Although intercultural communication competence can be developed through cross-cultural experiences and dialogues (Jin, Cooper & Golding, 2016) and involving interactions (Rodenborg & Boisen, 2013), studies show that Chinese graduate students considered advanced English speakers continuously report difficulties in engaging in…

To gain an in-depth understanding of the causes of the often implicit misunderstandings between Western supervisors and their Chinese doctoral students, we examined my lived experiences as a Chinese international doctoral student under the supervision of my Australian supervisors. Our data revealed how misunderstandings arose and evolved from…

There is growing evidence that social interactions at work with local colleagues present a real challenge for Chinese immigrants to Australia (e.g. Tomazin, 2009; Zhou, Windsor, Coyer, & Theobald, 2010), often leaving them feeling defeated and despairing, and the Australians puzzled or affronted. Seeking to understand the nature, origin, and…

The material focuses on the following areas: definition and purpose, some of the more common characteristics of the culturally different, counselor attitudes in serving the culturally different, counselor's knowledge of client's background, communication in the counseling relationship, and client attitudes toward helping services. Some…

People fail to communicate because they fail to read accurately the cultural signs that each person is sending. This consistently produces bewilderment, and often feelings of anger, frustration, and pain. Communication becomes virtually impossible when people not only operate from different cultural codes, but are unaware that different codes are…

Two distinct but related studies are reported, both investigating linguistically- and culturally-based communication problems between service providers and service seekers in Australia. The first examined language problems occurring in naturalistic situations involving a public servant and a client within three public agencies, the departments of…