During this class I have learned much about myself and the ways that others around me from different cultures communicate, while being able to pick up on the subtle differences between our cultures. I have also realized that I did not know myself or my cultural ways as well as I had suspected before enrolling into this class. My culture has been growing and changing since I was born, each day allows for a new challenge that I must face and decide what decision would be best to represent myself, along with who I am as a part of my culture. I learned about both ascribed and avowal identities that are a part of who I am and thought about how I obtained these different traits. Although I learned more about myself, I also realized that I do not know as much about those living in the United States as I had thought, after taking the quizzes about different accents.
Keeping an open mind with new ideas, religions, different political views, and ways of life is something that I think I am very good at doing. However I feel it is also something that will always be a challenge because of my own cultural views wanting to only accept my own way of living. Also, I feel that something I have always been good at doing is communicating nonverbally with other individuals because I often find myself being expressive with my physical gestures and facial expressions. Which allows people to understand what I’m trying to say better if I am having trouble verbally expressing myself.
I feel that once this class is over there are some very easy things I can personally do to continue to improve my intercultural communication skills. These things consist of opening my mind to different and new ideas, attempting to get out of my comfort zones when I am around those of other cultures so they may feel more comfortable, as well as many other things. While there are always going to be different barriers that keep me from fully understanding people from other cultures, I still plan to do my best when it comes to being open to these individuals. Even though I currently do some of these things I plan to further my personal development and do my best at keeping these open views so that I can accept people as themselves instead of developing judgments of a culture based off of an individual’s actions or words.
What do you feel will be the most difficult barrier when trying to keep your plan?
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I live in a pretty small town, and the hardest part for me will be finding opportunities to expand my cultural horizons. College campus is probably a good opportunity, but UWRF isn't the most culturally diverse place by a long shot. I guess, ultimately, I hope there aren't any barriers that would keep me from always having an open mind and always being mindful of the way other cultures approach communication and conflict.
ReplyDeleteI think it will be difficult to stand up for how I feel. I have a hard time standing up against people that have strong opinions. I know it is the right thing to do and it is a way to teach people about intercultural communication, but it is hard to be brave and be strong. I have strong views, but I do not always have a strong voice.
ReplyDeleteI think that because of this class, I have been able to open my mind to new things. I live in the Twin Cities so I do get to see a lot of interesting and new things already but I think that it will be hard for me to not judge people and make instant stereotypes. I think that this class has taught me not to do that - that it is looked down upon - and yet, I still feel that I will have a very hard time with it.
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest barrier will be not making stereotypes. I want to have an open mind about every culture. When I am interacting with other cultures I want to try not to assme they use the same body language as me. I can give them space and try not to make someone feel uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteI feel the difficult part of the plan would be to not fall back into easily stereotyping groups of people. Stereotypes are shortcuts, and a shortcut can be quite tempting. But now, more equipped with the knowledge from that class, there's more tools to combat this with.
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