Intercultural Competences

Globalization and technological developments have made intercultural contact and cooperation considerably easier. Yet, intercultural contexts are increasingly more diverse, and consequently, behavior and identifications of individuals less predictable. Superdiverse contexts ask for specific skills directed at interaction with people in intercultural contexts with great cultural diversity.  

One of the specific competences dealing with plurilingual and intercultural situations is 'intercultural mediation': the ability to mediate between people or organizations from different linguistic and/or cultural backgrounds. Within the field of intercultural communication, the concept of 'mediation' creates an interface between the different research approaches that can be distinguished: interactive approaches, approaches of cultural representation, contrastive approaches, plurilingual approaches, and transfer approaches with respect to intercultural competences.

During this course we will familiarize ourselves with these different theoretical approaches. The focus in this course is placed on the role and application of linguistic means in intercultural mediation, and the various way in which these can be researched and analyzed. In guest lectures, various expert speakers will present academic insights from their field of expertise. In two team assignments and one individual assignment, you will conduct small research projects in different approaches.