Schwarting -- Caps #2

Do you believe that someday, there might be one universal language?  A combination of all the languages already established.  As a business major, I am always thinking about the global market. The world is shrinking each day as it is made easier to travel.  We are coming into contact with other cultures a lot more regular then we are used to.  When being in contact with other cultures, things like proxemics, cross-cultural training, conversational restraints, etc. come into play.  Cultural researchers study theses findings in three different approaches: the social science, interpretive, and critical approach (Martin & Nakayama, 2012, p.80). I acted as an interpretive researcher while watching the movies, The Terminal.

While watching The Terminal, the character Victor Navorski is put to the test when he is trapped in an airport for nine months until the United States recognizes his country.  Victor is a European man from Krakozhia.  These cultural traits identify him as a person throughout the movie.  Victor cannot speak any English when he first starts off in the movie.  The US officials used the communication accommodation theory when they used non-verbal “sign language” to explain to him why he could not enter America.  When he tries to use his calling card to make a call back home, no one will help him because they are not interested in helping out a foreign man who cannot speak English.  One character suspects him of being a CIA spy because he was a foreigner that did not fit in to their culture.  Being from Krakozhia, a very small made up country next to Russia, the US officials needed his help once.  He felt a sense of belonging when he had to speak to a man from Russia who was having a meltdown because the US officials were going to take his pills away that he needed to give his dying father.  Since Victor was a European and could help him, it was the first time he got a little taste of his own culture.  Since Victor was a man, he also go treated a little differently then a woman would have.  The U.S. people’s perception of him was different then had he been a woman.  They would of helped out a woman and not left her to fend for herself like they did for a man.  Lastly, being from such a small country like Krakozhia, he was all alone in this culture.  In the beginning, his intercultural competence was close to none. In the end though, through acculturation, Victor and the employees that worked in the terminal understood each other and grew to love each other. 

  

Understanding culture is an important part of communication.  We all communicate in different ways and understanding one another is key.  I think it is very important to identify different communication styles of different culture in order to not offend anyone and understand the way they do things.  If you can understand how people operate then you can work with them a lot better.  Knowledge is power!

 Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2010). Intercultural communication in contexts (5th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill. 

Niccol, A. N. (Writer), & Gervasi, S. G. (Writer) (2004). The terminal [DVD].