Cultural Awareness is the foundation of communication and it about the ability of standing back from ourselves and becoming aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perceptions. Why do we do things in that way? How do we see the world? Why do we respond in that particular way?
Cultural awareness becomes central when we have to interact with people from other cultures. People see, explain and evaluate things in a different ways. What is considered an appropriate behavior in one culture is often inappropriate in another one. Misunderstandings arise when I use my meanings to make sense of your reality.
misunderstanding occur primarily when we lack awareness of our own behavioral rules and project them on others. In absence of better knowledge we tend to assume, instead of finding out what a behavior means to the person involved, e.g. a straight look into your face is regarded as disrespectful in Japan.
Becoming aware of our cultural dynamics is a difficult task because culture is not conscious to us. Since we are born we have learned to see and do things at an unconscious level. Our experiences, our values and our cultural background lead us to see and do things in a certain way. Sometimes we have to step outside of our cultural extent in order to realize the impact that our culture has on our behavior. It is very helpful to collect feedback from foreign colleagues on our behavior to get more clarity on our cultural nature.