Intercultural communication: to the problem of stereotyping

Спілкування між двома культурами включає в себе генерацію, передачу, прийом і відтворення закодованих повідомленнь або інформації. Цей процес включає в себе набагато більше, ніж мова, хоча мова є ключем до комунікації і відіграє провідну роль в будь культурній програмі навчання. У цій статті розглядається проблема стереотипів, їх вплив на поведінку людей в процесі спілкування, проблеми, які вони можуть викликати і шляхи їх вирішення. (Communicating between two cultures involves generating, transmitting, receiving and depicting coded messages or bits of information. This process involves much more than language, although language is the key to communication and plays a leading part in any cultural training program. The present article deals with the problem of stereotyping, its influence on people’s behaviors in the process of communication, the problems they may cause and ways of their solution. Being the most important barrier to effective intercultural communication, stereotyping is the tendency to categorize and make assumptions about others based on identified characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, age, religion, nationality socio-economic status. When individuals or groups from different cultural backgrounds meet, certain preconceptions they have of each other influence their interactions. According to the social constructionist approach, culture is not necessarily based on nationality alone. Biases based on gender, age, social class, occupation, appearance, may equally influence behavior and communication outcomes, as they can constitute cultural barriers between individuals as well. In everyday use, the concept of the stereotype is used in various contexts: usually the word stereotype is used to refer to members of some kind of collective. In an intercultural setting, one of the goals of the participant is getting to know the attitudes and personality of the communication partner. These are cultural stereotypes.