The essence of cross-cultural communication has more to do with releasing responses than with sending messages. It is more important to release the right response than to send the “right message”. [Edward T.Hall]
By communication we mean every message that one person sends to another. According to this definition, any conduct, verbal or non verbal, in the presence of others of which we are aware, is communication.
When we formulate a definition with regard to a culture, it is about diversity or differences in behaviour . Each society has its own culture with specific verbal and non verbal communication, communication styles, values, norms, customs and rules for appropriate and inappropriate behaviour.
A global definition of intercultural communication could therefore read as follows: the process of exchanging messages between persons who perceive, think and act differently on the basis of their own cultural background.