Why Intercultural Communication?

Intercultural communication is nothing if not complicated. First let's analyze the individual words, first intercultural meaning between two different cultures. Cultures doesn't just mean different countries, there are many different cultures within cultures. Second, communication meaning any form of verbal, nonverbal messages being sent by one and received by one or a group.
Now that we have that out of the way, we can explore the deeper meaning. Intercultural communication is not something new, it's been growing since the 30's. Intercultural communication is directly how different cultures communicate between each other. The norms in America are only in America no where else, the same with any other place.
While it's common knowledge today that no two cultures are the same. While a child living in Australia is not going to have the same mannerisms, body language, and rules of conduct verses an elderly woman living in Canada. For each culture there is a different set of rules for conduct, what might be accepted in one isn't in another. For instance if you go to Japan and take a business card from a naive and place it in your bill fold, it's a huge insult. While in America this action is accepted, in Japan it's considered rude and more manners.
Since so much business is being done over seas involving different cultures it's important to know some of the big cultural differences. If noted before hand there is less of a chance that you will offend someone or more importantly be able to communicate efficiently. Humans in general often have misunderstandings. Misunderstandings can happen anywhere with anybody but it's more likely to happen between cultures with uneducated parties. Some of this can be prevented by reading about a culture before you go visit or by even asking someone that belongs to that culture. Normally people respond well to questions rather than being offended.
Intercultural communication is needed skill that can only help you succeed with others. When you have come to the understanding of others and have learned appropriate ways to get your message across, you have reached your goal. While communication is important in general, interculural communication is even more important because there is more room for error because of the different norms.