Cultural Challenges Based on Culture and Context

Nowadays we live in a globalized world where everything is interdependence between one country to another. It means that facing a foreign culture becoming more likely to happens to us since every country have their own unique culture. Culture plays a primary role in establishing specific, shared rules that stipulate the communicative behaviors appropriate for different social and physical contexts (Samovar et.al, 2017, p. 339). 

Thus, during intercultural communication interactions, difficulties can arise because you and your communication partners rely on different standards (Samovar et.al, 2017, p. 339).

There are many examples of potential cultural difficulties that we might experience. International Intergovernmental Organization is the first example. For example, Bali will host the G20 in November 2022. The cultures of the world's leaders vary greatly. The proper communicative practices for social and physical circumstances are influenced by these cultures (e.g., handshake, eye contact, body language, the way of talking and personal space).

Concepts of dress, time, language, manners, and nonverbal behavior differ significantly among cultures (Samovar et.al, 2017, p. 341). Due to the diverse values that each of the country's leaders held, it can lead to miscommunication amongst them if they are unfamiliar with one another's culture. 

That is why there is an international agreements of communication guidelines of what kinds of communication are appropriate in international conference. Context specifies the appropriateness of the rules to be employed (Samovar et.al, 2017, p. 341). But it is important to them to do research and even learn of how is the appropriate way to greet another leader based on their culture.

The second one is domestic assistance. Many Indonesian work abroad as a domestic assistance in many countries, mainly Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Because of the cultural differences between them and their bosses, there is a high risk of these international domestic assistant face a problem.

Reference: Samovar, L. A., Porter, R. E., McDaniel, E. R., & Roy, C. S. (2017). Communication Between Cultures. Cengage Learning.