The development of global community demands to keep learning in building communication including in college. In its effort to build the concept of international class education, University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) did not leave this intercultural communication learning.
Based on that, the four speakers of Intercultural Communication and Practices in Indonesia, Poland, India and Ukraine gave an explanation on the importance of intercultural communication to build economic, political and social activities in the midst of world technological progress. The event held in BAU Hall on Wednesday (7/3) is a series of Dies Natalis event of Faculty of Social and Political Science of UMM.
Daria Goriacheva, a foreign student of National University of Ukraine "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy", explained that currently intercultural communication has been influenced by many things including the existence of social media. She described the post-truth phenomenon that shows where the circumstances and facts objectively no longer have much influence in shaping public opinion rather than personal emotions and beliefs.
"As we already know, post-truth is a phenomenon that often creates misunderstandings in communicating in the community," she explained.
Moreover, Daria also explained how the use of metaphor in a given information can affect the quality of the communication.
"In this case, we have to be careful in utilizing 'metaphore' in communicating," she added.
On the same occasion, Maria Anna Ochwat, a lecturer of foreign affairs program from WSB University in Poznan, Poland also attended this event. Maria managed to attract attention by inviting the audience to come to Poland.
"At this presentation, I would rather invite you to come to Poland," she said.
Maria explained that her invitation meant that the Poles were proud of their country. This behavior is referred to as stereotype, namely the assessment of a person based on the perception in which the person can be categorized. Stereotypes are important to avoid misunderstandings in communicating.
"Knowing and understanding the stereotypes of each country can help us to avoid the silly and disturbing things in communicating," explained Daria.
Besides Daria and Maria, in the next two sessions, Priya Rani Bhagat performed foreign students from Manipal University and University of Evora India, while Widya Yutanti, a UMM communication science lecturer explained about the culture and stereotypes owned by India and Indonesia. (ard)
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