Cross-Cultural Communication: Concepts, Cases and Challenges By ...

In high-context cultures, the importance and power of words are not emphasized. The meaning of a message is less dependent on words. The perception of the message sender, including nonverbal cues, social and physical contexts, is used to attribute meaning to a transmitted verbal message. Statements may not be explicit. Additional information has to be filled in mentally by the message decoder. Therefore, a message encoder who relies heavily on words without regard to external cues may not communicate effectively across cultures.

In high-context cultures, verbs, metaphors, aphorisms, and anecdotes are often used when communicating. Silence is routinely used to deliver a message. According to Ferraro (1994), certain pronouns will be repeated frequently in order to fully dramatize the message, and highly graphic metaphors and similes are common. For example, it is not uncommon for an Arabic or a Garífuna speaker of Central America to use a list of adjectives to modify a single noun in order to stress a point (Norales, 2003). A statement may be overstated for emphasis, and the message receiver is expected to pick up the cues and make meaning out of them.

When conducting business in many cultures such as the Arab, African, and Caribbean, it is not uncommon to start a statement by expressing thanks to God or anticipating God’s blessings in the future. This is often used to seek common ground and to affirm the omnipotent power of God among the participants during the communication transaction (Ihator, 2000).

Low-context cultures take written and oral communications literally. Contracts are binding. Promises may be “broken”. In work environments, job tasks are separate from relationships. Individual initiative and decision-making are valued. Facts, statistics, and other details are emphasized. It is expected that the receiver of the message derives more of the meaning from the written or verbalized statements rather than from non-verbal behavioral cues. Business communication practices in the United States reflect these low-context preferences.

People of Diverse Ethnic Backgrounds

The United States has developed from the diverse values of Irish, African, Jewish, Hispanic, and Asian peoples (O’Hair, O’Rourke,&O’Hair,