Before starting to write your assignment, please watch the TED Talk Cross cultural communication by Pellegrino Riccardi. The presenter states that culture is “a system of behaviour that helps us act in an accepted and familiar way” (emphasis original). He then gives a few examples by describing different behaviours that are considered accepted and familiar in different cultures.

Think of a specific event that happened to you, in which you were in contact with a culture that was different to the one you grew up in. What was not accepted and familiar to you? Why? How did you experience it? How did you communicate? Did you have the impression that the communication was successful? Were there any problems? Were they purely linguistic or did they also relate to differences in cultural background ("cultural clashes")?

Share your personal intercultural experience by writing a text of approximately 300 words in the text box below.