The use of English as a global lingua franca has given rise to new challenges and approaches in our understanding of language and communication. One area where ELF (English as a lingua franca) studies, both from an empirical and theoretical orientation, have the potential for significant developments is in our understanding of the relationships between language, culture and identity. ELF challenges traditional assumptions concerning the purposed 'inexorable' link between a language and a culture. Due to the multitude of users and contexts of ELF communication the supposed language, culture and identity correlation, often conceived at the national level, appears simplistic and naïve. However, it is equally naïve to assume that ELF is a culturally and identity neutral form of communication. All communication involves participants, purposes, contexts and histories, none of which are 'neutral'. Thus, we need new approaches to understanding the relationship between language, culture and identity which are able to account for the multifarious and dynamic nature of ELF communication.

People, money, and information are flowing faster than ever across international borders, putting us all just one step away from a culture crash—that moment when you unintentionally confuse, frustrate, or offend someone from another culture. Are you struggling with trying to learn the customs, nuances, and hot buttons of every culture you might come into contact with? Michael Landers guides you toward a better solution: becoming aware of your own cultural “baggage.” You'll learn to sidestep the knee-jerk reactions that can get you into trouble and develop the agility to adjust your behaviors and expectations as needed. Through a mix of entertaining and instructive stories, valuable insights, and eye-opening self-assessments, Culture Crossing offers an essential primer for improving all your interactions with people from any background.

This volume is dedicated to questions arising in linguistic, sociological and anthropological analyses of intercultural encounters. It aims at presenting new theoretical and methodological aspects of Intercultural Communication, focusing on issues such as ideology and hegemonial attitudes, communicative genres and culture specific repertoires of genres, the theory of contextualization and nonverbal (prosodic, gestural, mimic) contextualization cues. The collected articles, which share an interactive view of language, focus on the methodological possibilities of explanatory analyses of intercul.

Cultures in Conversation introduces readers to the ethnographic study of intercultural and social interactions through the analysis of conversations in which various cultural orientations are operating. Author Donal Carbaugh presents his original research on conversation practices in England, Finland, Russia, Blackfeet County, and the United States, demonstrating how each is distinctive in its communication codes--particularly in its use of symbolic meanings, forms of interaction, norms, and motivational themes. Examining conversation in this way demonstrates how cultural lives are active in conversations and shows how conversation is a principal medium for the coding of selves, social relationships, and societies. Representing 20 years of research, this volume offers unique insights into the ways social interactions not only gain shape from, but also are formative of cultures. It makes a significant contribution to communication scholarship, and will be illuminating reading in courses focusing on cultural communication, language and social interaction, intercultural pragmatics, and linguistics.

The search for identity is a continuous challenge in the global world: from personal identity to social, national, European or professional identities, each person experiences nowadays a multi-dimensional self-representation. Placing the topic against an intercultural background, with a focus on communication, this book addresses the complicated relationship between self, identity, and society, from an academic perspective. The authors of the chapters in this book offer a complex landscape of professional and scholar approaches and research, in various parts of the world, including Canada, China, Estonia, France, Greece, Israel, Romania, and the United States of America.

This handbook takes a multi-disciplinary approach to offer a current state-of-art survey of intercultural communication (IC) studies. The chapters aim for conceptual comprehension, theoretical clarity and empirical understanding with good practical implications. Attention is mostly on face to face communication and networked communication facilitated by digital technologies, much less on technically reproduced mass communication. Contributions cover both cross cultural communication (implicit or explicit comparative works on communication practices across cultures) and intercultural communication (works on communication involving parties of diverse cultural backgrounds). Topics include generally histories of IC research, theoretical perspectives, non-western theories, and cultural communication; specifically communication styles, emotions, interpersonal relationships, ethnocentrism, stereotypes, cultural learning, cross cultural adaptation, and cross border messages; and particular context of conflicts, social change, aging, business, health, and new media.

Combining discourse analytic and sociolinguistic perspectives, this introduction provides students with a comprehensive, up-to-date and critical overview of the field of intercultural communication. Ingrid Piller explains communication in context using two main approaches. The first treats cultural identity, difference and similarity as discursive constructions. The second, informed by bilingualism studies, highlights the use and prestige of different languages and language varieties as well as the varying access that speakers have to them. Linguistics students will find this book a useful tool for studying language and globalization as well as applied linguistics.

Competence in communicating across cultures is a prerequisite for success in today′s fast-changing global community. In Intercultural Communication, Patel, Li and Sooknanan draw on their deep intercultural experience to show us how to build successful communication bridges across diverse cultures. The book explores various theoretical positions on global communication ethics and norms by providing an overview of the contemporary socio-cultural situation and seeking ways in which common ground may be found between these different positions. The authors raise points of critical reflection on intercultural events and issues in various areas of communication including health, work, environment and education. The book also covers a range of issues, from the interactions of various cultures to the expansion of social organizations and the growing global infrastructure. By integrating ′glocal′ perspectives in intercultural communication, the book addresses the long-term strategy of developing a global community without sacrificing indigenous local values.

In this volume, Ting-Toomey and Oetzel accomplish two objectives: to explain the culture-based situational conflict model, including the relationship among conflict, ethnicity, and culture; and, second, integrate theory and practice in the discussion of interpersonal conflict in culture, ethnic, and gender contexts. While the book is theoretically directed, it is also a down-to-earth practical book that contains ample examples, conflict dialogues, and critical incidents. Managing Intercultural Conflict Effectively helps to illustrate the complexity of intercultural conflict interactions and readers will gain a broad yet integrative perspective in assessing intercultural conflict situations. The book is a multidisciplinary text that draws from the research work of a variety of disciplines such as cross-cultural psychology, social psychology, sociology, marital and family studies, international management, and communication.

Living, working and studying in intercultural and international contexts is ever more relevant to a broad range of individuals including educators, social scientists and professionals. As education and work become increasingly international, every student and professional at some point is likely to feel the need to explore and discuss concepts of culture and identity in order to be prepared for intercultural encounters in the globalised workplace. Understanding Intercultural Interaction encourages readers to abandon the notion that culture is something static that we possess or have inherited and to see it as fluid and dynamic, created, interpreted and negotiated through social interaction. It recommends an examination of the contextual framework of intercultural behavior and the power relations and inequalities that pervade it to enable readers to understand themselves and the role that they play on the international stage. In its exploration of key concepts in culture and interaction, the book equips students and professionals from varied backgrounds with the tools to understand, discuss and apply them to their own lives. Designed principally as an accessible introduction for non-specialists to explore a wide range of theories and ideas that seek to explain intercultural encounters, the critical analysis provided in this book also offers ample scope for more in-depth exploration by those who wish to deepen their knowledge of the field, making it ideal for facilitating reflection and discussion in study or training contexts.