Definitions of Intercultural Competence

As of January 2010, the definition of Intercultural Competence given by Wikipedia is: the ability of successful communication with people of other cultures.

Personally, I have never been too happy with a limited definition of ICC as the above. In any case, with Dunya, we are trying to give the subject a new scope and a fresh and pragmatic approach. For this, take note of our forthcoming Dunya Whitebook as announced on this page.

Today, on the Internet I came across a very nice presentation made by a certain Antoinette Camilleri Grima, in which she starts from the definition that ICC means transcending the limitations of your own worldview.

I like this starting point - if only because of the completely different outlook it provides with regard to the added value of the cultural background and mindset of the other.

Whereas Wikipedia seems to suggest that the other is limited in her ability to understand me and grasp the added values I bring to her, and therefore I have to adapt my communication in order for her to be able to understand me, Camilleri Grima suggests just the opposite. ICC, she holds, is a competence for me to acquire in order to overcome the limitations I have in seeing and discovering the added value of the other.

Further, Camilleri Grima has introduced a very nice metaphor of a tadpole and a fish.

I invite all Dunya readers to have a look at her attractive presentation: here.

Francis Laleman