Intercultural communication is a fact of life. Where once intercultural communication could mostly be avoided by never leaving the borders of our state, this is no longer possible. The United States is thoroughly multicultural. With cultural diversity comes new challenges. We tend to misunderstand individuals from other cultures and co-cultures because deep-seated cultural values differ. The main value dimensions identified by Hofstede are individualism-collectivism, power-distance, and masculinity-femininity. Cultures vary widely on these dimensions. These value differences and the communication patterns and styles that emerge from them can result in ethnocentrism, or the attitude that your own culture is the measure of all things, and that cultures that differ from your own culture are deficient. This ethnocentric attitude can produce misattributions and miscommunication. Finding ways to reduce uncertainty and create convergence while deemphasizing divergence can help produce competent intercultural communication.
