Reaction to Barna...

My reaction to Barna is “interesting.” However, what I really became interested in is the theme, “Intercultural Communication.”

During last class, I had discussion with Ayaka, Saki, and Yoshimi. We had to discuss about "general reactions” to Barna's text, but we could not stop talking about the solution to Six Stumbling Blocks. We discussed from the first block and find out that the solution for all the Six Stumbling Blocks: just try to understand and accept other cultures.

For instance, think of Nonverbal Misinterpretations. I have heard that in one country (I cannot remember which country it was,) nodding a head means “no” and shaking a head means “yes.” If people go to the country without that knowledge, both people from other countries and natives get confused and that confusion may leads to a trouble. It is necessary to know about the foreign cultures and when you get into such confusion, you should ask to people what they meant, not just hesitate and give people “Japanese smile.”

Another interesting thing during the class is the solution to High Anxiety of Kohei’s group. As I wrote in former paragraph, our solution to all Six Stumbling Blocks is trying to understand other cultures, but their solution is completely different. They said that solution for this kind of problems is to be calm. I felt it is good to hear the opinion of others because I might be able to get ideas that cannot be thought only by me.

Maybe it is different from what Mark asks, but are my honest reactions!