriate tools used for maintaining such communications. The author adopted adequate techniques for providing deeper insights to the readers about the need for learning a new language and the role of intercultural interactions. The imperative of self-awareness explains the central reason for learning a new language. An individual moving to a new country cannot rely on a native language. It is difficult for an individual to cling to a native identity by continuing use of that language. Leaning a foreign language becomes essential for surviving at a new place.

Ethnocentrism is another factor related to self-awareness that convinces people to believe that their own culture is superior to others. This restricts them from adopting a new language. This reflects the struggle of the immigrants between cultures, themselves and the influences of language on the societies. Conquering the language requires them to make themselves free of the cultural implications and history. Language cannot be separated from culture, so English adopted by authors of different cultures consciously or unconsciously also acquired characteristics of that culture. Several generations and people from different regions of the world acquired education under the colonization recount thus maximizing the opportunity of colonizers to influence others. The response of some postcolonial writers and activists emphasizes returning the use of indigenous languages.

Judith has managed to provide adequate reasoning for proving her six imperatives. The demographic imperative explains that the students that different due to their connection with different race, ethnicities, religion or nationality face difficulty to interact with others. Demographic differences thus convince them to learn a new language that is common in the foreign country. This allows them to communicate with the people of different ethnicities. The reason for promoting intercultural communications is the fact that big educational institutes are attracting students from all across the world. This strategy allows them to maintain cultural diversity. Another important reason identified by the author is changing the demographics of the United States. Judith mentions, "non-Hispanic whites make up 63% of the U.S. population; Hispanics make up 17%; blacks, 12.3%; Asians, 5%; and multiracial Americans, 2.4%”. The inclusion of statistics and facts depicts Judith's ability to providing evading evidentiary support to her claims. This proves that due to the arrival of people from different parts of the world American institutes had to adopt the policy of intercultural communications. With the constant increase in the number of immigrants, there will be more diverse people working in the same organizations. In such situations, the use of intercultural communications will eliminate the language barrier.

Judith has integrated for logos for adding value to her argument. She has added weight to her discussion on intercultural communications by explaining the role of economic imperative. She identifies globalization as a dominant factor encouraging institutes to adopt the multicultural language. The economic imperative explains that due to global reach the organizations need to hire employees with different cultural backgrounds. This reflects the need for adopting intercultural communication methods. use of multicultural communications provides various earning opportunities to the firms such as they can use appropriate means for targeting customers of different geographies. Companies are doing businesses with foreign companies irrespective of cultural differences CITATION Ash \l 1033 (Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin). The adoption of intercultural communication tools thus improves their interaction with firms operating in different countries. Economic aspects also depict that multicultural organizations are expanding their operations to different geographical boundaries due to low labour costs. This requires them to develop ways for interacting with people of different cultural backgrounds.

Technological imperative also provides reasoning for building intercultural communications. Technology has allowed firms to reach to most remote areas of the world. This often requires face-to-face interactions but communications are also possible across electronic devices. Online access to information provides a better understanding of the neighbouring countries and cultures. Similarly, collecting information about market trends and consumer choices is also possible through online platforms CITATION Ais15 \l 1033 (Abbasi). Judith has provided reasoning for justifying her claims about the link between technology and intercultural communications. By mentioning technological tools like online connections and gadgets the companies have managed to maintain interactions with companies and customers across the world. She provides evidentiary support by mentioning, “5% of adult Americans are not online at all, and those living in rural areas, those with annual incomes of less than $25,000, and individuals with disabilities have less online access than others” CITATION Jud13 \l 1033 (Martin and Nakayama). This confirms that the use of the internet and technology is common in America that makes cross-cultural communications faster and possible.

Peace imperative states that intercultural communications are promoted for addressing the issues of human rights across the world. These communications have been effective in ending injustice and sufferings. Judith has added real-world examples such as the rise of Arab spring and conflicts between the rebel groups. All these movements were possible due to intercultural communications. The ethical imperative offer reasoning for intercultural communications such as promoting principles of good conduct. Ethics has focused on promoting good and eliminating wrong behaviour from groups. Intercultural communications have been used for building the culture of ethical standards.

Work Cited

BIBLIOGRAPHY Abbasi, Aisha. "A REBEL AND HER CAUSE: THE LIFE AND WORK OF RASHID JAHAN by rakhshanda Jalil India: Women Unlimited, 2012, 248 pp." Applied Psychoanalytical Studies 12.4 (2015): 367-371.

Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin. Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts. Routledge, 2003.

Martin, Judith and Thomas K Nakayama. Intercultural Communication in Contexts 7 Edition. McGraw Hill, 2013.