16.1 Interpersonal & Intercultural Communication

* What concept/s in this class have you found most interesting? What was it about that concept/s that you found interesting?

The concepts in the COMM 105P class that I found most interesting were interpersonal and intercultural communication. On the one hand, interpersonal communication fascinated me because it made the think about its unique characteristics. Trenholm (2008) explains that “none of us can avoid interpersonal communication; our survival as social beings depends in large part on our interpersonal communication skills” (p. 140). Interpersonal communication is the only type of communication that people perform on a daily basis – either they want or not, voluntarily or involuntarily.

On the other hand, intercultural communication fascinated me because it made me think of how attentive I must be when I refer to people from other nationalities. The examples provided in chapter 12 of the textbook provided examples that went beyond the surface, when it comes to intercultural encounters. The example listed on pages 341 and 342 of the textbook, for instance, was adequate to explain that “in cross-cultural settings, even simple interactions can become complex.” Assuming that norms are the same across cultures is one of the serious mistakes one can make.

Ibirapuera