Cultural Lens

Humans have several ways of communicating with one another, whether that is written, spoken, facial expressions, or through body language. We use all of these forms all the time, it would be impossible to live a day without speaking, writing or reading, making facial expressions, or using any body language to communicate with others. While all these forms of communication are commonly known, another form, not as intuitively obvious, is silence. Like all forms of communication, silence will change with reference to different cultures. Just as different cultures speak differently or have different languages, and have different body languages, cultures also have different meanings behind silence. Native American cultures have been described as reluctant to speak or lacking in personal warmth simply because their culture views silence differently than most Americans. Apaches use silence for situations of uncertainty and unpredictability, Americans prefer that silence does not happen at all but will accept it for situations of comfort or in some cases when they want to avoid small talk with strangers. These difference in the use of silences are simply due to the cultural differences between Apaches and Americans. As Apaches’ use of silence reflects their cultural values of recognition and respect, Americans use, or lack of use, of silence reflects their cultural values of directness and urgency.

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

Communicative expectations tend to “vary across culture. Societies varying along the cultural dimension of individualism – collectivism, for example – hold different preferences for direct versus indirect forms of communication” (p. 11, para. 4).

Cultures provide people several ways of thinking and opinions. When it comes communicating the potential for misunderstandings increase dramatically because translations between languages. Most cultures have their own constricted rules about what is proper communication which affect verbal and nonverbal communication. Sometimes by simply not looking at a person eye to eye has a significant impact on how a different cultural per son will receive it. There a several rules to communication which differ from culture to culture and can be sometime wrongly

Everyone’s background affects how they interpret information. It is important to take that into account when communicating with others. For example, when communicating with people from another culture they may converse with their faces only a few inches apart. I have experienced this in communicating with other cultures and I always find myself feeling uncomfortable with the situation. I feel that my space is being invaded. Some cultures take a long time to answer questions while others answer immediately. Another example is how some East Asian cultures believe it is rude to answer a question with a “no” even if they mean no. They will say “yes” just because that is how they show respect.

The third frame we are looking at is the Political Lens which looks at the power within an organization. Organizations for this lens are looked at as arenas so to speak, in that the people working within the company compete for power and scarce resources. The actions of bargaining, coercion, compromise, and negotiations are a part of everyday life within these establishments. If power is too concentrated inside a workplace, it can result in having a problem or problems. However, the same thing goes if power is too delegated in an organization, it can cause problems because it can result in nothing getting done. Making decisions within an organization involves assigning the scarce resources among the individuals who work for the company. Decision

Culture is the lens through which we view the world; it is the mirror we use to reflect and interpret reality. It teaches us how to think and what to think about. It reveals to us what is beautiful or ugly, helpful or harmful, appropriate or out of place. In effect, every culture provides with a series of lessons. Among the lessons we learn are how to say “hello” and “good-bye,” when to speak or remain silent, how to act when angry or upset, where to focus our eyes when functioning as a source and receiver how much to gesture, how close to stand to another, and how to display emotions such as happiness or rage. By instructing members, culture guides behavior and communication, revealing to them how to act, think, talk, and listen.

The virtue of Silence seems dangerous and in useful because people could be placed in different situations and would feel nervous to enforce the conversation. Benjamin Franklin defines the virtue of Silence as “Speak not but what might benefit others or yourself. Avoiding trifling Conversation”(592). It seems that this could be dangerous because would if someone is in the need of help but you would be forced to sit in silence and avoidance of the situation. The virtue of Silence is also quite dangerous because if the whole world obeyed this virtue, the world would be silent, which would lead to a disaster since everyone would be forced to hold their feelings in and not be able to express themselves. This is the reason why the virtue of Talking should be enforced within

One’s culture is an important aspect to take into account when identifying why people communicate the way they do. “Culture means shared norms, values, and beliefs related to how people live and how people communicate” (Stewart, 2002, p. 25). People learn how to communicate from the people they are raised by and spend their time with, they adapt their ways of speaking, values, possibly even their attire. Specifically, “what it means to belong to a culture is to communicate in certain ways—to use certain expressions that members of other cultures don’t use, to prefer certain kinds of meetings, to honor certain styles of speaking, to maintain certain distances, to touch in certain ways, and so on” (Stewart,

Holliday, Hyde & Kullman (2010) claim that this ‘culture shock’ - a kind of ‘emotional and intellectual’ unease that sometimes occurs when encountering unfamiliar meanings and practices - is part of human nature (2010:57). So the communication process between individuals of differing cultural backgrounds is complex and often fraught (Kim, 2001: 7). Communication can stall or breakdown completely because of prejudices and tailored worldviews. Thus, race, othering, and Orientalism are relevant to intercultural and international communication because preconceived notions of difference have consequences which can be broad and long-lasting (Holliday,

Silence is always easy, but not always right. People in need do not always have a voice. Sometimes speaking up about something is hard, but it is necessary for progression.

In my view, the idea of silence constitutes an array or responses that include but are not limited doing something that does not help the situation, doing the same thing that has previously not effected desirable change for the same problem or living life as though nothing is happening. In other words, silence can take many forms.

In addition to differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammatical structures among cultural groups, variations also exist in the rules for general discourse in oral communication, covering such specific acts as narratives and conversation. In communicating with one another, teachers and students naturally will follow the assumptions and rules governing discourse within their respective cultures. Discourse rules govern such aspects of communication as: opening or closing conversations; taking turns during conversations; interrupting; using silence as a communicative device; interjecting humor at appropriate times and using nonverbal behavior. Once again, an American student studying in the middle east, who would constantly interrupt the teacher in order to clarify the professor’s opinion, would be considered to be

Non-Verbal is a key part of people’s daily communication since 93 percent of all communication is nonverbal (Neuliep, 2018). When interacting with someone from a different culture than you, the verbal communication will be an issue but also nonverbal communication will be a huge issue. It will be a little harder to become fully educating in the verbal language, so one should become knowledgeable in the nonverbal code so there will be some knowledge in the culture. Emerson’s quote, “When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first.” signifies the importance of nonverbal communication (Ralph Waldo Emerson, n.d.). When our nonverbal verbal communication and our verbal communication says two different things, people will believe what our nonverbal communication is saying. ENTER

Malaysians rely on the non-verbal communication along with the normal conversation for the harmonious purpose. Malays prefer to give a hint rather than directly putting up a statement for both negative and positive purpose. Silence is a very important element in Malaysian communication and in the purpose of different negotiations. Malaysian people do not like to the people who vent their anger in public. It embarrasses them. Overall the communication purpose should be taking into account very carefully for success.