{"id":9944,"date":"2022-08-02T09:27:14","date_gmt":"2022-08-02T07:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nllanguagep-bali.savviihq.com\/?p=9944"},"modified":"2026-04-01T13:11:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T11:11:35","slug":"intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Intercultural or Intracultural, Multicultural or Cross-culture? What\u2019s the difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As more and more is being written about various cultures and working amongst them, there are certain words and phrases that keep popping up quite often. Terms such as multicultural communication and cross cultural communication and intercultural communication are used almost interchangeably. Is there a difference? If so, what is it?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Each of these terms is different from the other, though the distinctions are small. In short, Intercultural<\/strong> communication is communication between two or more people, from different cultures. On the other hand, Intracultural<\/strong> communication is reserved for when people of the same culture are communicating. Inter is Latin for between or among and intra means on the inside, or within.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cross-cultural <\/strong>communication is an area of study which looks at the communication tendencies of people from various cultural backgrounds. Another way to put it is the exercise of recognising the communication tendencies of various cultural groups in order to increase effective communication and collaboration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Multicultural<\/strong> communication is a term that is used to refer to the communication between members of a society or group that live or work alongside each other. It is the coexistence with each other that denotes a multicultural group.<\/span><\/p>\n

IC can be developed in many ways. Engagement is always a quick way to get started. By learning the language, you can get some insights into behaviour while increasing your ability to observe and participate. At Language Partners, we offer language training<\/a> in over 52 languages, tailored to your organisation and team.<\/p>\n

Why does this matter for your organisation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Understanding the difference between these terms has real implications for how you manage international teams. An organisation that is merely multicultural, with people from different backgrounds working alongside each other, faces very different challenges than one that actively works towards intercultural communication.<\/p>\n

The latter requires intentional effort: creating space for dialogue, building language skills, and developing awareness of different communication styles. Language training is one of the most effective first steps.<\/p>\n

\n

Does your organisation work with international or multicultural teams?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Language Partners offers tailored language training in over 52 languages \u2014 helping your people communicate effectively across cultures.<\/p>\n

Explore our language courses \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As more and more is being written about various cultures and working amongst them, there are certain words and phrases that keep popping up quite often. Terms such as multicultural communication and cross cultural communication and intercultural communication are used almost interchangeably. Is there a difference? If so, what is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":13518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[673,322],"tags":[305,360,362,361,346,239,364,363,325],"class_list":["post-9944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cultuurverschillen-en","category-learning","tag-communication","tag-cross-cultural","tag-cross-cultural-communication","tag-intercultural","tag-intercultural-communication","tag-language-en","tag-multicultural","tag-multicultural-communication","tag-vocabulary"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIntercultural, Multicultural or Cross-cultural? What's the Difference<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What's the difference between intercultural, multicultural and cross-cultural communication? And why does it matter for your international team? Language Partners explains.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Intercultural, Multicultural or Cross-cultural? What's the Difference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What's the difference between intercultural, multicultural and cross-cultural communication? And why does it matter for your international team? Language Partners explains.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Language Partners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-02T07:27:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-01T11:11:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/intercultural-communication-business-team-language-partners.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1366\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul Van Zanten\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul Van Zanten\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/learning\\\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/learning\\\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Paul Van Zanten\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4af1b8c4a566d967f772a03223648614\"},\"headline\":\"Intercultural or Intracultural, Multicultural or Cross-culture? What\u2019s the difference?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-02T07:27:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-01T11:11:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/learning\\\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":362,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/learning\\\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/intercultural-communication-business-team-language-partners.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Communication\",\"Cross-Cultural\",\"Cross-Cultural Communication\",\"Intercultural\",\"Intercultural Communication\",\"Language\",\"Multicultural\",\"Multicultural Communication\",\"Vocabulary\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Cultuurverschillen\",\"Learning\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/learning\\\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/learning\\\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/learning\\\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\\\/\",\"name\":\"Intercultural, Multicultural or Cross-cultural? What's the Difference\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/learning\\\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/learning\\\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/intercultural-communication-business-team-language-partners.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-02T07:27:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-01T11:11:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4af1b8c4a566d967f772a03223648614\"},\"description\":\"What's the difference between intercultural, multicultural and cross-cultural communication? And why does it matter for your international team? Language Partners explains.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/learning\\\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/learning\\\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/learning\\\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/intercultural-communication-business-team-language-partners.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/intercultural-communication-business-team-language-partners.png\",\"width\":1366,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Diverse international team communicating effectively in the workplace\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/learning\\\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Learning\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/categorie\\\/learning\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Intercultural or Intracultural, Multicultural or Cross-culture? What\u2019s the difference?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Language Partners\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4af1b8c4a566d967f772a03223648614\",\"name\":\"Paul Van Zanten\",\"description\":\"Paul is an American intercultural communications professional living in the Netherlands and connecting with his Dutch roots. With a passion for travel, as well as gaining new perspectives and experiences, Paul aims to further his growth, as well as that of others at Language Partners.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/paul\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Intercultural, Multicultural or Cross-cultural? What's the Difference","description":"What's the difference between intercultural, multicultural and cross-cultural communication? And why does it matter for your international team? Language Partners explains.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Intercultural, Multicultural or Cross-cultural? What's the Difference","og_description":"What's the difference between intercultural, multicultural and cross-cultural communication? And why does it matter for your international team? Language Partners explains.","og_url":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/","og_site_name":"Language Partners","article_published_time":"2022-08-02T07:27:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-01T11:11:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1366,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/intercultural-communication-business-team-language-partners.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Paul Van Zanten","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paul Van Zanten","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/"},"author":{"name":"Paul Van Zanten","@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4af1b8c4a566d967f772a03223648614"},"headline":"Intercultural or Intracultural, Multicultural or Cross-culture? What\u2019s the difference?","datePublished":"2022-08-02T07:27:14+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-01T11:11:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/"},"wordCount":362,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/intercultural-communication-business-team-language-partners.png","keywords":["Communication","Cross-Cultural","Cross-Cultural Communication","Intercultural","Intercultural Communication","Language","Multicultural","Multicultural Communication","Vocabulary"],"articleSection":["Cultuurverschillen","Learning"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/","url":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/","name":"Intercultural, Multicultural or Cross-cultural? What's the Difference","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/intercultural-communication-business-team-language-partners.png","datePublished":"2022-08-02T07:27:14+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-01T11:11:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4af1b8c4a566d967f772a03223648614"},"description":"What's the difference between intercultural, multicultural and cross-cultural communication? And why does it matter for your international team? Language Partners explains.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/intercultural-communication-business-team-language-partners.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/intercultural-communication-business-team-language-partners.png","width":1366,"height":768,"caption":"Diverse international team communicating effectively in the workplace"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/learning\/intercultural-multicultural-cross-culture-whats-the-difference\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Learning","item":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/categorie\/learning\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Intercultural or Intracultural, Multicultural or Cross-culture? What\u2019s the difference?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/","name":"Language Partners","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4af1b8c4a566d967f772a03223648614","name":"Paul Van Zanten","description":"Paul is an American intercultural communications professional living in the Netherlands and connecting with his Dutch roots. With a passion for travel, as well as gaining new perspectives and experiences, Paul aims to further his growth, as well as that of others at Language Partners.","url":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/author\/paul\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9944"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13520,"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9944\/revisions\/13520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}