This paper examines some reasons why American firms often have difficulty in conducting business overseas. The importance of language and culture in developing the marketing skills needed to penetrate international markets effectively is discussed, as are a variety of mistakes which U.S. corporations have made in international trade with respect…

An astute American, knowledgeable of and sensitive to cultural diversities among Europeans can communicate effectively for business success. The results of research into the communication customs of 27 European countries are presented: the Big Three (France, Germany, United Kingdom--England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales); Western…

Managing cultural diversity is recognized as one of the most pressing challenges to be faced in the 21st century by development communication scholars and practitioners. Meeting that challenge requires formulation of communication concepts, theories and practices which enable sharing and blending diversity among the world's multi-communal,…

Perhaps responding to a new awareness of the problems of American Indians, South Dakota Governor George Mickelson issued an executive proclamation declaring 1990 the "Year of Reconciliation." Dakota Wesleyan University responded to this proclamation by participating with the Mitchell Area Vocational-Technical in establishing a…

To be culturally valid, the characteristics identified by dialectologists as distinctive of black English must correspond to the terms members of the black community use to characterize their speech. Not all of the patterns that characterize black English within the dialectal framework are equal in their social or ethnic significance--the speech…

The tenth anniversary issue of this journal contains eight articles on English teaching approaches and cross cultural communication. The articles address the following topics: textual cohesion devices, English negation, reading instruction, discourse intonation as an approach to teaching pronunciation, interpretive oral reading as a learning…

An effective, inexpensive means of cross cultural and linguistic enrichment is available through a "Friday Lunch Program" developed by Ashland College, Ohio in October 1980. International students from the college meet in three one-hour lunches, with selected 5th and 6th grade students from local schools. The lunches are intended to…

Proposing that world view is a dimension of culture which lies below the surface of human behavior at the level of the subconscious, this paper argues that this often ignored dimension of culture profoundly influences human communication. The paper is divided into two sections. First, world view is defined and its importance in explaining how…

This paper documents the importance of nonverbal behavior and nonverbal communication across cultures, their relevance to interpersonal communication between ethnicities and cultures, and discusses their relevance to Native Americans. It presents a historical survey, a selective review of the literature, an overview of accepted theories of…

In 1982 K. M. Bailey cautioned that the development of training programs for international teaching assistants (ITAs) had preceded any systematic investigations of problems associated with ITAs. This article responds to Bailey's call by systematically reviewing available research in three critical areas of ITA-student interactions, namely: (1) ITA…

Anwar el-Sadat's speaking style became a key factor in his ability to maintain a balance between the goals essential to Egypt's future and the position taken by Israelis in the settlement of the Mideast conflict. Three speeches (two addressing the Egyptian National Assembly, one the Israeli Knesset) were examined to explore the rhetorical choices…

An interpretive and ethnographic approach to human communication study, using naturalistic or participant observer techniques, is particularly useful in intercultural contexts. The basic ideas undergirding this approach are (1) that the researcher is the instrument of inquiry, (2) that humane considerations are more important than investigating…

After the Second World War, the field of cultural anthropology underwent an explosive development. Sociologists, psychologists, educators, and economists all added to the increasing interest in a discipline which began by assuming that culture is the foundation of social structures and that every institution manifests itself as a system of…

Increased global interdependence will be the dominant feature of the 21st century. This increased relatedness among the world's cultures and nations will require close intercultural linkages which are often fragile and full of hazards. If the 21st century is to experience a greater sense of planetary community, rather than increased tensions and…

A study investigated the relationship between self-perceived intercultural competence and previous intercultural experience among three groups of student sojourners. Subjects, 179 undergraduate intercultural communication students at a large midwestern university, and with varying degrees of intercultural experience (none; less than three months;…