Reference no: EM133258122

Inter vs Intra Cultural Communication

Janet grew up in a small town of about 3,500 people in Massachusetts. She is surrounded by her immediate family, many other relatives, and lots of friends. Her parents grew up in this same town, but Janet is determined to have experiences away from her family and away from her family and away from the small portion of New England that has formed the boundaries of her existence. Despite parental concerns, Janet goes to one of California's major public universities, which is located in a large urban area, and she begins her life in the West. Janet is at first excited and thrilled to be living in California, but within a very short period of time, she begins to feel very isolated. She is assigned to live in a co-educational dormitory, and she finds it disconcerting to be meeting male students as she walks down the hallway in her bathrobe. Although her fellow students seem friendly, her overtures for coffee or movies or even studying together are usually met with a smile and a statement the "It would be great, but&." The superficial friendliness of most of the people she meets starts to annoy her, and Janet becomes bad-tempered and irritable.

Is the culture of Massachusetts sufficiently different from that of California to characterize Janet's communication with her fellow students as intercultural AND why or why not?

Would Janet have had the same kinds of feelings and reactions if she had moved into a coeducational dormitory at a university in urban AND why or why not Massachusetts?

Explain the difference between Intercultural and Intracultural communication.