Defining Intercultural Communication
📌 The world is becoming a "Global Village" where interactions with people and events from other countries feel as close as those in a small village, according to McLuhan.
🌐 Characteristics of the Global Village include an increasing desire for uniformity and shared experiences, heightened by electronic media like social media.
🗣️ Intercultural communication is defined as interaction between people with different cultural backgrounds, which may involve differences in race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, or language.

Principles of Intercultural Communication
📜 Linguistic Relativity: The structure of language influences our cognitive processes; mastering widely understood languages (like Indonesian nationally or English internationally) is crucial to minimize misunderstanding.
🖼️ Language as a Cultural Mirror: Greater cultural differences lead to greater differences in both verbal and nonverbal communication, making interaction more difficult.
❓ Reducing Uncertainty: Understanding another's culture decreases guesswork and assumption-making during interactions, fostering smoother communication processes.
🤝 Self-Awareness and Adaptation: Being aware of cultural differences necessitates adjusting behavior, etiquette (e.g., dress code, gestures), and expectations when operating outside one's native environment.

Competencies for Effective Intercultural Communication
🌟 Motivation to Communicate: The initial desire to connect, often shown universally through a smile or a simple greeting ("Hi," "Sorry"), is essential for overcoming initial barriers.
📚 Appropriate Cultural Knowledge: Possessing knowledge about local customs, taboos, and rules (like transport regulations in Singapore versus Indonesia) prevents legal or social trouble.
🗣️ Suitable Communication Skills: This involves adjusting basic communication elements—language, facial expressions, and appearance—to align with the local cultural context.
🧭 Personal Character and Integrity: Maintaining high personal integrity, honesty, and politeness remains constant regardless of the cultural setting or who you are interacting with.

Key Points & Insights
➡️ Failure in intercultural communication can have fatal consequences, as evidenced by aviation accidents caused by misunderstandings of critical international terms like "Mayday."
➡️ For professional interactions, especially those involving international languages like English, mastery of necessary terminology is critical to prevent dangerous misinterpretations.
➡️ In the Indonesian context, mastering proper and correct Bahasa Indonesia is fundamental to avoid miscommunication and misperception among diverse ethnic groups.

📸 Video summarized with SummaryTube.com on Dec 09, 2025, 19:08 UTC