The Riches of Intercultural Communication: Volume 1: Interactive, Contrastive, and Cultural Representational Approaches

How do you react to an intercultural situation that you do not understand? There are four options. You wait until it’s over. You adjust your behavior and do as the natives do. You blame the other as strange and stupid. Or you start to wonder by thinking about yourself and the other(s). This last option is called a Rich Point. This book provides an overview of research into intercultural communication. It is not a handbook, but offers nine studies that illustrate the reflection process from different scholarly perspectives. The approaches in this volume are the interaction approach, contrastive approach and cultural representational approach.

Volume 2 offers nine additional chapters exemplifying the multilingualism approach and transfer approach including research into intercultural competences. Together, the chapters illustrate the essence of the essentialism and non-essentialism debate regarding diversity and inclusion.