Intercultural Skills’ Assessment

1. At your university, can you observe a growing cultural diversity?

2. Age, gender, and nationality are essential characteristics of a person.

3. When you are on university grounds, do you regularly hear different languages being spoken?

4. How would you evaluate yourself on knowledge of cultural worldview frameworks on a 1-5 scale, where 1 means very weak, 2 weak, 3 neither weak nor strong, 4 strong, and 5 very strong?

5. How would you evaluate yourself on verbal and non-verbal communication on a 1-5 scale, where 1 means very weak, 2 weak, 3 neither weak nor strong, 4 strong, and 5 very strong?

6. How would you evaluate yourself on cultural self-awareness on a 1-5 scale, where 1 means very weak, 2 weak, 3 neither weak nor strong, 4 strong, and 5 very strong?

7. How would you evaluate yourself on openness on a 1-5 scale, where 1 means very weak, 2 weak, 3 neither weak nor strong, 4 strong, and 5 very strong?

8. How would you evaluate yourself on empathy on a 1-5 scale, where 1 means very weak, 2 weak, 3 neither weak nor strong, 4 strong, and 5 very strong?

9. How would you evaluate yourself on curiosity on a 1-5 scale, where 1 means very weak, 2 weak, 3 neither weak nor strong, 4 strong, and 5 very strong?

10. The national culture of my country defines my country and makes it better than others.

11. Culture is given from one generation to the other and stays the same.

12. Cultural differences can also be observed between different generations.

13. There are different cultural identities in the different regions of my country.

14. Culture is:

15. The term stereotype refers to:

16. I believe that nobody tasting my country's cuisine could dislike any of our traditional dishes.

17. Which of the following could describe culture?: A. Learned and dynamic; B. Static and unaffected; C. Shared and integrated; D. Based on symbols and inseparable from language.

18. Can you explain your personal values to people who are culturally different from you?

19. A stereotype is a form of bias.

20. It is important to suspend judgments vis-à-vis different values and customs, and to consider multiple meanings.

21. When stereotypes come up during a discussion, what do you usually do?

22. In your class, there is a foreign student who, although he/she is sociable in general, never looks the professor in the eyes when talking to him/her. What do you most probably think?

23. The more one is positively exposed to people from different cultures, the lower his/her cultural empathy.

24. How would you define empathy?

25. Do you think that cultural empathy is a prerequisite for effective cultural communication?

26. To be able to empathise with someone else’s feelings is more often a strength than a weakness.

27. Do you think that widely recognised hand gestures, like the thumps-up sign of approval or agreement, may have opposite, negative, or even insulting meaning in some countries?

28. In your country, a person who does not speak your language asks you a question. How do you react?

29. I look for opportunities to talk in foreign languages, even though I may make mistakes.

30. Communication is made to a significant extent of sounds and body language.

31. If a foreign student came to your class, how would you react?

32. You have just arrived in a foreign country for a year of studying abroad. A local classmate invites you for dinner to his/her parents' house, where many things (the welcoming, manners, the food, etc.) will be new for you. How do you feel?

33. During a vacation in Mexico, you come across the parade of the Day of Deads (Dia de los Muertos). For the first time, you witness a different way to remember those who have passed, which replaces mourning with celebrations. How would you react?

34. When you are abroad, are you interested in trying the local food?

35. A culturally open individual does not assume, but questions.

36. Cultural openness allows people to navigate without social constraint within and across different cultural groups.

37. During a friendly discussion, a foreign friend says something that seems insulting to you. How do you react?

38. In a working group formed by students with different cultural origins, do you try to impose your working method or do you rather value diversity in finding a common approach?

39. The meaning of the terms cultural bias and racism is exactly the same.