Introduction to Intercultural Competence

"The world has changed dramatically from what it was even a generation ago. Across the globe and throughout the United Slates, there is now a heightened emphasis on culture. Similarly, there is a corresponding interplay of forces that both encourage and discourage accommodation and understanding among people who differ from one another. "

"The United States.---and the world as a whole--is currently in the midst of what is perhaps the largest and most extensive wave of cultural mixing in reoorded history. Recent census figures provide a glimpse into the shape of the changing demographics of the U.S. population."

"The United States is really going through some rapid growth in the past 4 years "Institutions of higher education are certainly not exempt from the forces that have trans- formed the United States into a multicultural society.17The enrollment of"minority-group" college students is increasing annually. Additionally, there are about 2.5 million international students in higher education. Of these, about 583,000 international students---22 percent of the total are enrolled in U.S. universities. The U.S. enrollment is an increase of nearly 10 percent from the previous year and just 3,000 fewer than the record enrollment set before the 2001 terrorist attacks and subsequent visa restrictions.IS Similarly, the number of U.S. stu- dents studying abrood was nearly a quarter of a million in 2006, an increase of 8.5 percent from the previous year and ISO percent more than a decade ago."

"Communication is a symbolic, interpretive, transactional, contextual process in which people create shared meanings. "

"The first outcome of communication is understanding what the others are trying to communicate. Understanding means that the participants have imposed similar or shared interpretations about what the messages actually mean. "

Living in an intercultural world provides numerous challenges and opportunities, as your success and well-being increasingly depend on your ability to behave competently in intercultural encounters.