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Communicating Across Cultures


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Pages in this series:
» List of Exercises
» #1 Interpreting X-C Incidents
» #1 Sample Observations
» #2 Silent Day
» #3 Work Interview
» #4 Culture "embodied"



Exercise 2: Silent Day

Communicating Across Boundaries

The Silent Day exercise offers an unusual opportunity to become sensitive to how people communicate in every day life--how dependent we are on spoken language, when nonverbal language communicates well and when it does not, how our lives are structured around expected modes and rhythms of communication. You will find yourself listening more deeply than usual, or hearing people's conversation with fresh ears. Also, making it through your day with constrained communication can be surprisingly similar to the cross-cultural experience of being in a foreign language environment.

Prepare

Contract with yourself for silent time. Your written contract should include the following:
  • What you hope to learn--(about yourself, about nonverbal communication, about being a stigmatized or foreign person, about the place of verbal communication in everyday life).
  • What "being silent" means to you (what's ok---writing? coughing? singing?)
  • Schedule: When you will observe silence, and what breaks, if any, you need to take for class, work, etc.
  • How you will encourage yourself.
Very important: Arrange for friends to support and entertain you. Show at least one person your contract and ask for their support. Plan in advance what you might need to tell people at work, family, friends.

Carry out the exercise

Try to stick to your contract. The longer you do the exercise, the more you will learn from it.

Reflect

Think about what happened and how you and others approached various situation. It may be helpful to write up your experience. How did people treat you? How did you manage to communicate important information? What did you not bother to communicate? What was it like to be in listening mode? Were there aspects of being silent that were particularly difficult or embarrassing?

Good Luck!

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