Defining Intercultural Communication Intercultural communication seeks to explain how people who do not share a common cultural experience can understand each other and is defined as "communication between people of different cultures" (Bennett, 1998, p. 2). Intercultural communication focuses on person-to-person interactions and the effect of cultural differences on the interaction (Bennett, 1998). Difficulties in intercultural communication develop when similarities are assumed, when nonverbal communication is misinterpreted, when preconceptions and stereotypes are employed, and when high levels of anxiety or stress exist (Barna, 1998). There are distinct differences between intercultural communication, intracultural communication, and cross-cultural communication. Intercultural communication refers to communication between people of different cultures, and intracultural communication refers to communication between people of the same or similar culture (Gudykunst & Kim, 1984; Lustig & Koester, 1996). Although the term "cross-cultural" is at times used synonymously with the term "intercultural," cross-cultural refers to "a comparison of some phenomena across cultures" (Gudykunst & Kim, 1984, p. 14). For example, a study regarding forms of politeness used among Chinese focuses on intracultural communication; a study regarding the forms of politeness used among Chinese and the forms of politeness used among Americans focuses on cross-cultural communication; and a study regarding the forms of politeness used by Chinese with Americans and used by Americans with Chinese focuses on intercultural communication.