Intercultural Competence: Interpersonal Communication Across Cultures

I work for a University where I am developing a Cultural Awareness program and this book is an important part of the knowledge I need to have to accomplish my goal successfully.

This was a required text for one of my classes, so needless to say... this was something I had to read cover to cover. Since there's not much one can really say about a textbook (unless its extreme in one direction or another), I'll keep this short. PROS: 1) Easy to read, this was great for taking notes from. The chapters had the key terms bolded & colored, so it was easy to get the definitions. Many of my college texts no longer do this, so this was a nice treat. Plus all of the topics & definitions are listed in the beginning of each chapter. 2) Good layout. The information was clearly defined & laid out in a way that went nicely from topic to topic. 3) Durable & easy to open. Seriously, you wouldn't believe how many textbooks out there can't lay flat or crumble in one semester. I purchased mine used & its obviously been through a lot of wear & tear. If you want something that you want to last a long time as a reference book or just want something that can be sold back by your students easily, this is a good one to choose. CONS: 1) While I'm not really qualified to pass judgment on some of the things in this book, at times I didn't entirely agree with some of the concepts in this book. But like I said, I'm not a pro in this stuff yet, so I might be wrong. (One course does not a pro make.) 2) Occasionally the book would ramble on a bit, using 2-3 paragraphs to make a point that could be made in 2-3 sentences. (I'm not including examples in this.) That just irritated me a little when it came to note taking, that I'd have to glean what was pertinent & what wasn't. Unfortunately I didn't splurge for the online code as it wasn't a requirement for my class, so I can't really say anything about that. Some of my classmates swore by it, so it sounded like it was rather helpful for them. This book was easy to learn from, so I recommend it if you are looking for a textbook for your students. If you're a student wondering how easy this will be to learn from, rest assured that this is an easy text to learn from.

Intercultural Competence: Interpersonal Communication Across Cultures (6th Edition) A great book for learning how to avoid putting your foot in your mouth! A wealth of information on people around the world, pointing out similarities, as well as the differences. A worthy addition to the two-book series How to be a Perfect Stranger," which mainly treats the various religions and their sundry internal denominations. (Sunni vs Shiite vs Sufi; or Catholic vs Orthodox vs 300+ Protestant sects) Every family should have a copy for facilitating peaceful and harmonious living together.

I have been teaching Intercultural Communication using this text (previous edition). After completing my MPhil in Intercultural Communication and being exposed to alot of texts in the field, I am still confident that this text is a very good introduction for college students. I have been teaching groups of students that are very diverse, with up to 14 different cultures at one time, and we always have fun with this book, because we are able to discuss the concepts very broadly. I still have to find a better book in its class.