Multicultural communication is an area that studies how language, ethnicity, cultural differences, and sometimes even religion affects communication between individuals. It is a bit more academic than simply listening to natives talk - it attempts to provide evidence of why this occurs, as well as providing theoretical foundations for studying it in detail.

The major areas of research that have been developed within the field include:

• Understanding the effects of immigration on communication.
• Analyzing the different influences of different dimensions of culture.
• Even examining how specific types of communication are affected by changing cultural norms.

While many of these issues have been studied before, none have been able to specifically address the impact of multicultural communication in its various dimensions.

Some of the main concerns addressed in this literature are issues of assimilation, societal construction, and the effect of governmental policies and attitudes. A major focus of any multicultural communication research is to either prove or disprove the above assumptions. By looking into the different dimensions of cultural differences, it becomes possible to understand how they affect communication, both between individuals and within larger organizations and communities. Many of the findings thus far have supported the notion that, while communication between individuals may vary, there is a significant impact on how this occurs due to the different forms which are brought about culturally. For instance, it has been proven that those who come from ethnic or religious minority groups are much less likely to conform to the same norms as those who are native, as the new set of norms tend to differ greatly from the old ones.

One of the biggest challenges which face multicultural communication is how to create a space in which all cultures can easily be heard and understood. Due to language differences, even if an attempt is made to speak in the same language, it is very easy for the speakers of different languages to misunderstand each other. This creates great difficulty when trying to disseminate information or participate in certain events. To eliminate this problem, multicultural communication agencies have been formed to provide a forum where the different languages can be spoken freely. Furthermore, interaction is heavily promoted in these agencies, allowing everyone the chance to learn more about other cultures. A multilingual educational institution is also another way the different cultures are brought out to the world at large, allowing everybody to partake in these experiences.