IN HIS BEAUTIFUL NAME

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN A MULTILINGUAL WORLD

DEFINITIONS

Having a cultural competence is being knowledgable of one’s own culture and interacting well within the group. (Gervaris,2011)

To bridge two cultures and have appropriate dialogue is a broad definition of intercultural competence.

Intercultural competence is shaped by language proficiency & language choice.

I. LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

A. Language as a matter of performance.1. Identity

a. Linguistic awarness (1). Being an educational expert

involves performing the identities; you have to do being.

b. Cultural awarness (1). Unfamiliar with Japanese-

influenced English (e.g. ‘Please take care of me’ : sign of a weak and dependent character.)

LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

(2). Familiar with Japanese-influenced English (e.g. ‘Please take care of

me’ : equivelent to “pleased to meet you” in English.)

B. Language as a matter of perception1. Being rendered speechless a. To be placed in a situation where we cannot communicate effectively.

(1). Asylum-seeker policies & regionalization

(2). Lonliness, fear, limited mobility

LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

2. Intercultural communication needs to be recognized to overcome the cruelty of being speechlessness.

a. The intercultural communication takes place in some kind of linguistic never-never land.

b. We are never told which language is the language in which a particular

interaction takes place.

Language Choice (?)

(Is it rendered invisible?)

II. LANGUAGE CHOICE

A. ‘ Monolingual Mindset ’ by Michael Clyne

1. Language choice, language proficiency & language diversity are either ignored altogether or trivialized.

2. Intercultural communication that occurs in a multilingual world is ignored.

3. Cultural stereotypes often flourish instead.

LANGUAGE CHOICE

B. ‘Interactional or Empirical Sociolinguistics’ by John Gumperz

1. He states the ‘actual interaction’ (i.e., naturally occuring face-to-face interactions between people from

different kinds of backgrounds ).2. He investigates the details of interaction to uncover how misunderstanding actually play out in real interaction.3. Intercultural communication creats the

impression that if we just know how to overcome our linguistic & cultural

differences, we will get on just fine with each other so the world would be transformed into a paradise on earth.

III. COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE CHOICE

A. Practice

1. Choices are implicit in practice.

2. Choices become normalized.

3. We don’t make a conscious language choice.

4. We have to make on-the-spot assessments of the linguistic proficiency of our interlocutors.

COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE CHOICE

B. Ideology

1. What kind of language is good & right?; What the ‘right thing to do’

linguistically is. 2. These beliefs & ideas are hegemonic; They are in some people’s interest more than others. 3. These beliefs are not only beliefs about

language but also about speakers. (valorisation)

IV. IDEOLOGY & VALORIZATION

A. Linguistic choices are embeded within language ideologies which valorize some languages over others & some speakers over others.

B. ‘Critical Empirical Sociolinguistics’ 1. Engaging with language ideology & political economy of language.

IDEOLOGY & VALORIZATION

C. Commercialization of language teaching 1. Language learner’s ideologies are such that they lead him/her to misrecognize ‘native speaker English’ as the way to fulfill his/her dreams & desires. 2. Language consumers are aiming for an

unreachable goal; expansion their lack of proficiency becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. 3. Language teaching market obviously thrives on these language ideologies.

IDEOLOGY & VALORIZATION

D. Intercultural communicationLanguage choice & understanding are very much a matter of what is ‘acceptable’ ; what our language ideologies allow us to accept within a particular social space or institution.

Thanks For

your attention