Communicating With Other People from Other Culture

3E3 Group 4

Contents
Getting Started with Cross Cultural Communication Potential Hot Spots

How to Communicate Well

Getting Started with Cross Cultural Communication

1. Direct experience is the best way to begin to learn any culture. 2. Differences can feel like a threat at first. 3. We tend to overlook similarities and notice just the differences when we first begin to interact with members of another culture.

4. Stereotyping due to overgeneralization is a common occurrence, especially among those who only interact with another culture infrequently. 5. There is always more variation within groups than there is between them. 6. Finally, cultures are always changing, especially as they interact with each other.

Potential Hot Spots

1. Opening and Closing Conversations 2. Taking Turns During Conversations

3. Interrupting
4. Use of Silence 5. Appropriate Topics of Conversation

6. Use of Humor

7. Knowing How Much to Say

8. Sequencing elements during conversation

How to Communicate Well

Cultural differences can sometimes make relationships difficult. Whether a person speaks in a different way (or another altogether) or has different irreconcilable stands on moral and global issues.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Understand relativism Give proper personal space Do not belittle their religion Learn to recognize physical cues Know relationship differences Learn about their culture Accept the lapses in communication Ask

Eye Contact in the United States

Here, if you have good eye contact with a person, it generally signifies that you are interested in the person you are looking at and in what that person is saying. If you look down or away from a person rather than meeting his or her gaze, you are considered to be distracted or uninterested in him or her. Also, if you neglect to make eye contact with a person, you may be thought to lack self-confidence. On the other hand, a person who makes eye contact with another person is thought to be confident. So, in summary, making eye contact is generally considered a good thing in the United States.

Eye Contact in Western Europe

the European customs of eye contactespecially in such countries as Spain, France and Germany tends to be similar to that in the United States. It is considered proper and polite to maintain almost constant eye contact with another person during a business exchange or a conversation.

Cultures classified as high context exist where there is a similarity in peoples backgrounds and where a commonness of purpose abides. Low context prefer their mode of living is to compartmentalize life: personal relationships, work, and many other aspects of day-to-day life.

Traditional Asian High Context Cultures

1. Establish social trust first 2. Value personal relations and goodwill

U.S./Australian Low Context Cultures

1. Get down to business first 2. Value expertise and performance

3. Negotiations slow and ritualistic

4. Agreement by general trust 5. Motives indirectly expressed 6. Communication is implicit, non-verbal

3. Negotiations as efficient as possible

4. Agreement by specific, legalistic contract 5. Motives directly expressed 6. Communication is explicit, verbal

7. Formal
8. Goal-oriented 9. Emotionally controlled 10. Self effacing and modest 12. Personal and public relationships often overlap

7. Informal
8. Spontaneous 9. Emotionally expressive 10. Self-promoting and ego-centric 12. Personal and public relationships are often separate

11. Long-term and asymmetrical reciprocity 11. Short-term and symmetrical reciprocity