Intercultural Competence

‘Oh the Hungarians, they are so arrogant! So ignorant! So proud, but of what?! And sooo depressed!’

When people get together from different cultures, they are often not as happy or content as they could be.

If you believe that you have a reason to be here, a project to finish, a meaningful message to convey… and you dare to start working in the inter-cultural arena, get prepared!

If you assume that good people will hear you out anyway, the reputation of your message or cause will suffer. I see this all the time with Americans who come to Hungary and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe to teach people, often the greatest things by the way, the very ideas people here would need to learn to change their lives for the better. But the message too often gets lost. Time, energy and money wasted. People mutually form opinions on each other, and love, respect and genuine appreciation are rarely a part of these opinions.

If you are feeling you have a lot to give, you are communicating the right things in all the right ways, and still fall on your face, it must be ‘culture’. If you are getting frustrated with the ‘natives’ (in our familiar ground: the Hungarians), because they react in ways you have not been prepared to deal with, chances are it is ‘culture’. Not you, and not them. If occasionally people walk out on you, get insulting or unintentionally insulted, or argue to the death, you are not necessarily wrong. Nor are they.

You may be feeling stuck, resourceless, angry, and tired with the Hungarians… Yeah, it has got to be cultural. You can walk in these shoes even if you are not feeling particularly home-sick. Even if you honestly feel “at home” in Hungary.

On top of all this, you may even be suffering from the typical symptoms of culture shock: fatigue, irritation, helplessness and frustration. Talking louder instead of slower to make yourself understood. Watching your home channels relentlessly, reading your familiar magazines, becoming overly concerned about cleanliness, questioning the integrity and intelligence of the Hungarians.

So what is there to do?

Whatever it is, it has to do with understanding, acceptance, and constructive relationships. To see the different and often annoying culture as a source of learning. The key to live happily in a foreign land and to accomplish what you are there for, is intercultural competence.

Intercultural competence begins with building an awareness of your own cultural heritage, and understanding that no one culture is intrinsically superior to another. Every individual represents his own culture. The next step is acquiring skills in understanding and communication that help you function effectively in multicultural environments.

Okay, can we get a little more practical here? Any step-by-step solutions? How can people so different be happy together? How can we learn compassion, understanding, and to love one another despite our differences? How can we work effectively, accomplishing our goals in the intercultural setting?

Many people already know how to do this. They are the ones who can move from country to country, working effectively while enjoying the different cultures. These “foreigners” are joyfully welcomed in the strange lands.

These gifted individuals are multicultural. They are ‘at home’, effective, productive and happy in places different from their native lands. Their constellation of qualities may be called ‘intercultural competence’.

These people are also called multicultural, bi-cultural, cross-cultural, or multinational.

They are not necessarily polyglots or multilingual. A multilingual person with just one culture does not do as well overseas as an intercultural person speaking just one language.

• What makes them successful?
• What does it take to become an interculturally competent individual?
• Who will succeed in different cultures?
• Are patterns and emotional responses necessary for intercultural competence learnable and teachable?

Please share your ideas and experiences under Comments!

Suggested readings for multicultural competence

cross cultural, culture-shock, cultures, ICC, inter-cultural, intercultural, multicultural, overseas assignment, expatriate