Cultural diversity refers to the diverse varieties of human cultures that exist in a certain region, society or in the world as a whole. The characteristics of diversity may include ethnicity, traditions, geographic background, language spoken, religious beliefs, race or physical features. This term is also based on the idea that different cultures should respect each other's differences. With the global integration, the need for communication in accordance with other person's cultural awareness has intensified. Many times, any gesture that is considered offensive in one culture is completely accepted in the other culture. Hence, people sometimes develop misunderstandings when communicating with someone from a different culture. Therefore, it is essential that differences are appreciated for an effective communication.
I am a Christian man who is originally from Ukraine. My mother tongue is Ukrainian and I came to United States some 10 years ago. I am very moderate in my religious orientations but have a conservative viewpoint regarding many things. The values that I brought with me have an effect on almost every aspect of my everyday life. My cultural values come from the age of my parents. These values affect the way I communicate with others. My most important value is to respect people from different backgrounds and then in return demand respect from them. For example, when I was working for (xyz), I had always been modest while communicating with the employees including the young employees that helped a lot in creating trust between us.
Communication is also affected by the different ways in which man and woman express themselves. Each gender has a different communication pattern. Mostly men save their words for factual statements or to avoid the details and...
Women, on the other hand are driven towards discussing the details and voicing their random thoughts. (Rosener, 2001) So, these gender differences present problems in interpersonal interaction where each one mistakenly supposes that the other person thinks and acts in a same way as he does.
But with the advent of technology, people can easily communicate with each other but technology is a poor substitute for human presence. To understand different cultures, it is important to understand the hidden cultural differences and non-verbal cues but technology not only limits the personal interaction but also makes it impossible to understand the true meaning of the messages sent. Technology has an impact on the interpersonal communication between men and women as relying on texting and chatting has reduced the face-to-face social interaction. Moreover, it is also important to understand the reaction or expressions of the other person so communicating through technology can result into misunderstandings.
Internet and mobile phones have brought revolutionary changes in the ways individuals communicate with each other. With the arrival of internet, the world has become globally integrated and people can now communicate quickly and easily. The use of mobile phone has also made it convenient for the people to keep in constant contact with each other.
There are many barriers to bridging differences between people from different cultures. One of the barriers is the linguistic problems. This problem arises when people have to speak a language which is not their mother tongue. Secondly, another barrier is the personal bias i.e. To stereotype someone in a rigid category or consider him inferior on the basis…
