INTRODUCTION

THE CONCEPTS OF CULTURE AND CIVILAZATION;

THE IMPACT OF INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION

Before starting the discourse on a certain culture and/or civilization, some

explanations regarding the above concepts as well as their definition could
be considered helpful for a better understanding of the task in view: the
acquisition of basic knowledge on the life and thinking of a certain society,
so that the mental process of crossing a culture different from the one,
someone lives in, may be achieved.

For a long time, the attempt of defining the concept of “culture” has
represented the preoccupation of numerous scholars all over the world, and
it has caused vivid and long debates; more than 160 definitions have been
suggested up to now, each of them considering the concept from a different
point of view: some look upon culture as something that separates humans
from nonhumans, while others define culture as “communicable
knowledge”; in other cases, culture is considered responsible for having
shaped the totality of historical achievements produced by human activity,
and so on.

However, an attentive examination of these definitions reveals that most of

them contain some common elements, thus:
- culture is learned, shared and transmitted from one generation to the
next;
- culture is primarily transmitted from parents to children but, at the same
time, by school, church, social organizations and even by government or
special interest groups;
- social pressure is taken into consideration as well, due to its power of
reinforcing some common ways of human thinking and behaving
developed in a certain place, at a certain moment. That is what Hofstede
calls “the collective programming of the mind”. Out of the multitude of
definitions, an example is offered by Webster: culture is called “the
integrated pattern of human behaviour that includes thoughts, speech,
action and artefacts and depends upon man’s capacity for learning and
transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations”.

Therefore, culture could be, basically, considered as consisting of patterns

of human behaviour giving to a group (ethnic, social, religious,
professional, etc) a certain identity, and according to which the individuals
within the group will shape their values, thoughts and feelings.
Undoubtedly, “cultural identity” vary from one group to another,
sometimes dramatically, and what is positive for one group may be
absolutely unacceptable for another.
The possibility of the groups individuals to communicate among them, and
even more that that, their wish to communicate positively depends on the
groups/individuals possibility to understand and accept cultures with value
systems and priorities others than theirs.
This is a competence/skill acquired as a result of a process which requires
knowledge, discipline and care, as well as tolerance to alternatives.
Therefore, for the purpose of our text, where we have in view, on the one
hand, the presentation and, on the other hand, the understanding of a
specific culture - the above concept would be defined paraphrasing
Webster’s statement, as an integrated system of human behaviour patterns
which are transmitted to and learned by each generation, and which are
characteristic of the members of the society under consideration; this
system means, in fact, the totality of material and spiritual values
accumulated by the respective society along centuries, including everything
which has been thought, done or made by its individuals. There is a wide
variety of “values” worth mentioning, from the spiritual to the material
ones, and which represent the constitutive elements of what we call
“culture”: language (verbal/nonverbal), customs, shared manners, attitudes
and feelings, religion, aesthetics, education, social and political institutions,
material artefacts, and, last but not the least, geographic environment or
main historical events which influenced and contributed to the shaping of
the respective culture.
It goes without saying that today, in our modern world, there are elements
which are included in all cultures, irrespective of geographic area, religion,
nation, race or historical development; these elements are called “cultural
universals” and they represent some general values, characteristic of the
manifestations representing the worldwide way of life of any group.

They include etiquette, the concept of family, and family rituals and
celebrations, gestures, mealtime, music, status differentiations, different
artefacts (clothes, cars, electrical appliances, etc), trade customs a.s.o.

However, the activities mentioned and many others which occur everywhere
in the world crossing cultures, may have, in the way in which they are
performed, a certain uniqueness that determines the cultural diversity we
are still impressed with, nowadays; thus, one and the same activity – eating
habits, for example – may vary dramatically from one culture to another
regarding the way of being performed.

At a certain moment of its existence, each society or social group finds itself
at a certain level of development, regarding social, material or spiritual
life; the level of material and spiritual development of a social-economic
group or individual can be defined as “civilization”. Being in evolution,
civilization can be considered a process of improving institutions, legislation,
education, etc. developed over long periods of time; of course, there are
many variables determining what has been defined as “civilization”. In
other words, civilization reflects a process of collective progress.

Both culture and civilization are multidimensional, consisting of a large

number of elements that are interdependent; some change occurring in one
dimension will influence the others to the same extent.

An aspect worth being pointed out refers to some characteristics of culture:

thus, it is said that culture is conservative, that it resists change and fosters
continuity. However, culture evolves, new values, either spiritual or
material are permanently added to the old ones, even if the process can,
sometimes, be slow or difficult; there are situation when, on the contrary,
the process is abrupt and spectacular.

Another aspect to be emphasized is that each and every individual, as social

being, belongs to a certain group and, consequently, should behave and
think according to the group who teaches him/her the “right way” of acting
in life and within the group. This permanent process of teaching/learning
reflects the individual’s progress. Thus, it is said that any individual is
encultured into a particular culture, a fact which confers “cultural identity”
to the respective person and which is included in the individual’s
personality.

But, sometimes, persons encultured in one particular culture have to know

and even to adjust their personality to another culture, because the living or
working conditions require it; the process of their learning, adjusting and
adapting to a specific culture, another than their own, is known as
“acculturation”; in any international environment the achievement of this
process is a key to success. The recent research on acculturation made
possible a new interpretation of a large number of inherited points of view
referring to the characteristics of culture, and even the reinterpretation of
the concept of culture. Therefore, acculturation is no longer considered an
occasional phenomenon producing devastating effects, but, on the contrary
one of the usual ways by which each society or individual can develop
culturally.

Modern life and present developments often make the individuals meet the
cultural challenge, and they must be prepared to face its impact. Cultural
incompetence can easily jeopardize the positive development of some
important relations, and it is said that, on the international arena, “cultural
risk” is as real as the political one.

It goes without saying that it is not reasonable to expect a person to have

much knowledge about each and every type of existing cultures; this would
be next to impossible, taking into consideration the multitude of cultures
existing in our world.

Thus, a more practical approach for individuals would be to start by

examining some cultures they feel interest in, learning, in this way, the
process of crossing cultures. In time, by communication, research,
education and experience, they could get a sound knowledge of some types
of cultures to which they are or might be exposed during their lifetime
because of their profession, interests, or structural affinities.

By understanding and adjusting themselves to the elements of a culture

specific to a certain group/society, the individuals will become more
efficient in communicating with the people belonging to the respective
culture.