Japanese Communication Styles

Cross-cultural communication is about the manner people with different cultural background interact with each other face to face or at a distance, i. e. the process by which people exchange with information. Three broad areas of communication are written, verbal and non-verbal communication, or body language. Some communication styles include direct/indirect, formal/informal and emotional/neutral communication. Direct communication assumes saying what people think without adapting the message to the counterpart. The result is clear and transparent but can be considered undiplomatic by the indirect communicators whose concern is to avoid offence. Formal communication style implies respect to age, status and also requires more formal language than informal communication style. In the emotional communication style it is important to express one’s emotions as it is a significant aspect of self-expression. Neutral communication style implies control of emotions and restricted body language. (Brian and Tomalin, 2013, p10). There can be problems of communication even within one culture and the barriers to efficient communication between different cultures can be poor knowledge of cultural differences, ethnocentrism, stereotyping and fear of embarrassment (Najafbagy, 2008; Brian and Tomalin, 2013).

Native Americans place a special emphasis on silence, listening, and knowing when to speak. They place this special emphasis through their communicative behaviors. This varies from non-native American communication habits, as people outside of this culture tend to talk to fill dead space, may cause distractions while speaking, may interrupt another individual, and/or display other communicative behaviors that violate the norms and expectations of the Native American culture. In contrast, Native Americans are much more effective with their communication, they only speaking to provide necessary context and they are taught the importance of listening thoroughly to one another. Moreover, they have particular gestures and body language that they may exhibit in order to honor their cultural values. These communicative behaviors are often displays within their daily lives and interactions, as well as within their cultural traditions and rituals. For example, they partake in rituals such as talking circles where

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.

Communication involves more than exchanging words between people. Gestures, postures, facial expressions and even eye contacts are important during communication. Both verbal and nonverbal cues are important during communication and can help a person understand the speaker or listener’s emotions, attitudes or status. Understanding the existence of various cultures is necessary since different cultures have varying ways of communication (Lustig & Koester, 2012). Therefore, a communication style that is perceived as bad by a culture may be good in another culture. Besides, characteristics that may be essential for a particular culture may be quite irrelevant for another. In line with this dissimilarity, individuals need to adapt carefully and understand communication preferences and desires among cultures.

I am originally from Puerto Rico, which is a country in which communication is an integral part of society. The cultural norm of the Puerto Rican culture is to speak up when necessary and communicate clearly if we want things to be done. At the same time, I believe that in order to produce results, the manner in which communicating takes place, is an extremely important component. My culture also showed me how the emotions used when communicating, such as the use of the hands and body language, will dictate the tone and flow of the communication. The literature suggests that the majority (as much as 76%) of the message we gibe to another person during conversations is carried by non-verbal or para-verbal communication. Thus, we must be very careful and strategic in our use o non-verbal communication (Van Acker, 1997).

There are eight key forms of nonverbal communications used on a daily basis. These forms can affect the way people view another person; however, without understanding the forms of nonverbal communication there is certain to be a lot of misinterpretations. Cultural and language differences are a common reason for miscommunication. When communicating with people in different cultures, a person should be extremely aware of the hand gestures and nonverbal communication tools they are using. Many of the hand gestures used in the United States that mean good things, mean offensive and profane things to other cultures. Nonverbal communication is described as body language, hand gestures, and facial expressions. It is known that people reveal more information through nonverbal communication, than words alone to get a point across. There will always be some interaction between two or more people that everyone’s

Wakimae and Uchi-soto are a fundamental part of Japanese language and expresses not only the language but Japanese culture as a whole. Wakimae, which is roughly translated to English as “discernment”, and is orientated with a persons need for acknowledgement as well as how one should act and behave in society. Uchi-soto (inside and outside) encompass a vital part of Japanese language and society. In-groups and out-groups in reference to Uchi-soto revolves around dividing people into the two groups. When conversing with someone from an out-group, the out-group must be honoured and in contrast, the in-group must be humbled. In reference to honorifics mentioned earlier in this essay, Uchi-soto conversations are achieved by conjugating verbs to make them more polite. Examples of uchi-soto may be seen in restaurants, exchange of gifts or meeting someone of high esteem. To understand Wakimae and Uchi-soto from a foreign point of view, one must understand that in western culture, individualism is emphasized whilst in Asian cultures, the needs of the group are more important than the individual and therefore emphasized more (Moore, 2002). So in reference

It would not be possible to consider numerous ways in which silence could be understood in other cultures. Never the less it is important to raise this as a consideration. Silence can be open to interpretation and one does this through our own cultural lens. Within a home office interview setting where one is already of the view that the person maybe untruthful then silence maybe viewed as a negative act and perhaps biding time to formulate a lie. Lemark in considering this said that `Because of its ambiguous function and usage, silence is a major source of intercultural miscommunication, which frequently leads to negative judgments, and breeds stereotypes.

While communication across cultures relies on speech to convey the messages of those living in the same society, usually the unspoken language has a larger role to play in delivering these messages. Similar to the country’s language being specific to the region it surfaces from, body language and facial expressions also have individual characteristics within a particular region. There are shared attributes of nonverbal communication across the world but these are commonly divided into high and low context cultures. This results from different cultural beliefs and attitudes within such societies and impact on the social norms of communication. In Japan, the citizens communicate with actions and gestures to a larger percent in comparison to their speech, as they are able to understand each other’s meaning without additional words. Due to it being a high context culture Japan relies heavily on its nonverbal communication for its society to function efficiently and for adequate comprehension to be achieved.

Japans history dates back almost 53,000 years and is filled with interesting and fascinating events. Most of Japans actions have left the major world powers in the world stunned. The base of this amazing country is astonishing just by itself. The base is a bunch of active and large under water volcanoes. Japans uniqueness from the rest of the world ranges from its culture to its very interesting history to the change in government every few hundred years and their trading dilemma with petroleum and their assortment of fish that they export. Japan as a country is so very appealing and kind compared to the rest of the world its no wonder that it’s geographically separate from the rest of the world.

High-context culture and its customs may be hardly to understand for an individual representing low-context culture (Japan versus America). Then, the context of a message or non-verbal gesture became unable to read which resultswhich results in impolite behavior, misunderstanding, insulting or even basing on stereotypes. Conclusion As a result of this paper, politeness can be understandunderstood in terms of both linguistic side and the ways of behaving. It is a really complex structurecomplex structure which can be investigated in terms of many aspects such as nationality, gender, culture.

They were in awed by the new ideas and technologies that reached Japan, which had created impact on many levels of the Japanese society. The Japanese went by a motto “Western sciences, Japanese essence.” After opening their doors, Japan rapidly reinvigorated itself and quickly grew into one of the wealthiest and most

Today, there are about 240 million immigrants around the world, and most of them goes to the U.S. Therefore, we assume that you are Japanese and you move to the U.S. In my research, the way of communication between Japan and America is different. Some examples are Japanese often keep silent, but American don’t like it. American has own opinion, but Japanese often says noncommittal answer. If you don’t follow the communication style of America, perhaps you cannot get used to life of America.

Any communication interaction involves two major components in terms of how people are perceived: verbal, or what words are spoken and nonverbal, the cues such as facial expressions, posture, verbal intonations, and other body gestures. Many people believe it is their words that convey the primary messages but it is really their nonverbal cues. The hypothesis for this research paper was: facial expressions directly impact how a person is perceived. A brief literature search confirmed this hypothesis.

Japan is a multiethnic and multicultural society, but the majority of their residents hold very strong beliefs of the pureness of a person and their status in the country based on heritage and personal background, (Lecture, Sept 12). During postwar Japan there was a heavy emphasis on unity and homogeneity of the people rather than diversity, (Lecture, Nov 30). As a result, the country’s