Copyright © 2011 Kanda Gaigo Alumni Association(KGAA). All rights reserved.
I think students who are interested in studying intercultural communication are on the right track. This is more important now than ever before.
No matter what the future and no matter what the occupation we must be aware of the many cultures in our own nation as well as the many different cultures in the world for it will be necessary to interact with people different from ourselves.
We must be prepared to communicate with those who are radically different from us if we are to cope successfully with global warming, nuclear proliferation or the many other issues of importance before us. I believe we should not be afraid to interact with people who are different from us, just because they are different.
I congratulate students who are studying intercultural communication and I am grateful to them because what they learn and share with the rest of us will help us all. And I wish them the best. I am looking forward to them writing articles about new insights they gain. I know I will learn from them too.(6/6)
Larry E. Smith
Born in 1941. After graduating from Arkansas State University in 1962, he joined the U. S. Peace Corps and served as an English teacher in Thailand from 1963-1967. He received an M.A. in sociolinguistics from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa in 1969. In 1970 he was invited to join the East-West Center as a researcher in cross-cultural communication. He was a pioneer in the field of English as an International Language (EIL) and world Englishes. He left the Center in 1999 while he was Dean and Director of the Program on Education and Training to begin his own consultancy in Self-Leadership, called Christopher, Smith & Associates, LLC (www.csaworks.com). His most recent book concerning world Englishes, co-authored with Yamuna Kachru, is Cultures, Contexts, and World Englishes (2008) which was translated into Japanese by Keio University Press in 2013. His most recent leadership text is an e-book titled SelfLEADERSHIP: Direction from Within (2014). In December 2014, passed away suddenly in New Delhi, India where he visited to attend a conference.