In their model of intercultural communication, Samovar and Porter (1997) illustrate the process of how the meaning of a message changes when it is encoded by a person in one culture and decoded by a person in another culture in the context of his or her own cultural background.
In Figure 1 A, B and C represents three different cultures. Cultures A and B are similar to one another while culture C is quite different. Within each culture is another form similar to the shape of the influencing parent culture. This represents the person who has been molded by his/her culture
The series of arrows connecting the figures represents the production, transmission, and interpretation of messages across cultures.
the change that occurs between cultures A and B is much less than the change between cultures B and C. This is because there is greater similarity between cultures A and B and the message is interpreted more nearly like it was originally intended. On the other hand, Culture C is quite different from cultures A and B and the message is interrupted differently there and becomes more like the pattern of culture C.
Samovar and Porter’s model shows the possibility of misunderstandings that always exist in intercultural communication, especially if there is great variation in cultural differences. As their model illustrates, the amount of influence a culture has on communication between cultures clearly depends on the similarity of the cultures. The more the cultures are alike, the less influence culture will have on communication.