Linguistic Awareness of Cultures: een vergelijkend onderzoek naar de interculturele communicatieve ervaringen van, in Nederland gevestigde, Franse en Engelse expats

Abstract

This thesis presents a study on the intercultural communicative experiences of French and English expats, located in the Netherlands. The research aims to answer the following question: “To what extent is it possible to identify mutual and culture-specific problem areas, for French and English expats, located in the Netherlands, with regards to their intercultural communicative experience with the Dutch?” Through content analyses of in-depth interviews with the before mentioned groups, an inventory has been made of problem areas with regards to the intercultural communication with the Dutch. These problem areas have been analysed using an analyses model which is based on the Linguistic Awareness of Cultures (LAC) model by Müller-Jacquier (2004). The problem areas of both groups were compared in order to identify which problem areas were mutual and which culture-specific with regards to their intercultural communication with the Dutch. The research shows that both mutual as well as culture-specific problem areas can be identified for the interviewed French and English expats. Based on the results of this study I would like to recommend future studies to examine the possibilities for a new format of intercultural communication training, for French and English expats being dispatched to the Netherlands.