As we have made very clear right from the beginning, our purpose is not to produce a theoretical compendium of knowledge on intercultural communication but to produce a reader-friendly textbook that every student can use in or out of class for self-study purposes and every teacher can use as teaching resource in and out of class too. Thus, we have created two mascots to guide the students or teachers in the learning process: one is Jason, the interactive mascot, and the other is Julia, the task facilitator. Jason appears all throughout the chapters to engage the learner and provide relaxation, while Julia only appears whenever an activity is proposed to the learner. She monitors the student in the task-based learning.
However, this book serves another purpose: it aims at educating the learner in intercultural communication and making him/her a proficient intercultural communicator. Hence, it would be incomplete if it failed to include a few strategies to improve intercultural communication. As we all know, different people communicate in different ways and when people communicate between cultures, the problems often multiply. Therefore, to solve the problems and overcome the frustrations caused by cultural differences, we all need to know some strategies to improve intercultural communication. Here are five suggestions:
1. Understanding and Accepting Differences
We should know being different is not always being negative. We should try to understand and accept the differences. In this way, we can develop effective and appropriate intercultural communication with people from other cultures.
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