Describes five strategies for teaching cultural competence in social work practice classes: defining cultural awareness and the culturally competent professional, providing resource papers about cultures to be discussed, asking students to serve as cultural guides to their own culture, informing students of cultural awareness activities on campus…

Describes a unit for an international business communication course that focuses on the international business meal as a way to learn important social and cultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes. (SR)

Discusses multilingualism as a basic requirement of European industry and the link with cultural competence in light of a unified European marketplace. (24 references) (VWL)

Focuses on the Swedish system of "dialogue interpreting," where the interpreter acts as a cultural mediator. Discusses the strategies the interpreter uses that fulfill the functions of listening and talking in a social context, and also evaluating whatever is said to monitor and contribute to the intercultural dialogue. (NKA)

This study demonstrates that communication in multilingual settings demands more than the knowledge of several languages. The paper further elucidates multilingualism and multiculturalism, interactional competence, models of multilingual communicative behavior, and sources of misunderstanding in intercultural communication and presents cultureme…

An American Indian professor discusses his concerns, contradictions inherent in his insider/outsider position, and the nature of cross-cultural discourse related to his family's participation at a university showing of an ethnographic documentary about the last Bole Maru leader ("Dreamer") of the Kashaya Pomo (a deceased family member).…

Discusses the widespread use of English as a world business language, reasons for its spread, standard and nonstandard "Englishes," and causes and cures for misunderstandings. (SR)

It is proposed that, when individuals discover their own linguistic potential, they unlock the door to interpersonal and intercultural communication. An illustration: a situation in which young people from eastern and western European countries gather after a film festival to discuss what they have seen and immediately find rapport. (MSE)

Discusses how particular attitudes and pedagogical practices were presented in a kindergarten center serving predominantly black children. Adoption of pedagogy responsive to children's cultural styles encompasses an array of social, cultural, and political factors reflected in teachers' and administrators' behavior toward minority children. (41…

Analyzes congressional deliberations over America's first peacetime propaganda program from 1947-53. Finds three distinct periods: naivete, hysteria, psychological strategy. Argues that the Truman administration produced an ethnocentric approach to propaganda whereas the Eisenhower administration adopted a more internationalist perspective which…

The Milwaukee Public Museum's new exhibit presents a cultural and historical overview of American Indian adaptation and survival from the earliest peopling of the Americas to the present. Wisconsin Indians have been heavily involved in the development of the exhibit, particularly a contemporary area portraying a modern intertribal powwow. (SV)

Explores classroom approaches to multicultural film study which seek to avoid miscommunication between cultures. Suggests that instructors prepare a checklist of factors to help students identify how specific films relay their messages. Argues that film study can broaden students' notions of free expression, and frame it as a cultural challenge.…

Argues that previous definitions of "empathy" are not useful for intercultural communication because they overemphasize accuracy, have an inappropriate focus on affect, and improperly portray empathy as an ability or skill. Advocates a relational view of empathy for intercultural encounters, and points out the pedagogical benefits for…

Argues in favor of developing and adapting curricula with a multicultural perspective. Presents typical problems facing students who are outside their cultural context. Describes the dominance of a United States Anglo perspective in communication skills, theory, and methods courses. Offers five suggestions for developing multicultural…

Observation study of a profoundly deaf person led to the conclusion that finger spelling and universal sign language could link deaf and hearing cultures. The complex and rewarding modality of finger spelling warrants further research as a cross-cultural communication medium. (SK)