Cultural Awareness
It is almost impossible to avoid cultural conflicts which are often out of a person's consciousness. Many times people are not aware that miscommication is taking place. More often than not, people simply cannot understand (or just ignore) the causes of miscommunication. To be aware of the frequency of miscommunication, one needs to be careful in communicating with someone from a different culture. Tomalin and Stempleski,Cultural Awareness (1993). assert that one should not only be aware of one's own culture, but also have awareness and tolerance of the target cultures. Moreover, one should not ignore one's own cultural viewpoint. With this firm ground to stand on, a person tends not to intentionally cause cultural conflicts. However, when miscommunication cannot be avoided, solutions to have a better understanding can quickly be pursued by those who are conscious of cultural differences.