• Total units 24 Units
  • Minor code ICOM-MIN
  • Academic career Undergraduate
International Communication Minor

In the contemporary globalized world, where the tempo and intensity of international contacts are continually strengthening, the role of international communication has become increasingly crucial.

This minor will help students develop an understanding of cross-linguistic and cross-cultural issues involved in international communication. Since different nations are associated with different languages and cultures, international communication is inseparable from intercultural communication – in the era of ‘global English’ more than ever, because one ‘international English’ can conceal deep differences in cultural assumptions. This minor will explore issues involved in interaction between speakers from different backgrounds and will equip them with conceptual tools to explore those issues.

The minor will include either one year of language study (for beginners) or one semester of language study (for non-beginners), one compulsory course (for everyone), for beginners one other course from a list of eight and for non-beginners two other courses from the same list.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. demonstrate an understanding of the nature of the complex and multifaceted relations between communication, culture, language and identity;
  2. demonstrate an understanding of the limits of translatability of key concepts across languages, and the implications of these limits for international communication;
  3. analyze cultural assumptions underlying expressions such as “the ideals of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law” (Obama 2006: p. 284) and explain their linguistic underpinnings;
  4. explain the sources of miscommunication between speakers of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds who communicate using English as a lingua franca;
  5. demonstrate and understanding of potential sources of miscommunication within multilingual and multi-cultural societies such as Australia.
  6. Students will have basic knowledge of another language, sufficient for basic communication and for understanding of the issues that can arise in international communication due to linguistic differences
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Requirements

This minor requires the completion of 24 units, which must include:

A maximum of 12 units from completion of 1000-level courses

12 units from completion of courses from any Majors, Minors or courses on the following list:

Arabic major

Burmese Language minor

Chinese Language major

French Language and Culture major

German Language and Culture major

Hindi Language major

Indonesian Language major

Italian Language and Culture major

Japanese Language major

Korean Language major

Mongolian Language minor

Persian major

Russian minor

Sanskrit Language major

Spanish major

Tetum Language minor

Thai Language major

Urdu Language major

Vietnamese Language major

AUST1001 Learning an Indigenous Australian Language

AUST2008 Learning an Indigenous Australian language 2

JAVA2005 Modern Javanese A

JAVA3005 Modern Javanese B

LING2107 Academic English

PORT1001 Introductory Portuguese I

PORT1002 Introductory Portuguese II

PORT2001 Continuing Portuguese I

PORT2002 Continuing Portuguese II

TURK1001 Elementary Turkish A

TURK2001 Intermediate Turkish A

TURK1002 Elementary Turkish B

TURK2002 Intermediate Turkish B

6 units from completion of the following course(s):

Code Title Units
LING2021 Cross Cultural Communication 6

6 units from completion of the following course(s):

Code Title Units
ANTH1003 Global Citizen: Culture, Development and Inequality 6
ANTH2009 Culture and Development 6
ANTH2017 Culture, Social Justice and Aboriginal Society Today 6
ANTH2025 Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective 6
ANTH2129 Crossing Borders: Migration, Identity and Livelihood 6
ANTH2130 Violence and Terror 6
ANTH3017 Indigenous Worlds: Challenges of Emergence, Recognition, and Change 6
ASIA2001 Language in Asia 6
ASIA2014 China Now: Discourse, Media and Culture 6
ASIA2308 Linguistic Histories in Asia and the Pacific 6
ASIA2311 Gender and Cultural Studies in Asia and the Pacific 6
ASIA2413 Vietnam: History And Contemporary Society 6
ASIA2516 Indonesia: Politics, Society and Development 6
ASIA3015 State-Society Relations in Asia and the Pacific 6
AUST1001 Learning an Indigenous Australian Language 6
AUST2008 Learning an Indigenous Australian language 2 6
BUSI3029 Cross-Cultural Management 6
GEND2035 Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective 6
HIST2121 Electric Citizens: The Rise of the Modern Media in the United States, 1865-2000 6
HIST2243 Vikings, Crusades, Mongols: Shaping Medieval Europe, c. 850–1300 6
HUMN2001 Digital Humanities: Theories and Projects 6
INDG1001 Indigenous Peoples, Populations and Communities 6
INDG2001 Indigenous Cultural and Natural Resource Management 6
LANG3001 Translation across Languages: the translation of literary texts 6
LANG3002 Translation across Languages: specialised material 6
LANG3003 European Narrative 6
LANG3004 Language and Society in Latin America 6
LANG3005 Language and Identity in a European Context 6
LING1002 Language and Society 6
LING2015 Language, Culture, Translation 6
LING2018 Languages in Contact 6
LING2022 Language Policy and Language Politics 6
LING2027 Language and Society in Latin America 6
LING2103 Language, Power, and Identity 6
LING2106 Language and Social Interaction 6
LING3008 Study of A Language Family 6
LING3030 A comparative study of Austronesian languages 6
LING3031 Papuan Languages 6
MEAS2000 Iranian History and Culture 6
MEAS2003 Modern Turkey: History, Culture and Regional Relations 6
MEAS2107 Gender and Culture in Iran and the Middle East 6
PASI2010 Talking the Pacific: Melanesian pidgins and creoles in social context 6
PASI3001 The Contemporary Pacific: Society, Politics and Development 6
PHIL2111 Global Citizens 6
POLS2064 Global Social Movements 6
POLS2101 Refugee Politics: Displacement and Exclusion in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries 6
POLS3037 Globalisation: Communications, Culture and Democracy 6
SCOM3029 Cross Cultural Perspectives in Science Communication 6
SOCY2060 Mobile Societies 6
SOCY2061 Contemporary Chinese Society 6
SOCY2163 Identity, Difference and Racism 6
SPAN3031 Advanced Spanish Topics in Language and Linguistics 6
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