ethnocentric,national,genders,ages,tribes,and language will flow into the mainstream of the classroom and workforce.Culture diversity,or multiculturalism, will become the norm,not the exception.Intercultural communication scholars will be needed to smooth the transition to bicultural,bidialectal classrooms,to multinational borderland,to multiethnic neighborhoods,and to gender and ethnic sensitivity on the part of professionals and service providers. The public must acknowledge and adjust to difference but build on commonality. It must begin to recognize the culturally defined qualities in all persons but not elevate one set of qualities above any others.It must understand that competency in a culture is a learned process and that understanding resides in persons,not in words.Such adjustment,though critical for the smooth functioning of society,do not always come easily;they are accompanied by the attempts of some persons to keep their position of privilege. The field of intercultural communication will play a vital part in teaching new ways of interacting,in helping to negotiate multicultural understanding,in dealing with the frictions that accompany the adjustment to new cultural realities,and in educating citizens to a greater global awareness.Whereas multiethnic societies have been the rule rather than the exception in Europe,African,Asia,Canada,and the Caribbean,it is in the United States that intercultural communication first evolved as a formal field of study.Therefore,it is instructive to trace the development of this field from its origins within the past fifty years.ethnocentric, national, genders, ages, tribes, and language will flow into the mainstream of the classroom and workforce. Culture diversity, or multiculturalism, will become the norm, not the exception. Intercultural communication scholars will be needed to smooth the transition to bicultural, bidialectal classrooms, to multinational borderland, to multiethnic neighborhoods, and to gender and ethnic sensitivity on the part of professionals and service providers. The public must acknowledge and adjust to difference but build on commonality. It must begin to recognize the culturally defined qualities in all persons but not elevate one set of qualities above any others. It must understand that competency in a culture is a learned process and that understanding resides in persons, not in words. Such adjustment, though critical for the smooth functioning of society, do not always come easily; they are accompanied by the attempts of some persons to keep their position of privilege. The field of intercultural communication will play a vital part in teaching new ways of interacting, in helping to negotiate multicultural understanding, in dealing with the frictions that accompany the adjustment to new cultural realities, and in educating citizens to a greater global awareness. Whereas multiethnic societies have been the rule rather than the exception in Europe, African, Asia, Canada, and the Caribbean, it is in the United States that intercultural communication first evolved as a formal field of study. Therefore, it is instructive to trace the development of this field from its origins within the past fifty years