Intercultural competence

Intercultural competence 

Competence refers to having skill, ability, knowledge, or training to permit appropriate behaviors, whether words or actions. Intercultural competence is having adequate relevant knowledge about particular knowledge. About the sorts of issues arising when members of different cultures interact according to Bokova in intercultural competence 2011.

In easier words we could say intercultural competence is the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately with people of other cultures, appropriate meaning you don't violate their values and norms. Effectively meaning you get to pass the right information .A person who is culturally competent understands the culture specific concept of perception, thinking, acting and feeling.

One necessary intercultural competence becomes the ability to discuss critical topics as values, beliefs and attitudes among members of multiple cultural groups in a way that does not lead to conflict. In different cultures gestures vary from one culture to another,a good example is the Japanese who use shake their head up and down to say no while in Kenya it means yes. Also the distance between people means different things to different cultures.

Importance of intercultural competence

Managing diversity, when people get to learn about the cultural differences and what they mean they're able to communicate with the other different cultures effectively with miscommunications

Cultural shock, when an individual learns about what to expect he/she can be able to be more prepared when traveling to another country, also one can make friends easily because you learn what their different gestures and body languages mean

It changes an individual’s perspective on things, when an individual gets to be aware of the different values and norms of a culture they're able to understand the other cultures behavior and not judge them a good example is clothing the way Muslim people believe in covering themselves as holy as compared to Christians who don't cover themselves up. So when an individual who is of Christian faith visits a country where majority is the Muslim faith, they try to respect the people's culture by not revealing as much as one would

It has also increased the diversity in economic network, more people are making and investing in business abroad because of awareness of intercultural competence it has led to nations making widespread trades and business deals

And finally we have intercultural effectiveness, which is the ability to effectively communicate with the other cultures when one becomes aware of what is considered norm, values or behavior they're able to adapt with the other culture in order to fit in.

References

1. Intercultural competence by Irvine Bokova 2011 France UNESCO

2. Importance of intercultural competence by Victorija Olafson 2009 Haskoli Island