Marina On Air

Each time we talk about culture here, it is necessary to remember what concept of culture we are talking about, which is culture as the identifying factor of a social group. According to the American anthropologist Kluckhohn, culture is a pattern of behavior (thinking, feeling and reacting of a human group) that is acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols within that group and represents its specific identity. It includes the concrete objects produced by the group and its heart is in traditional ideas and values. Based on this concept of culture, the Dutch culture researcher and psychologist Geert Hofstede* conducted a study there in the 1960-70s among IBM employees in 50 countries, in which he realized that all cultures have common traits, that he called “cultural dimensions”, and what determines the difference between cultures is the degree of importance that each cultural dimension has within them. The five cultural dimensions initially defined by Hofstede are: - ...

Intercultural Competence Nowadays it is very common to see in job descriptions "intercultural competence" as a requirement in the soft skills list, but the definition of intercultural competence is rarely clear to anyone applying for a job - perhaps even to those who put it in the requirements. Intercultural competence is defined as “the ability to deal with different cultures and the people who belong to them, their system of values and communication styles respectfully and appropriately so that they can communicate with and understand them. them ”. Each culture has a system of values and a unique style of communication. Therefore, being interculturally competent goes far beyond having good interpersonal relationships. Intercultural competence encompasses two other important concepts, such as system of values and communication styles, and is divided into three types: cognitive, behavioral and affective intercultural competence. The cognitive aspect of inter...

It is common for many people to move from one house to another. We move from our house, neighborhood, city, state and even country. And every move brings with it a certain fear of the unknown. “Will the neighbors be nice like the ones I had? Do you have little children? What do they like? What do they do? ”These are questions that occur in times of change, because “culture is the way you do things around here” and you, who just arrived in the area, still don't know what it is like. If people in this new place speak the same language as you, adaptation tends to be less difficult. But when we move farther, where another language is spoken, cultural differences are more visible, and adaptation is a much bigger challenge. Think about this scenario: you move to another country for whatever reasons (work, love, etc.). Getting there, you feel everything is weird: the way people talk, eat, walk, act... it's all very weird and you tend to think that local people are somehow wro...

I started writing here about my life as a single mother and some difficulties that I faced throughout my life because of that. This subject will keep existing here, it is a very strong part of my life.  But my life was also strongly influenced by contact with other cultures and that since my early teenage years. This awakened me along the time to the interculturality/cultural diversity that each one brings in, conscious or not. But how to understand what is intercultural without understanding exactly what culture is?   In today's globalized and highly connected world, it is common to find people from different countries living and/or working in the same environment, and understanding cultural differences is fundamental for harmonious living. But a different culture is not just that of another country: your neighbor from has different habits and customs from yours, even being the same nationality as you. There are several academic definitions of culture. Some are s...