Reflect on how meanings vary according to cultural assumptions that Arabic and English speakers bring to interactions, and take responsibility for contributing to mutual understanding
Elaborations
considering how being bilingual offers additional ways of interpreting the world and representing experience
challenging cultural assumptions and offering different perspectives to new cultural contexts or situations, for example, the idea that all Arabic-speaking people dress the same or eat the same food, many Arabic speakers speak more than two languages, every Middle Eastern country has its cultural uniqueness
identifying moments of embarrassment or communication breakdown in own intercultural interactions, exploring reasons for these and suggesting adjustments that could be made to enhance mutual understanding, for example, explaining to a non-Arabic speaker that exposing the sole of your foot/shoe to a person’s face would be considered extremely bad manners and interpreted as a grievous insult
discussing elements of successful intercultural communication, for example, attentive listening and objectivity when discussing social issues, and understanding that mediating and negotiating differences in perspective can prevent and resolve interpersonal problems and conflicts
