跨文化交际的特点

The Major Features of Intercultural Communication

Communication is the process of understanding and sharing meaning. It occurs whenever information is exchanged between a sender and a receiver. Sending signals of one kind or another is inevitable. And the process of sending and receiving message is complex. What a signal means to the sender is not always what it means to the receiver. Therefore, the trick is to transmit appropriate information to appropriate receivers at appropriate times.

Communication is a symbolic behavior. And the most important mode of communication is verbal. Language is a highly developed symbolic system of human communication. As a most basic element of culture, language is the means, by which culture is transmitted from generation to generation and a person’s language greatly influences how he or she perceives the world.

The major features of communication inclouds:

munication is symbolic

Human communication is symbolic. We employ symbols as a way of sharing our internal states. The ability to produce and use symbols enables human beings to share their internal status and infer what another human being is experiencing, thus distinguishing human beings with other animals. Symbols are at the core of communication, but no symbol means the same thing to everyone, because different cultures often employ different symbols and usually assign special meaning to them. For example, dragon has been taken as totem by Chinese for thousands of years, it represents a kind of powerful and propitious animal, although it may never really exist. However, in western cultures, dragon is a kind of fierce and evil animal. Therefore, many people insist that we should not translate “龙” into “dragon”, since

the two symbols represents totally different things.

munication can be intentional and unintentional behavior Communication takes place whenever people attach meaning to messages, even if the sender of the message does not expect his or her actions to be considered part of the communication event. Just like the Chinese phrase—“言者无心，听者有意”, so being aware that your actions convey many potential messages is very important when engaging in intercultural communication.

munication has a consequence

Communication influences other people whether we intend it to be or not. This feature of communication—communication has a consequence—means that when we receive a message, something happens to us. It also means that all of our messages, in one degree or another, do something to someone else. We cannot send message without influencing other people.

4. Communication is dynamic

Communication is a behavioral process. It is not static. Communication is dynamic