What is Intercultural Dialogue?

Modern culture, especially in America, consists of traditions of many older cultures mixed together. Despite this combination, "intercultural dialogue" is still loosely defined, with no legislative definition.

The European Union branded 2008 the "Year of Intercultural Dialogue", and in 2007 they conducted a survey with the Gallup Organization to gauge people's feelings on intercultural dialogue.

Over 27,000 people over the age of 15 from every member of the EU were interviewed. 36% of people questioned could not give a definition to the phrase "intercultural dialogue", but those who did were mostly positive using phrases like "conversation" and "mutual understanding". Still, this does not give a complete answer, and one is needed since 48% of people interviewed had an encounter with people of a different ethnic group in the week before the interview. Most of these encounters happened in public, so intercultural dialogue is important to stop people from saying inappropriate things.

The Council of Europe did release a definition of intercultural dialogue, though only a preliminary one. They were unwilling to define it for years, since they did not want to limit its potential.

“Intercultural dialogue is an open and respectful exchange of views between individuals and groups belonging to different cultures that leads to a deeper understanding of the other’s global perception.”

Their definition emphasizes that intercultural dialogue is a good thing for society, with people learning from each other. Gaudium et Spes argues in favor of intercultural dialogue and a modern amalgamated culture. GS applauds the "increase of commerce between the various nations and humans groups" because it "opens more widely to all the treasures of different civilizations and thus little by little, there develops a more universal form of human culture , which better promotes and expresses the unity of the human race to the degree that it preserves the particular aspects of the different civilizations" (54). Intercultural dialogue is hard to define, but easy to practice. Don't be afraid to learn about other cultures, but also be respectful and try to use the experience to build bonds between different people.