Communications across cultures: High context vs. low context
1. Key Term and Why You Are Interested in It
Communication is very important to me. I have trouble communicating with people verbally and written. Verbally because I have a speech impairment that causes me to have trouble speaking my “R’s” and sometimes my "TH 's". Trying to get my thoughts across is difficult for me and I am just now learning how hard it is across different cultures, how a person can be interrupted different ways across cultures and between genders. I have had some experience in communicating with others from different backgrounds, cultures and between husband and wife even. Each person takes communication differently than what that person may have meant.
2. Explanation of the Key Term
A society that depends strongly on delicate contextual signs and unspoken signs in communication is a high context culture (Satterlee, B., 2014). These individuals have built relationships over a period. Because of this close relationship or time to together, what one tries to communicate is more relaxed because each person knows how to act and what they should think.
However, a society that depends heavily on the words to express the significance of the message is low-context culture (Satterlee, B., 2014). These individuals have numerous contacts but over a short period. Beliefs and society 's behavior are needed to be explained so that so that outsiders will know how to act.
3. Major Article Summary
The
High context communication also heavily relies on trust and are stable, which clearly being shown in Tula’s family where they trust each other deeply that they share even the tiniest things of their life. Whereas the low context communication that Ian’s family practicing where the responsibility is not concentrated at the top, where one’s identity is rooted in one self and one’s
Different social, professional and cultural contexts may affect relationships and the way people communicate due to of a lack of understanding or knowledge of one another’s background and culture. This could be through their race, religion, ethnicity or where they come from. Each one of these can have similar or very different ways to communicate. For example
I’m sensitive to contexts of communication. I recognize that changes in physical, cultural, social– psychological, and temporal contexts will alter meaning.
Effective communication is important as verbal interaction is needed to integrate as this allows people to hear tone of voice, see their body language, and whether or not they maintain eye contact. All of these things help us to see if what has been said to someone or asked whether or not it has been understood or respected. Also, a person’s body language and eye contact can tell us how they feel about us when we ask them to do something. Our style of speech needs to be adjusted depending upon the age of the person we are talking to, as we can’t talk to adults as we would children as this would be seen as disrespectful. We also need to actively listen so that we can build trust within all groups. This is so that if any safeguarding or any
Communication competence is choosing the type of communication that is appropriate for any situation. It is possible to teach and learn competence; we do that every day in schools, work, and sports. No, people aren’t born competent communicators, we learn throughout our lives to become competent communicators by the people around us. Yes, people with extrovert personalities have the characteristic more people with introvert personalities. If you’re outgoing and outspoken you’re more successful with communicating than a shy and reserved person. Yes, communication competence is defined or perceived differently in other cultures. All cultures are different; we do not communicate the same. The culture in boxing is not identical to the culture in
Learning how to communicate is often overlooked but its an essential skill for anyone. An example of how important this truly is would be a job interview. Everyone at some point will have to interview for a job to support themselves and their family. At most interviews, employers are looking for people who seem to communicate well with others and can present themselves by communicating their attributes. These communications skills that are necessary aren’t easy to come by. Although one may think it would be easy, many people wont be able to successfully land a job because of communication. One person may be the most qualified, but if you can not communicate well then it will not matter.
Communication is an ongoing process in which individuals exchange messages whose meanings are influenced by the history of the relationship and the experiences of the participants. (Adler, p.384) Communication depends on relationships between the people who are communicating, and on common basics between them. Problems in communications between people may arise due to differences in cultures, perceptions, values, and expectations from life.
Communication is important because it allows us to verbalize what is inside us and enables it
Communication is an ongoing, transactional process in which individuals exchange messages whose meanings are influenced by the history of the relationship and the experiences of the participants. (Adler, p.384) Communication depends on relationships between the people who are communicating, and on common basics between them. Problems in communications between people may arise due to differences in cultures, perceptions, values, and expectations from life.
I’m sensitive to contexts of communication. I recognize that changes in physical, cultural, social– psychological and temporal contexts will alter meaning.
Communication is more than just the spoken word, we communicate far more than our words can say. For example, our tone of voice and our body language can convey a different message than our spoken word. I have told my children many times, it’s not what you say it’s how you say it that gets you in trouble. In the United States, we use a lower-context form of communication, we rely on written agreements or contracts to convey an agreement. We consider this a binding agreement. Some other countries use higher-context, where their social context surrounding the written agreement is of higher Importance (Lamberton and Minor, 2012).
In the first approach, Hall explains the highly correlation between context and meaning, same expressions,
The differences in communication between people changes depending on the social and cultural context, which is referred to as semiotic systems (Angemuller, Maingueneau, Wodak, 2014; Kress, 2009). For example, spoken, written, images, gestures, sounds are all semiotic systems that help people create meaning of the language used during conversations (Fellowes & Oakley, 2014). The English language contains many different varieties (dialects) which reflect a person’s reality and are culturally influenced (Crystal, 2013) as well as an accent which refers to the sounds that are present. Giles, Coupland & Coupland’s (1991) accommodation theory states that people accommodate and adjust their language by either, converge (similar interaction), diverge (distance from interaction) or maintaining their style. The analysis of the context is broken down into; what is happening (field), who is taking part (tenor) and the symbolic organisation of the ‘text’ (mode), collectively constituting the “register” (Halliday, 1975). Technology advances today have created a dynamic and continually changing language. Regan (2014) discusses variations of language to reflect aspects of the speaker’s identity. Gee & Hayes (2011) state, the principles of children learning to speak are social, often imitating others through some variation of their own. For example, young women often abbreviate words originating from text messaging, social media, and the like in conversation, much to the confusion of an
"We didn 't all come over on the same ship, but we 're all in the same boat."- Bernard Baruch
Cultural Context-high implicit meaning contents during conversation is as important as the spoken word. Legend culture is important in understanding what is being said.