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British Council

Communicating across Cultures

British Council via FutureLearn

Overview

Learn how to improve your cultural intelligence with the British Council

In an increasingly diverse and multicultural world, being able to navigate the complexities and nuances of intercultural communication is vital.

On this course, culture experts from the British Council will guide you on how to successfully navigate multicultural and multilingual situations, improving your cultural intelligence (CQ) in the process.

Develop your intercultural communication skills

You’ll be invited to reflect on what culture is, and how it’s influenced your preferences and behaviour in intercultural situations.

You’ll evaluate both new and familiar cultural situations, reflecting on how others might react to your behaviours, enabling you to respond positively and empathetically.

Discover how cultural intelligence can be learned

Identifying practical strategies and techniques, you’ll learn how to communicate effectively and manage challenging intercultural situations.

You’ll examine how to successfully work in multicultural teams. By developing an intercultural mindset, you’ll see how to adapt to different communication styles, and enhance your own cultural intelligence by better understanding how people from other cultural backgrounds communicate.

Explore the importance of intercultural communication in the workplace and society

As businesses become more international, and workplaces more diverse, it’s crucial to communicate with sensitivity.

Moreover, intercultural communication is vital to improve engagement and trust in an increasingly divided society – especially when young people and young women often feel excluded from decision making.

You’ll come away from this course more confident in your ability to work effectively with people from varied backgrounds.

This course is for anyone who is a proficient English speaker and would like to improve their intercultural competence as they build or advance their careers.

This includes young people interested in making a difference, community organisations – particularly in the creative and social enterprise sectors – with a desire to form international connections, and employers wanting their staff to work effectively with people from cultural backgrounds different to their own.

Syllabus

  • Understanding yourself
    • Making the most of this course
    • Understanding your cultural identity
    • Values, preferences and behaviour
    • Managing unconscious bias
    • Applying an intercultural mindset
  • Developing your skills
    • Responding with intercultural competence
    • Building rapport and trust
    • Identifying your communication style
    • Adapting to others’ communication styles
  • Applying your skills in a multicultural world
    • Cultural influences on group dynamics
    • Successful team meetings
    • Handling challenging intercultural communication
    • Putting it all together

Taught by

Chris Cavey

Reviews

5.0 rating, based on 1 Class Central review

4.9 rating at FutureLearn based on 204 ratings

Start your review of Communicating across Cultures

  • Exceeded every expectation I had going into this. Very informative, clear and concise. A bit longer than I intended to take but well worth the time.

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