Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Intercultural communication is an important area of study, especially in the 21st century when contact between different cultures, due to globalization and the development of information technology, has increased to levels never seen before. This entry starts with a discussion of the two building elements of the construct (communication and culture) and argues that both of these are complex and changing. Thus, they can be conceptualized as complex dynamic systems (CDS), emphasizing the complex interaction between multiple cultures, moving research in the field toward transcultural, rather than intercultural communication. What is needed to successfully negotiate in communicative situations that involve multiple cultural identities is intercultural (communicative) competence (ICC). A brief description of the evolution of communicative, then intercultural (communicative) competence is offered, together with 2 of the 22 widely used models of ICC. These two are selected as they have had a significant impact in the field of applied linguistics and they also demonstrate how complex systems (language, culture, values, etc.) are dynamically interacting with each other in any intercultural communicative situation. Furthermore, they also demonstrate the progression in the field. They show how conceptualizations of intercultural communication have evolved from describing interactions between different national cultures to those that can take place between people from different subcultural groups, even within the same national culture.</jats:p>