Describe at least three potential barriers to effective intercultural communication.

What will be an ideal response?

Several of the most common barriers to effective intercultural communication include anxiety, assuming similarity or difference, ethnocentrism, stereotyping, incompatible communication codes, and incompatible norms and values.
It is normal to feel some level of discomfort or anxiety when entering a cultural setting with unfamiliar norms and customs. Most people experience fear, dislike, and distrust when first interacting with someone from a different culture.
Another potential barrier is assumed similarity or difference. When we cross into an unfamiliar cultural environment, we might assume that the norms that apply to our culture will also apply in the new one. That is not always the case. It can be just as great a mistake to assume that everything about an unfamiliar culture will be different from ours.
Ethnocentrism can also be a barrier to effective intercultural communication. It is the belief that one’s own culture is superior to others. An example of this is the stereotype of a loud tourist in a host country complaining about how everything is better back home. Ethnocentrism exists in all cultures to some degree and can occur in co-cultures as well.