Communicating with people who come from a different culture has several challenges. One of the most challenging issues is that people from different cultures have different communication styles (Prince & Hoppe, 2000). The way people communicate is different from one culture to another. This always poses a great challenge when communicating with someone from a different culture. One of the major ways in which the style of communication differs is the way people from different cultures use language. Words and phrases are used differently across different cultures. Hence a person who assumes that words and phrases are used in the same way across all cultures ends up wrong (Prince & Hoppe, 2000). For instance, while the word yes is mostly used to show concurrence or agreement with a certain point of view, some cultures use it to mean “maybe”.

Still on communication styles, different cultures attach varying degree of importance to non-verbal communication. There are those that use non verbal cues intensively during communication, while in other cultures, use of non-verbal communication is not as intense. Non-verbal communication includes things like gestures, facial expressions and dressing. Others include how people seat, territorialism, and respect to time limits (Prince & Hoppe, 2000). Different cultures also use different degrees of assertiveness during communication. Failure to understand how assertive one ought to be during communication with a person from a different culture can lead to misunderstandings. One may end up being seen as being domineering. For instance whereas some cultures view speaking in high tones as a sign of a fight, there are those that view it as a sign that the conversation is exciting.

Different cultures have varying attitudes towards disclosure. Whereas, in most western cultures, it is considered appropriate to be emotional, in some other cultures this is frowned upon.

The best way to deal with these challenges is by first trying out to find the communication style of the culture you intend to interact with (Prince & Hoppe, 2000). Find out what is deemed to be proper communication style and how it differs from one’s own communication style. This helps one know what to expect, what to say and what to avoid. When speaking to people who belong to a different culture, one should always find out whether the other person feels comfortable or not. What may seem like a simple question to one person can be very offending to the next.

The United States of America is a religiously pluralistic society. Of importance to note though is that Christians, Protestants and Catholics, are the majority religion making up 82% of the population. BISR (2006) points out that 71.5% of Americans pray at least once in a week. That is about three quarters of the total American population (BISR, 2006). These findings show that United is a religious country. Other than Christianity there are other religions like Islam, and Buddhism. These religions have fewer followers compared Christianity, which is the predominant religion in the country.

However, the country has been accused of being superficial in its piety compared to other countries, for instance Britain. USA is predominantly monolithic but still people have different ideas on who God is and how he should be worshipped. Even among Christians in the American societies, attitudes towards various issues differ.

References

Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion (2006). American Piety in the 21st Century. Retrieved

from http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/33304.pdf

Don W. Prince, & Michael H. Hoppe (2000). Communicating Across Cultures. Retrieved from

http://ccl.org/leadership/pdf/news/releases/CCLCommunicatingCultures.pdf