CC Comm

Juan Guevara Striving for engaged and effective intercultural communication Something I have heard many times over is if you speak a second language then learning a third is going to be easier. I have known two languages - Spanish and English - for as long as I can remember. I have tried learning a third, Italian, and I don’t know how it is supposed to be easier. It still seems very difficult. If I have an advantage, I do not see it. But, whether it is easy or not, I do feel like I have a linguistic knowledge (Martin 2018, pg. 484). Some of the perks that I see are in the language Spanish and English there is a lot of resemblances and between the resemblances, I see them more in other languages such as Italian and even French. It seems difficult to me, then again, I haven’t studied it as much as I want to. Perhaps if I did study longer the pieces would come together easier. Something that I will also say is my tolerance of ambiguity (Martin 2018, pg. 484) can be pretty high wh...

Juan Guevara Popular culture and intercultural communicartions I remember growing up as a child and watching my mother watch a popular Hispanic show called “Sabado Gigante,” which roughly translates as Spectacular Saturday. The show, which aired on Saturday’s was like a ritual- every Saturday this show would be on. It was fun to watch. There is plenty of jokes and games and they would spontaneously begin to dance. Think, Ellen Degeneres formula, used by Mexico, in the ’80s, hosted by a fatherly looking Hispanic. It was great. This popular culture (Martin 2018, pg. 367) was watched by many and it was common for relatives or friends to talk about the show during coffee. The show was powerful. So many people watched it and approved of it. Something I noticed was that there was an unusual amount of attractive women on the show. Perhaps not so kid-friendly. But regardless, if you were Hispanic, and it was Saturday evening, odds were you were watching it. What was interesting was as ...

Juan Guevara Understanding Intercultural Transitions The topic of cultural assimilation (Martin 2018, pg. 327) is something I can relate to. Both my parents immigrated from Mexico. My father came from Puebla and my mother from a small village called Ahuatlan, located on the outskirts of gorgeous Guadalajara. My parents met while working in agriculture and had 4 children. We were raised in a small town called Hollister in California. We were fortunate that Hollister was probably as friendly as it got in regards to immigrants. I still heard racial slurs, mostly in high school, but it was never so egregious that it scarred me. Mostly, I am embarrassed that I did not stand up for my culture more ferociously but I was a child. Regardless, I was fortunate compared to some nightmare experiences that others had. There was definitely no segregation (Martin 2018, pg. 328), at least, not in the sense that we have seen in our history. Hollister has areas that are reserved for field worker...

Juan Guevara Nonverbal codes and cultural space I have always been fascinated by dynamics that occur behind the scenes or subliminally. An example of this is body language. Think about it, you could have an entire conversation with someone, walk away from it, and maybe think later that it did not go so well. How often do we analyze the body language? How often do we focus on what was said instead? Now, I have not researched it but it is interesting to think how accurate these nonverbal codes are (Martin 2018, pg. 282). We can control what we say but what about what we think and feel projected through our body language? For example, yawning. I know it is not a definite science but sometimes, when I am not interested, I will eventually yawn at which point I realize that my body was probably already projecting this several minutes before I actually yawned. A tired facial expression (Martin 2018, pg. 284) perhaps, droopy eyes, looking in other directions, or maybe just nodding to pr...

Juan Guevara Language and Intercultural Communication I have been blessed to travel quite a bit. I have been to Europe, twice. I’ve been to Sout America, Canada, Asia, and a bit in the U.S. One of the things that have fascinated me the most, other than the food, is the change in communication. There is a phonetic difference but that is completely normal. The detail which I describe as a proper phenomenon is a dynamic difference in communication. There is a fundamental difference even though there is an identical word translation. Some obvious reasons are the difference between High and Low Context Communications (Martin 2018, pg. 232). I speak Spanish and English and I speak both well, thanks in part to my mother. She had a strict Spanish only rule in the house. I used to think it was because she wanted to ensure we spoke proper Spanish, what she claimed, Now I realize it was probably due to the universal feeling of being uncomfortable with others speaking a different language ...

Juan Guevara History and Intercultural Communication  In this blog I want to elaborate on a subject which stood out to me; Low Power and High Power distance (Martin 2018, pg. 103). The term power distance refers to “A cultural variability dimension that concerns the extent to which people accept an unequal distribution of power.” So, it defines what society feels comfortable in regard to people in power. After reading the textbook we know societies such as Denmark, Israel, and New Zealand, value a low power distance. We also know that societies such as Mexico, India, and the Philippines, value a high power distance. In my line of work, Law Enforcement, there is a high power distance system. There is a heavy structure system. Sometimes, it seems like its too heavy. What I often wonder is how these systems were adopted and put in place. For example, if you have a suggestion that could benefit the department as a whole, not only are you expected to first report it to your imm...

Juan Guevara Culture, Communications, Context, and Power. The relationship between communication and context: It’s interesting how we abide by rules and norms which are latently laid in front of us. According to Martin (Martin 2018, pg. 111) this is coined as the relationship between communication and context. Think about it- how drastically does your approach change from one situation to the next. The manner in which you present something to your coworker as opposed to the CEO. The manner in which you speak to an Officer or a Doctor. These adjustments are very interesting. It’s also interesting when someone misses the cues or details and communicates in a different manner; to those who can see the relationship must be very self-conscious. Actually, if you think about it, this might be related to the tourist oddity phenomenon where locals gawk at tourists for doing things differently or being “weird.” The relationship between communication and power: Ok, so digging deeper into...