• British Council

Communicating across Cultures

Boost your intercultural communication skills and better understand how to behave in multicultural and multilingual situations.

10,896 enrolled on this course

Communicating across Cultures

10,896 enrolled on this course

  • 3 weeks

  • 4 hours per week

  • Digital certificate when eligible

  • Open level

Find out more about how to join this course

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 join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

  • Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

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

A teacher with over 15 years’ experience in entrepreneurship, Academic English and intercultural training for British Council, University of the Arts London and Goldsmiths, University of London

Project Management expert, previously at the British Council.

Who developed the course?

British Council

The British Council builds connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and other countries through arts and culture, education and the English language.

We work on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2019-20 we connected with 80 million people directly and with 791 million people overall, including online and through our broadcasts and publications.

Ways to learn

Buy this course

Subscribe & save

Limited access

Choose the best way to learn for you!

$109/one-off payment

$39.99/month

Automatically renews

Free

Fulfill your current learning needDevelop skills to further your careerSample the course materials
Access to this courseticktick

Access expires 11 May 2024

Access to 1,000+ coursescrosstickcross
Learn at your own paceticktickcross
Discuss your learning in commentstickticktick
Certificate when you're eligiblePrinted and digitalDigital onlycross
Continue & Upgrade

Cancel for free anytime

Ways to learn

Choose the best way to learn for you!

Subscribe & save

$39.99/month

Automatically renews

Develop skills to further your career

  • Access to this course
  • Access to 1,000+ courses
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Digital certificate when you're eligible

Cancel for free anytime

Buy this course

$109/one-off payment

Fulfill your current learning need

  • Access to this course
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible

Limited access

Free

Sample the course materials

  • Access expires 11 May 2024

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • 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

Learner reviews

Learner reviews cannot be loaded due to your cookie settings. Please and refresh the page to view this content.

Do you know someone who'd love this course? Tell them about it...

You can use the hashtag #FLCommunicatingCultures to talk about this course on social media.