Running head: CULTURAL COFFEE HOUR

Cultural Coffee Hour

Cole Lewis
University of Kentucky
CIS 110 - 047

CULTURAL COFFEE HOUR

I attended the cultural coffee hour on Friday, October 10. At this event the group
talked about cross-cultural communication barriers. These barriers often limit
understanding between people and promote stereotypes. Although at first apprehensive of
the atmosphere, I found relaxation in the pondering of the complex ideas presented. There
were people from all different cultural backgrounds representing a melting pot of race and
socio-economic status. At the end of the hour I came to the sad conclusion that people
frequently forget, or choose to ignore, the humanity they are presented with daily.
It was interesting in that I was immediately able to relate my apprehension of other
groups to what was being discussed. Often times people allow their minimal
understanding of something to dictate their willingness to learn about it. It is this selfperpetuating nature of the issue that proves it so problematic. Cross-cultural
communication barriers are much more than an inability to understand one another; they
are the lack of will to. I could not help but think of the awkwardness I often feel when I
speak with someone who speaks limited English. Even more so, I was confronted with my
inhibitions to attempt to communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds.
I had never paid much mind to the self-perception of someone with a background in
a different language. Accents are almost always present, and with them insecurity and selfdoubt is often accompanied. This means that people who speak English as a secondary
language are generally hesitant to attempt to communicate with others who grew up
speaking the language. Even if one does have the confidence accents and lack of
understanding of English idioms can make communication, or at least effective
communication, difficult. There is an obvious stigma surrounding those who are not fluent
in English telling them and the world around them that they are ignorant.

CULTURAL COFFEE HOUR

Due to the globalization of the language, and the influence of the countries that
speak it, it has become the language of the affluent. This common perception has an
othering factor that broadens the gap of problem and answer. When people are granted
the ability to rationalize a justification for not communicating with a person they are much
more likely not to. In this case the separation from humanity, and the assumption that ones
own life is superior to anothers, deems it morally correct to ignore someone. It makes it
justifiable to avoid contact with another person.
Throughout time we have seen the negative effects of human grouping. What was
once an evolutionary need to survive in tribes is now typically a downfall in the biological
make-up of the human race. When one decides they belong to a group they grant
themselves the power to decide who is not. This commonly leads to stereotypes, and
worse: discrimination. The battle against cross-cultural communication barriers will not be
won with a universal understanding of the same language. It will be won with societys
realization of complexity and worth of each individual human life.