Intercultural competence is a necessity. We all need it, yet we need to work hard in order to acquire it. Intercultural competence is not a given. It is a set of attitudes, knowledge, skills, and, most importantly, actions that we all need in order to communicate successfully in a globalised society.
Interpersonal vs. Intercultural encounters
Communication between two or more people can be characterised as interpersonal encounters. Yet, it becomes intercultural when we consciously or unconsciously give importance to cultural differences between us and the person we are talking to.
It means that we behave differently from how we would if we were talking to a person we consider to be of “our own culture.” In this cases, and let’s be honest, in a modern society they are quite a few, we need intercultural competence, to understand each other well and to be successful at communication.
Components of Intercultural Competence
1. Attitudes
A person who is interculturally competent is open and mindful of others’ cultural backgrounds. They are willing to learn from others, they value cultural diversity and seek opportunities to cooperate with people of other cultural affiliations.
2. Knowledge
To be interculturally competent, we need to know our own dependency on our cultures, such as stereotypes, assumptions, prejudices, and understand that all of these can be different for other people.
Additionally, we need to aware that people in their language might express ideas that would be hard for us to grasp. Yes, language is the way to communicate and it opens doors, but it is also a limitation.
3. Skills
We can learn to take other people’s perspective, be empathetic and develop critical judgement over perceptions that we and others might have.
We need to work on
- cognitive flexibility, which means, that we can change the way of thinking,
- and plurilingual skills – such as usage of more than one language
4. Actions
All of the above won’t have value if we don’t act on it. The raw knowledge is excellent, but if it is not applied it is wasted.
These actions not only include looking for intercultural interactions and cooperating with others but also intervening when we see prejudices in action and motivating others to maintain positive attitudes towards people with different cultural backgrounds.
To become a global citizen, we need to actively engage in intercultural communication and develop all four components of intercultural competence.
Recommended reading
Developing intercultural competence through education Pestalozzi series 3.
