What new insights have you gained about culture and intercultural competence?

The essay Culture: What It Is had much information to impart, but maybe too much. It took me quite a few hours to get through the entire essay. Not because I couldn’t understand it, but instead because I had to find other ways to keep myself entertained (and awake) while I read it. But when I finally got through it I was more than pleased, I was enlightened. The essay expresses much more information on culture than I have ever been exposed to. Like multiple definitions of the word culture and the different time periods in which it emerged, a closer look at the properties that define culture, and even the positive and negative effects of cultural changes. I learned that it is going to take a lot more than a sweet face and soothing gestures to be able to communicate with others not a part of my own culture. There are a lot of different cultural aspects to take into consideration when trying to communicate with someone. I am definitely willing to become more inter-culturally competent. In Transformation: Creating Context, Part 2, a much more concise essay of intercultural acceptance and communication, I was able to see how truly unprepared I am to handle diversity. Well, maybe not unprepared, but I do need a little more work in this area of my life. I enjoyed this essay slightly more; it shared many anecdotes of cultural differences and made me think how I would have reacted if faced with the same situation. Before reading this article, I believed all I needed was to be open and attentive, and my good intentions would take me the rest of the way. But, no, that just will not do. I need to become even more culturally aware, maybe even undergo a little diversity training. Even with all my good intentions, if I so much as make an incorrect hand gesture I am liable to insult rather than to welcome. And since there are so many different cultures, especially here in the United States, one has to take into consideration that several characteristics that may be normal to you, might be completely abnormal to someone who doesn’t share your same cultural views. When communicating we have to be fully aware of our appearance, of our body movements, of our facial expressions, of our eye contact, and many other little things that we would never have taken notice of when communicating with a loved one or a friend. Unfortunately, not everyone is as open minded as I am about the cultures of others. Some decided that these differences are a reason for hatred and violence. I know these feelings spawn from the fact that we fear those things we do not understand, but I think it’s time we moved out of our comfort zone and into the world to greet our neighbors. Maybe, we should all enroll in diversity training.