Exploring Intercultural Communication in Boy William and Jackson Wang's Podcast

Written by Maulida Rahmatul Izzah, Nursepti Sulistyowati, Muhammad Sandy Thariq Marzuq Zayd, and Rakhma Permataputri

Jackson Wang is a member of GOT7 South Korean boy group and he was originally born in Hong Kong. In March 2025 during the last two weeks of Ramadan he visited Indonesia and had several podcasts with Indonesian Youtuber, one of them is Boy William. This interaction between Boy and Jackson presents a unique communication since both of them have diverse cultural backgrounds. From that we can explore how intercultural communication understanding occurs in their conversation. But, do you know what intercultural communication is? 

So, intercultural communication is interaction between two people or groups from different cultural backgrounds. The capability to understand, interact and appreciate with people from different cultural backgrounds, such as language, norms, social values, and behavior called intercultural understanding. It needs knowledge and understanding of cultural differences to communicate effectively with people from different cultures. This can be seen in Boy William's podcast with Jackson Wang, it shows how cross-cultural understanding allows them to communicate effectively using English for interaction and  sharing ideas. 

The first thing that we can notice is when Jackson bows and clasps their hands together. It shows respect and politeness for the Indonesian audience as well as for the host at the beginning of the video. Then, one example of strong cross-cultural understanding happened in the video when Jackson already knows that the video was recorded in fasting month. Boy Williams seems to already know Jackson's behavior that used to drink, relax and party. In this video Boy said, ''...he wants to do a show that where we can drink.'' Then Jackson replied, ''but I just didn't want to cause, you feel me, in the fasting season.'' From those utterances, it reflects that Boy invited him to drink because he already knew Jackson's cultural background and used it as a means of building chemistry during conversation. Jackson's reply reflects respect that honestly he did not want to do it since it was in Ramadan month, he stated that he doesn't want to offend others ''I didn't want to offend you know,''  Jackson also gives the explanation that drinking is a normal part of his own culture, ''Hey but this is how  I usually am, you know like drinking, relax and just talk.'' Through this moment, it shows Jackson's willingness and cultural sensitivity to adapt his behavior to respect the host's in this cultural context.

In the podcast they share a unique cultural background of Chinese parenting, as both of them are of Chinese descent. Jackson is naturally Chinese and Boy is a Chinese Indonesian of distant descent. When Boy said ''..Chinese parents, they don't like us working in the entertainment industry.'' Then, Jackson agreed with that, he explained the entertainment industry is a scam from his parents perspective. From this, it reflects how Chinese parenting culture views entertainment as a job for their children. 

Another unique moment happened when Boy spoke so fast in Bahasa Indonesia, then Jackson got shocked and thought whether it was a rap, he said ''Damn is that a rap?''. Here, cross cultural events happened in the language's context. Jackson heard Boy speak so fast using Indonesia without knowing the meaning ''tiba-tiba dia jadi penyanyi.'' Then Boy explained it using Korean words and English to tell the meaning, it shows that Boy respects the guest towards language differences. So, Jackson Wang knows the meaning of what Boy has said before.