Intercultural Communication Training (1994)

Richard Brislin and Tomoko Yoshida

Some arguments made to help with my training program:

1.  Globalization:  causing cultures to interact more than ever before (thus we need intercultural training more than ever)

2.  Coping stragegies:  Understanding norms in other cultures and adjusting your behavior to communicate effectively

3.  Training programs aim to:  increase enjoyment, increase benefit, increase positive attitudes, improve / ease goal achievement, and to lower stress.

Quoting Hofstede:  Those with little international experience seem to dislike when their culture is discussed (seems insulting) where people with more international experience appreciate / enjoy discussing their own culture.

There are three major goals of intercultural training (p. 24):

1.  (cognitive) awareness, knowledge and information about culture, cultural differences, and the specific culture in which trainees will be living;

2.  (affective) attitudes related to intercultural communication, such as people's feelings about others who are culturally different (e.g., tolerance, prejudice, or active enthusiasm about developing close relationships); and the emotional confrontation people experience when dealing with cultural differences in their everyday communication; and

3.  (psychomotor) skills, or new behaviors that will increase the chances of effective communication when living and / or working with people from other cultural backgrounds.