Study paper from 2008 in the field of Education - Intercultural Education, grade: 1.3, Bavarian Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, course: Intercultural Communication, language: German.

Abstract: Alexander Thomas' cultural standard model has been highly successful in the field of intercultural training. He has co-published so-called "Culture Assimilators" for more than 20 countries. The term "cultural standards" appears in nearly all seminar descriptions from providers of intercultural training in Germany. Accordingly, cultural standards seem to represent a practical and valued approach to conveying intercultural competence. However, Thomas' model is not without controversy. Common criticisms include allegations that Thomas overlooks complex interrelations, reinforces the formation of stereotypes, and therefore does not impart deep communicative competence. These criticisms also emerged in a seminar discussion that preceded this paper. Consequently, various models from communication scientist Friedemann Schulz von Thun were introduced in the seminar as alternatives, which are also used in intercultural communication. The focus was on Schulz von Thun's model of the communication square.

In this paper, I will discuss the extent to which Schulz von Thun's communication square represents an alternative to Thomas' widely used cultural standard model. Therefore, I will first explain the cultural standard model. Next, I will examine whether the cultural concepts of the two authors align sufficiently to make a comparison of the two models meaningful. Then, I will analyze a so-called "critical interaction situation" between an Indian woman and a German woman, which was resolved by Thomas using a cultural standard, to see if the situation could also have been resolved using the communication square.