Cultural Competence:
A part of understanding a language that is not your own is being able to understand certain aspects around the strict language itself, such as the appropriate structural characteristics of communication, which vary from one language to another due to differences in culture surrounding a language. Language is more than just learning vocabulary and grammar, it is learning how this vocabulary is used in certain contexts in certain cultures and in other contexts in a different cultures. According to page 219 of the article, cultural competence is: "competence that enables us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally within specific contexts".
There are many aspects to non-verbal communication. One example in particular that I thought was relevant to my language was the non-verbal messages of "artifacts". The choice of clothing a person chooses to wear is highly reflective of a person's character, socioeconomic class, and level of conservatism. In Turkey, women who are more conservative muslims tend to cover their heads with a scarf and wear less revealing clothing compared to more liberal women (who dress like most Westerners). Women can choose to wear a scarf or not in Turkey, therefore if they do wear one it way be because of family/marital pressures or because she has certain beliefs. The act of wearing certain things and not other things is thus a non-verbal form of communication that will cause a person to adapt what he/she says or the body language that he/she will use according to this artifact. Care will be given to not upset the person being addressed, in order to avoid a cultural clash.
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