Cultural Communication

Cultural communication norms are the proper, commendable and respectful communication patterns acquired through cultural socialization process between individuals of different cultures and ethnicities.


They play significant roles in molding the cultural identity of an ethnic group. Communities of various ethnicities formulate and establish guidelines and regulations for social activities such as meeting and greeting, accepting and declining invitation, presenting and accepting gifts, expressing and withholding emotions, etc. Norms construct the boundaries for acceptable behaviors and prevent the violations of personal rights. Simultaneously, the uniqueness of a culture can be compared to others based on its specific set of communication norms and ultimately preserved for generations to come.


Despite the exponential growth of human population, culture is preserved, maintained and passed down from one generation to another. In view of this, there is an increasing need for individuals to develop cultural intelligence to deal with the multi-cultural aspects of human interactions.



The effort to develop such awareness requires one to achieve proficiency in both verbal and non-verbal communication norms of the target culture. It will be beneficial to both our personal and professional lives as we begin our journey of exploring a culture different from our own.


It will take much patience and effort to cultivate mutual learning of each other cultures. Cultural differences should not become an excuse for us to dismiss other cultures and solely honour our own culture.


The learning journey begins with

 identifying the communication norms of others compared to our own,

 learning to understand practices that we are not familiar with or accustomed to,

 having the desire to tolerate and adapt to the norms of others as much as possible.


Intercultural miscommunication and misunderstanding can be minimised or eliminated when a certain level of mutual understanding is attained. Cultural knowledge about acceptable and unacceptable norms will assists us in building effective intercultural relationships with one another.


We will begin to see the transformation of human relationships in terms of the reduction or elimination of conflicts. Ultimately, we can achieve a higher level of interracial unity and harmony as we develop greater cultural awareness between different cultures in the world.