SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS OF CONSTRUCTIVE INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Abstract

At present the essence of cultural knowledge lies in its integration with major aspects of our life and belongs to the global skills which are also known as “life skills” and needed to achieve for lifelong success and fulfilment in the fast-changing and diverse world. The paper discusses the findings of international researchers (Kramsch (1992), Triandis (2002), Hall (1959), Schwartz (2012), Kulich (2002, 2015), M. Taylor (2002), M. Gelfand (2018) who explored different aspects of cultural awareness demonstrates the benefits of such knowledge for smooth and painless adaptation to new culture and society, transforms this knowledge into competence and develop flexibility and adaptability. The author consolidates and sums up these aspects and proposes some advice for efficient cooperation in multicultural teams. Among the recommendations how to nudge a culture she singles out the following: to share the best practices of expats; to transform cultural knowledge into competence and develop flexibility and adaptability in cros-cultural communication; to be aware of etic and emic lenses of different cultures; to avoid stereotyping judgements and estimates; to apply knowledge of ethnorelativism towards understanding the foreigners; to understand the logic of tight-loose cultures to cultivate cultural empathy; to accept different cultural norms to lower judgmental attitudes towards them; to observe, ask politely and interpret for understanding other cultures; to learn target language to bridge cultural gaps; to be open and sincere in conversation, avoid taboo and personal questions, ask what is important to others in culturally appropriate ways.