History teaches us that culture always changes because of internal and external influences. Communication is the most important quality for anyone to work on if they want to work or be part of an intercultural society. Communication between different cultures is a major topic for communication theorists. Today, both culture and communication have evolved considerably and have become interdependent of one ianother. Intercultural communication is not new; as long as people from different cultures have been encountering one another there has been intercultural communication. Intercultural communication is a symbolic, interpretive, transactional, contextual process in which the degree of difference between people is large and important enough to create dissimilar interpretations and expectations about what is regarded as competent behaviors that should be used to create shared meanings (Koester, at el. 93). This communication analysis will deconstruct the term intercultural communication and explain the problems associated with this type of communication. Three main issues surround the problem of intercultural communication: language barriers, cultural diversity, and ethnocentrism.
One problem with intercultural communication is language barriers. Language has always been perceived as a link between people but it can also constitute a barrier. Language is the primary means by which a culture transmits its beliefs, values, and norms. It gives people a means of interacting with other members of the culture and a means of thinking (Samovar 49). Language barriers that affect the validity of communication surround intercultural communication. Some language barriers include misunderstanding, inferential statements and emotive language. Ambiguous language is also used in intercultural communication. Ambiguous language consists of words and phrases that have more than one commonly accepted definition (Adler, et al.