Reaction Paper - essay about that one youtube video PDF

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ENGL031 W1-C1 Reaction Paper on Cross Cultural Communication We must have heard stories about how people got “culture shocked” when they moved from one country to another. This is a very common issue that almost everyone encounters every time they interact with another person that has different values and practices. In this type of interaction, cross-cultural communication takes place. This is when a person from one culture sends a message to another person from a different culture which usually ends up in a misunderstanding caused by misinterpretation. In Pellegrino Riccardi’s Ted Talk about Cross-cultural Communication, he shares his personal experience about how very different cultures can successfully coincide with each other. He talked about other people’s perspectives and how we deal with people with different codes and culture. This is the most important part of the video because it is mainly focused on how we can expand our cultural boundary and create a global mindset. The first part of the video talks about understanding what people see. Riccardi said, “People see what they want to see, they don’t always see what you see.” I think what he was trying to say with that statement is that people see things differently. We may be looking at the same picture but we have our own ways to perceive it. We have different ideas of what is accepted and familiar. This is the challenge of multicultural communication; we may perceive their message the wrong way. And to deal with that, we should learn how to be curious to understand others. Riccardi claimed that we can ask anything to anybody provided we do it with curiosity. Since there are various cultures that exist in a society, it is impossible to learn all of it. So, in order to navigate through it, he suggested that you should ask a simple curious question, then pick words that interest you. In that way, you will be able to find a way to understand them and avoid misperception. An article written by Kate Berardo in 2010 supports this claim and said that “Curiosity, in this sense, is an essential stepping stone toward building awareness, appreciation, and understanding other cultures.”

Curiosity, as what Riccardi said in his Ted Talk, gets you through a lot of things. We can gain an unequaled learning and growth, a chance of having a more interesting conversation at every interaction, and most important of all, a new perspective. We will be able to understand them and realize that rules may be different for others. It is necessary to acquire this basic understanding of cultural diversity because it is the key to an effective cross-cultural communication. Riccardi believes that in order for us to grow and keep the world going around, we should take this understanding into consideration and take out the good sides of each culture. Because of this, we are extending our borders and create a global mindset. An article from mindtools.com said that “We must all learn how to better communicate with individuals and groups whose culture does not match our own without necessarily studying individual cultures in detail.” It would not be possible to know every aspect of all cultures, so the least you could do is that you are consciously making an effort to have a better understanding towards people whose perspectives are different compared to ours. Overall, contact between cultures is important in our everyday lives. We should keep an open mind and respect somebody else’s cultural background because every person from different cultural groups has their views of the world and ways to interact with others. This is not to suggest that we should be changing our culture, but rather that we expand our circle and merge all the positive aspects of each culture into one. It may be difficult to communicate across cultural borders, but such communication can break stereotypes, enrich our perception and help us grow into a better individual. Being a person who has a global mindset will make you an effective intercultural communicator and will lead you to good relationships and emotional enrichment towards people.

References: https://legacycultures.com/cultural-awareness-the-importance-ofcuriosity/#:~:text=Curiosity%2C%20in%20this%20sense%2C%20is,and%20reflection %20at%20every%20interaction. https://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/Cross-Cultural-communication.htm https://learn.g2.com/what-is-cross-cultural-communication...