Reflection for a reading

Reflection for a Reading Table of Contents Reflection for a Reading 3 References 5 Reflection for a Reading Having an identity of own is very important, as it represent an individual within a society. From the study of the text ‘ Holliday, Hyde and Kullmans “ Intercultural Communication”’, relating to the topic ‘ Identity’ I have been able to obtain a better comprehension about the importance and the implications of cultural identity for an individual.
As per the text, prior to forming his/her own identity, one needs to understand cultural background. The identity of an individual is directly associated with the way he/she talks and expresses emotions. Again, the behavioral trait that is inherent within an individual also works towards shaping his/her individual identity. My learning of the text also revealed that proper communication is the base to attain a cultural identity. When an individual communicate with another individual belonging to different culture, he/she must have a brief overview about the culture of other individual for communicating effectively. This will lead to a more effective intercultural communication. Cultural identity of an individual is also identified to be dependent on the way one presents his/her culture to other. For example, if an individual depicts that he/she belongs to the Chinese culture, it will be perceived that the individual is imbedded with Confucianism behavior (Holliday, Hyde and Kullman 2010). Hence, it can be conceptualized that a Chinese individual will mainly develop his/her identity in and around the Confucianism behavior.
The study of the theme i. e. ‘ identity’ from the text also revealed that it is an individual’s own effort to develop him/her in a way that others can easily accept them. An example in the text depicts that a group of girls in UK were involved in a loud and improper communication. In this way, they were presenting a bad picture of their cultures for strangers they were travelling in the bus. Again, the example also depicted that one more girls joined two girls and the loud communication amid them continues. This approach is regarded as cultural identity multiplicity. From the study of the text, I have also been able to learn that there is a specific identity card for every culture depicting ethnicity and sex among others. The girls who were communicating in bad language within the bus presented morals, values and upbringing of their culture, which further form their identity card. In some culture bad language like slag and tart are used as informal way of communication to greet amid girls (Holliday, Hyde and Kullman 2010). Thus, values, morals and beliefs further shape their cultural identity largely (Bayart 2005). Hence, it is apparent that many factors collectively determine the identity of an individual and his /her culture within a society.

References
Bayart, Jean-Francois. 2005. The Illusion of Cultural Identity. London: C. Hurst & Co.
Holliday, Adrian, Hyde, Martin and Kullman, John. 2010. Intercultural Communication: An Advanced Resource Book for Students. UK: Routledge.