Cultural Competence is Key

So the central theme throughout this whole trip both inside and outside of the classroom was similarities and differences. Similarities and differences in music, style, work ethic, advertising, language, food, traditions, weather and transportation – or simply put, the similarities and differences of culture. From day one, before lectures even commenced, all we could discuss were these slight similarities and differences which brought the FIU students closer together or helped us bond to the IMK students. It seemed all we spoke about day in and day out was culture. Ofcourse, outside the classroom we wouldn't label our topics of conversation as subjects relating to culture, but that was what it was. We found similarities in music taste while discovering differences in how we labeled certain genres of music (such as “black” music.) Some of us discovered our affinity towards döners or our loyalty to “picadillo.” Some may have noticed the great similarities between “Schnitzel” and “Bistec Empanizado.” Some of the girls may have noticed a high use of tights in Germany because of the cold weather, but also started using them because it was cold.


As discussed numerous times in class, culture is something we have to understand in order to be successful communicators in such a interconnected global community. Cultural competence is key. However, reading important facts about Germany on Wikipedia is not enough to achieve cultural insight – it took this experience to scratch the surface of German culture and the German market. This topic then relates to all the aforementioned blog discussions – from language barriers, to stereotypes, to minorities in advertising, nudity in advertising etc. If one can assimilate into a different culture and soak up as much as possible then one may have a better chance at approaching a campaign for a particular target market.

Yet, only in a dream world could an agency dispatch culturally competent individuals to evaluate a culture and report back like soldiers. It just doesn't work that way. Alternatives include, but are not limited to, using focus groups or temporarily employing someone who is from that target market for cultural insight to avoid colossal campaign catastrophes.

To add to the whole idea of cultural competence, being physically present in a foreign geographical area does not solely constitute an attempt of attaining cultural insight. I could have easily gone to Berlin and eaten at Starbucks, McDonalds or T.G.I Friday's the whole time. I could have nagged about the lack of air-conditioning or an employee not speaking clear English. I could have refused to resort to public transportation or refused to learn basic words in German. I could have never had bratwurst, currywurst, or German bier. Point is, being in a designated location doesn't necessarily mean cultural competence. It means to partake in the local culture and tolerating or dealing with those aspects of that culture that may irritate you. It means walking on the designated foot path even though you may want to just walk next to your friend on the bike path. It means trying to say “halo”, “danke” and “tschuss” and not expect someone to understand “hey”, “thanks” or “bye” even though the probably would.

This and more I learned on my trip in Berlin and weekend trips around continental Europe. The classroom idea of cultural competence, (or summarized as simple courtesy) was something I believe most of us put into practice while in Berlin. The idea of first being culturally competent to be able to gather as much about another culture as you can is not a far-fetched archaic idea. In fact, it's something we as communicators should adopt more than ever.