Answer to Question 1
Answer: Culture is a shared system of symbols, beliefs, attitudes, values, expectations, and norms for behavior. A person's cultural background influences what's important in life and appropriate in a given situation; furthermore, culture establishes his or her rules of behavior. As a result, communication is largely automatic; the person rarely stops to think about the communication rules that he or she may be following. In addition to being automatic, culture tends to be coherent; that is, a culture appears to be fairly logical and consistent when viewed from the inside. Even though certain norms within a culture may not make sense to an outsider, they probably make sense to those inside that culture. Such coherence generally expedites internal communication, but it can create disharmony between cultures that don't view the world in the same way. Finally, cultures tend to be complete; that is, they provide their members with most of the answers to life's big questions. This idea of completeness can dull or even suppresses curiosity about life in other cultures. Not surprisingly, such completeness can complicate communication with other cultures.
Answer to Question 2
Answer: In addition to being automatic, culture tends to be coherent; that is, a culture appears to be fairly logical and consistent when viewed from the inside. Certain norms within a culture may not make sense to someone outside the culture, but they probably make sense to those inside. Such coherence generally helps a culture function more smoothly internally, but it can create disharmony between cultures that don't view the world in the same way.
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