ABSTRACT
WI T H I N C R E A S E D T R AV E L , study, business, and socializingacross cultures, more multinational corporations, universities with study abroad and teacher/student exchange programmes, there is more opportunity for intercultural communication. Every intercultural encounter requires at least an attempt of communication and communication provides the basis for most aspects of everyday life including education, work, and relationships. Communication also plays an important role in passing on cultural values from one generation to the next and in our understanding of culture and cultural influences on behaviour. Both verbal and nonverbal communication are essential elements in successfully transmitting and receiving messages within communicative interactions. Communicating with people from different ethnic, racial, religious, socioeconomic, and national backgrounds can be challenging and complex because of the myriad of factors involved and the assumptions about what is meant. Communication involves more than verbal language although communication via verbal language is unique to human beings. Being proficient in verbal language is essential to effective communication although communication also involves personal space and distance when talking, degree of physical touching, appropriate and inappropriate topics, and nonverbal communication including tone of voice, facial expressions, body movements and eye contact. Communication and processes like education can only be understood by considering people and events in their sociocultural context.
