Post 146: What is the difference between Multicultural communication, Intercultural communication and Cross cultural communication?

Post 146: What is the difference between Multicultural Communication, Intercultural Communication and Cross Cultural Communication and Intracultural Communication?

Multicultural Communication: refers to when people from multiple backgrounds with different ways of communicating coexist without interacting deeply. Often one culture has more prestige or is dominant over the other minority culture. Multicultural Communication exists in schools where you can have a classroom filled with students of many different cultures in a teacher-centered classroom where the teacher does most of the talking and the students of many cultures rarely interact with each other. These students of many backgrounds merely exist side by side in the classroom.

Intercultural Communication: acknowledges the coexistence of multiple cultures in one single space. --one action occurring across several languages. If an individual can embody multiple cultures, then any interaction with that individual between 2 people can be deemed intercultural.  Intercultural communication means students of different backgrounds communicate with each other on a deep level. In a student-centered classroom, students of different backgrounds interact with each other as they do class projects, collaborative projects, engage in debates, peer edit each other's papers etc...When an international student interacts with another international student, that's when you have intercultural communication.

Cross Cultural Communication: comparison between 2 or more cultures such as communication, work habits...etc.. How do people of different cultures communicate?  Cross cultural communication occurs when anthropologists, ethnologists, or other social scientists compare the habits of one culture to another.  How do different cultures greet each other? In Japan, people bow to each other. In some parts of Asia, people stick out their tongue to say hello. And in America, people shake hands with each other, except now in these COVID 19 times, Americans are being told to avoid shaking hands. In Europe, people are being told not to air kiss each other in greeting. 

Intracultural Communication: meaningful exchange between members of the same social group or the same cultural or ethnic group.  When two people of the same ethnic group talk to each other, this is known as Intracultural Communication. If a Chinese person talks with another Chinese person, this is Intracultural Communication.