Lesson 1 Topic: General information about notions of “culture”. Intercultural communication. Time: 80 minutes Aim

What is Culture?
Culture isn’t only intellectual happenings like arts, festivals, traditional foods, heritages or literature, but refers to the daily lifestyle of the general population or a group of people or an individual. It also describes the family life and social life.
It can be tangible or intangible and are ever-changing. Not every aspect of the cultural pattern is noticeable. As of which it is compared with an iceberg whose 7/8th part cannot be seen and is hidden from view. Culture is created by humans and can be different from place to place. It creates a human environment with shared meanings within a society through beliefs, values, norms, etc. and are a learned behavior. Culture defines how a person behaves, interacts and gives meaning to actions. People identify themselves with their culture and tend to behave differently in different cultures. This is due to the different perception of people, on the world, from different cultures.
What is Intercultural communication?
Intercultural communication is the study and application of knowledge on “cultural perceptions and symbol systems” of people belonging to different cultures.
The intended meaning of any message differs when encoded by a person of a certain culture and decoded by someone of the other. The different meanings of symbols in different culture also vary making the interpretation difficult.
While applying inter-cultural communication, it refers to making people aware and able to adopt others’ cultures when they communicate with them and thus have a meaningful communication.“Intercultural communication,’ can…be defined as the interpersonal interaction between members of different groups, which differ from each other in respect of the knowledge shared by their members and in respect of their linguistic forms of symbolic behaviour.”– Karlfried Knapp
Types of Intercultural Communication
There are basically two types of intercultural communication: Verbal communication and non-verbal communication. Verbal communication consists of words used to communicate messages whereas non-verbal communication is gestures that give out messages. Spoken and written languages are parts of verbal communication which must be considered highly while in intercultural communication. Cultural factors affect verbal communication as people can sometimes not be able to speak or write in the language of the receiver. Use of words, dialects, accents, slang, etc. can also be different according to their own cultures. Similarly, non-verbal cues consist of communication that occurs without words like facial expressions, hand and body movements, eye contact, use of objects, clothing, etc. They help in making message clear or can give the different message as well.