Competence (intercultural)

The term competence is derived from the Latin word competentia „aptitude“. Intercultural competence (Latin inter „between“) means that people from different cultural backgrounds are able to communicate and act successfully together. The word culture comes from the Latin cultura „processing, care“ and in common understanding includes everything that is cultivated, i.e. influenced by people (cf. Pohl 2008, 9).

Intercultural competence and encounter

Intercultural competence basically refers to dealing with unfamiliar ways of thinking and behaving (cf. Pohl 2008, 9). What is meant is the ability to deal adequately with foreign cultures and their members (cf. Lüsebrink 2012, 9). Barley states that „only the encounter with the foreign makes culture visible“ (Barley 1999, 9) and draws a comparison to human anatomy: „Our own culture is like our own nose. We don’t see it because it is right in front of our eyes and we are used to looking at the world directly through it.“ (Barley 1999, 9)

Empathy, skill, knowledge

Intercultural competence is so multifaceted that it cannot be considered a stand-alone competence. A wide variety of competence areas of communication on verbal, non-verbal and also paraverbal levels are addressed – as well as behavioral and comprehension competences. In summary, intercultural competence primarily comprises three main areas: affective, pragmatic and cognitive skills (cf. Lüsebrink 2012, 9). According to Bolten, it is a „skill that is continually evolving and interacts productively with other, basic competencies“ (Lüsebrink 2012, 10).

Levels of intercultural learning

Pauline Clapeyron takes a similar approach. She presents intercultural competence as a learning goal of intercultural learning, whereby intercultural learning takes place on an affective level (self-competence and awareness-raising), a cognitive level (factual competence and knowledge transfer), a communicative level (social competence and empathy) and a behavioral level (action competence and practicing intercultural skills) (cf. Flüchtlingsrat Schleswig Holstein 2004, 7 f.).

Like Bolten, she understands intercultural competence not as an acquired and static skill, but as a learning process. In this context, being interculturally competent means „that we as individuals have developed abilities to relate to and communicate with other people in very different situations, in different social and cultural contexts, while being aware of our own values and cultural embeddedness.“ (Refugee Council Schleswig Holstein 2004, 9)

Literature

Barley, Nigel (1999): Sad Islanders. As an ethnologist with the English. Munich: Klett.

Clapeyron, Pauline (2004): Intercultural competence in socio-educational work. In: Flüchtlingsrat Schleswig-Holstein: Interkulturelle Kompetenz in der pädagogischen Praxis. An introduction. Brochure: http://www.forschungsnetzwerk.at/downloadpub/perspektive_interkulturelle_Kompetenz_equal.pdf [19.06.2018].

Gnahs, Dieter (2007): Competencies – acquisition, recording, instruments. In: German Institute for Adult Education (ed.): Studientexte für Erwachsenenbildung. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann.

Lüsebrink, Hans-Jürgen (2012): Intercultural communication. Interaction, foreign perception, cultural transfer. 3rd ed. Stuttgart: Carl Ernst Poeschel.

Pohl, Reinhard (2011): Intercultural competence. In: Pohl, Reinhard (Ed.): Germany and the world. Kiel: Magazin.

Straub, Jürgen/ Weidemann, Arne/ Weidemann, Doris (2007): Handbook of intercultural communication and competence. Basic concepts- theories- fields of application. Stuttgart: Carl Ernst Poeschel.