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CHAPTERONE
mayalsorefertonon-mechanicalmeansofexchangingideasasawayofforming
relationships.Thus,wespeakofcommunicationsbetweenolderandyounger
generations.Both"communication”and"communications”involvetheactive
sendingandreceivingofinformation.
Thedefinitionof"interculturalcommunication”isevidentfromthetermitself:
itisthecommunicationbetweenpeoplerepresentingdifferentcultures.Intheir
bookLanguageandculture,VereshchaginandKostomarov(1990)providedthe
followingdefinition:"Interculturalcommunicationisthemutualunderstanding
ofacommunicativeactbytheparticipantsthatbelongtodifferentcultures.”As
languageistheprimarymeansofcommunication,itisimportanttodefineitsrole:
itisthetransporter,thebearerofculture;itpassesonthetreasuresofanational
cultureanditsexperiencethroughgenerations.Languageisaninstrumentof
culture.Therefore,accordingtoVereshchaginandKostomarov,languagedoes
notexistapartfromcultureasasociallyinheritedtotalityofpracticalskillsand
ideasthatcharacterizethewaywelive.Cultureisnotmerelyculturalinformation
renderedbyalanguage.Itisanintegralpartoflanguage,characteristicofallits
layersandbranches.
AccordingtoByram(2000),interculturalcommunicationaimstorevealthe
externalandinternalrelationshipsbetweendifferentcultures,interpretingeachin
termsoftheother,aswellasbeingabletoanalyseandcriticallyunderstandboth
nativeandaliencultures.
Thenotionofinterculturalcommunicationinitiatesanumberofdiscussions
inliteratureamongtheresearchers.AccordingtoTer-Minasova(2000),itssyn-
onymsarecross-culturalcommunication,transculturalcommunication,interethnic
communication,aswellasthenotionofinterculturalinteraction.
Theterm"interculturalcommunication”wasfirstintroducedbyHalland
Trager(1953)inTheanalysisofculture.Sincethenresearchersmovedforward
workingoutatheoreticalbasisforinterculturalcommunication.Asaresultof
numerousstudies,themostcharacteristicfeaturesofinterculturalcommunication
havebeenfound.Theaddresserandtheaddresseebelongingtodifferentcultures
shouldbeawareoftheinterculturaldifferences.Interculturalcommunicationis
ofteninterpersonal,occurringinaspecialcontext,whenoneparticipantdiscovers
theculturaldifferencesofothercommunicants.
Asarule,thedifferencesoccurringbetweenrepresentativesofdiversecultures
areconnectedwiththedivergenceinexpectationsandprejudicescharacteristicof
anypersonandnaturallydifferentineveryculture.Peoplefromothercultures,
decipherreceivedmessagesindifferentways.
Interculturalcommunicationisalsobasedontheprocessofsymbolicinterac-
tionbetweenindividualsandgroups,whoseculturaldifferencescanberecognized.
Theperceptionandattitudetowardsthesedifferencesinfluencethetype,form,and
resultofcontacts.Eachparticipantofaculturalcontacthashisorherownsystem
ofrulesthatfunctiontodecodeandencodethesentandreceivedmessages.Hence,
