Abstract

The effects of intercultural training on the sub domains of intercultural competence were examined referring to experiential versus didactic training methods. Intercultural competence was measured with a test consisting of critical incidents in the sub domains individual, social and strategic intercultural competence as well as by the use of problem solving strategies that have been proved successful in business proposals. The test shows a culture specific orientation for Latin America and was given before and after an experiential intercultural training. Surprisingly the didactic training group did not show higher intercultural competence than a control group before experiential training. Important variables for the development of intercultural competence happened to be the number of spoken languages, the frequency of contact to foreigners at university and the number of language classes taught by native teachers. After the experiential training participants showed significant changes in individual and social intercultural competence. This was not the case for strategic intercultural competence. As for successful problem solving it was only significantly higher with persons who received didactic and experiential training. So didactic training seems to enhance the effectiveness of the application of experiential methods. Tested persons of the comparison group, who have not received training, consequently did not show any significant changes.