The role of culture in communication

This paper is about only one of the many aspects that affect communication: culture. I will try to show that people from different cultures differ considerably in their view of the forms and means of communication that are appropriate in a certain context and situation. Furthermore I will show that if people involved in intercultural communication reckon with those differences in communication, their intercultural communication will be more successful and miscommunication will occur less. I think that knowledge of these aspects are of high importance of a centre with the mission of Sagus, the stimulation of the use of Afrikaans. Afrikaans is spoken by people from different cultures and although they use one and the same language, they probably retain a number of the communication conventions of their own culture. If those who speak Afrikaans realize this, miscommunication will be avoided and as a consequence people will develop a more positive attitude towards communication in Afrikaans.