THE MOST COMMON BARRIERS OF SUCCESSFUL INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION Bajzát Tünde PhD, associate professor University of Miskolc, Language Teaching Centre INTRODUCTION Globalization, advances in communication technology, educational and labour mobility, the internationalization of higher education require people to understand cultural differences and communicate across cultural borders. Intercultural communication occurs when “(…) a message produced in one culture must be processed in another culture” [1]. This circumstance is quite problematic because, “(…) culture forges and shapes the individual communicator” [2]. Due to the differences that interlocutors have to face in intercultural communication misunderstandings, problems or even conflicts can arise. If someone cannot function well in another culture, it can be a physically and mentally stressful, and disappointing experience. Therefore the aim of this paper is to describe the most common barriers of successful intercultural interactions and support the points with examples. The first part presents the problems that can occur during verbal and nonverbal communication. Then the second part shows how the lack of attention, interests or distractions can lead to miscommunication. After that, the third part discusses the differences in perception. Finally, the fourth part deals with the issues of prejudices and stereotypes. THE STUMBLING BLOCKS OF VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL MultiScience - XXX. microCAD International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference University of Miskolc, Hungary, 21-22 April 2016, ISBN 978-963-358-113-1 COMMUNICATION Differences and problems of verbal communication “Language is the primary vehicle by which a culture transmits its beliefs, values, norms, and world view. Language gives people a means of connecting and interacting with other members of their culture and a means of thinking. Language thus serves as a mechanism for communication and as a guide to social reality. Language influences perceptions, transmits meaning, and helps mould patterns of thought” [3]. Intercultural communication involves speakers of different cultural backgrounds with different mother tongues, therefore they can communicate by using the mother tongue of speaker A, or the mother tongue of speaker B, or they can choose a third language. In the first case, speaker A is at an advantage over speaker B both at linguistic and cultural levels; and speaker B is at a disadvantage. In the second case, speaker B is at an advantage over speaker A. In the third case, DOI: 10.26649/musci.2016.142