Communicating across Cultures
Boost your intercultural communication skills and better understand how to behave in multicultural and multilingual situations.
- Duration3 weeks
- Weekly study4 hours
- Digital upgradeFree
Communicating across Cultures
Learn how to improve your cultural intelligence with the British Council
In an increasingly diverse and multicultural world, being able to navigate the complexities and nuances of intercultural communication is vital.
On this course, culture experts from the British Council will guide you on how to successfully navigate multicultural and multilingual situations, improving your cultural intelligence (CQ) in the process.
Develop your intercultural communication skills
You’ll be invited to reflect on what culture is, and how it’s influenced your preferences and behaviour in intercultural situations.
You’ll evaluate both new and familiar cultural situations, reflecting on how others might react to your behaviours, enabling you to respond positively and empathetically.
Discover how cultural intelligence can be learned
Identifying practical strategies and techniques, you’ll learn how to communicate effectively and manage challenging intercultural situations.
You’ll examine how to successfully work in multicultural teams. By developing an intercultural mindset, you’ll see how to adapt to different communication styles, and enhance your own cultural intelligence by better understanding how people from other cultural backgrounds communicate.
Explore the importance of intercultural communication in the workplace and society
As businesses become more international, and workplaces more diverse, it’s crucial to communicate with sensitivity.
Moreover, intercultural communication is vital to improve engagement and trust in an increasingly divided society – especially when young people and young women often feel excluded from decision making.
You’ll come away from this course more confident in your ability to work effectively with people from varied backgrounds.
What topics will you cover?
- Exploring the foundations of intercultural communication
- Developing an intercultural mindset
- Communicating with cultural intelligence (CQ)
- Adapting to different communication styles
- Working in multicultural teams
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and learn at your own pace. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
Available now
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Apply an intercultural mindset to communicate flexibly and sensitively in a range of multicultural and multilingual situations
- Evaluate new and familiar cultural situations with an understanding of how others might react to your preferences and behaviour, enabling you to respond positively and empathetically
- Engage confidently and effectively with challenging intercultural situations
Who is the course for?
This course is for anyone who is a proficient English speaker and would like to improve their intercultural competence as they build or advance their careers.
This includes young people interested in making a difference, community organisations – particularly in the creative and social enterprise sectors – with a desire to form international connections, and employers wanting their staff to work effectively with people from cultural backgrounds different to their own.
Who will you learn with?
I’ve been in learning and development for over 16 years. I create, deliver and manage training in intercultural competence, professional skills and communication skills.
I am a professional coach & trainer specializing in working across cultures, planning and achieve goals and making decisions. I have been a trainer with the British Council since 2008
I’m a Career Consultant with over 20 years UK University teaching experience. Passionate about career development and intercultural communication, I enjoy supporting learners to achieve their goals.
A teacher with over 15 years’ experience in intercultural skills, Academic English and entrepreneurship training for British Council, University of the Arts London and Goldsmiths, University of London
Who developed the course?
British Council
The British Council is on the ground in six continents and over 100 countries connecting the best of UK culture with a global audience and providing high-quality English language courses.
Learning on FutureLearn
Your learning, your rules
- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps, but you can complete them as quickly or slowly as you like
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn
What's included?
British Council are offering everyone who joins this course a free digital upgrade, so that you can experience the full benefits of studying online for free. This means that you get:
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