Intercultural awareness

My Experience to Intercultural Awareness

Intercultural awareness, also called intercultural sensibility, is an attitude or reaction towards a situation that he/she has never met before. I chatted with my roommate about some differences between our culture and that here in America and also our attitudes towards them.

After the talk, I find that both of us are in the stage of Adaptation, because we are willing to able to change our own behavior to conform to different norms. For example, we actually felt troubled to bring some gifts to a party since Chinese seldom did it when they are invited to a party. And another reason I think we are in the stage of Adaptation is that Americans openly and straightly argue with people who have different ideas when they are doing discussions, while Chinese always avoid to take issues directly. We are now willing to issue our opinions when doing discussions.

This course absolutely helped me to change my level of intercultural awareness. And I’d say it was a big help for me. If I did not take the course, I would not even know the existence of the intercultural awareness. What is impressed me most is Bennett’s theory of the six stages of the intercultural sensitivity. This study intrigued me with the intercultural awareness, and I also was pushed to get to know it because I am curious about it and I want to find out what it really is. This kind of curiosity forced me to explore what changes me and why it could change my ideas. I think, therefore, the most influential reading that helped with this change is Bennett’s study.

Speaking of my roommate, I guess what changed him most is what he has experienced here in America. Social intercourse could help a person to change his/her

ideas towards different cultures. What he and I have experienced might be a specific example to explain the idea of change of intercultural awareness.