Culture is the way groups of people come together and share common characteristics. There are six principles of cross-cultural communication; People have different ways they communicate with each other, there is a communication breakdown between different cultures, communicating between cultures can emphasize their own way of communicating, there are “do’s and taboos” (Cheesebro & O’Conner & Rios, 2010, p. 52) within their own cultures, becoming aware of the culture can help you understand their groups, becoming friendly within groups will overcome obstacles that can hinder communication. When people communicate within their culture they also have different ways they talk to each other. When we encounter a person of a different culture we can come across a language barrier or other barrier, and we would have trouble communicating. We can try to communicate with the other cultures but in order to fully understand we have to learn their cultures in order to communicate effectively. In order to communicate we need to learn what to say and do and what not to say and do. If we befriend a person in a different culture we should be friendly and not get upset when they do not understand our message, instead let them ask questions so we can define the meaning of the message. We also have to learn how to send and receive the message when we are communicating. In order to crash the barriers of communication we need to look at the person’s body language, and how they receive the message. While doing research on Hispanics I learned Hispanics might speak Spanish only so we have to find another way to communicate. “cross-cultural contacts are harmful unless they are conducive to constructive communication, and this can only occur if the parties have respect and sympathy for each other and show a large measure of flexibility.” (Najafbagy, 2009, p. 147) We need to tell the person the right steps in taking care of themselves, test results and how they can go about getting help
