This open textbook is designed to serve as an introductory textbook for undergraduate courses in intercultural communication. The chapters incorporate ideas from intercultural communication broadly conceived and draw on approaches from the many different academic disciplines that have contributed to the field. There is an effort throughout to incorporate approaches and views on intercultural communication from a geographically diverse array of scholars, supplementing the author's own North American perspective.

The text introduces some of the key concepts in intercultural communication as traditionally presented in (North American) courses and textbooks, namely the study of differences between cultures, as represented in the works and theories of Edward Hall and Geert Hofstede. Common to these approaches is the prominence of context, leading to a view of human interactions as dynamic and changeable, given the complexity of language and culture, as human agents interact with their environments.