172 lines
9.8 KiB
HTML
172 lines
9.8 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
|
||
<html>
|
||
<head>
|
||
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
|
||
<title></title>
|
||
<meta name="generator" content="LibreOffice 6.0.5.2 (Linux)"/>
|
||
<meta name="created" content="2018-01-05T14:03:39.991112897"/>
|
||
<meta name="changed" content="2018-03-18T14:15:04.746328095"/>
|
||
<style type="text/css">
|
||
@page { margin: 1in }
|
||
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
|
||
h2.cjk { font-family: "Arial Unicode MS" }
|
||
h2.ctl { font-family: "Arial Unicode MS" }
|
||
a:link { so-language: zxx }
|
||
</style>
|
||
</head>
|
||
<body lang="en-US" dir="ltr">
|
||
<div title="header">
|
||
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0.2in; line-height: 100%">CROSS
|
||
CULTURAL <sdfield type=PAGE subtype=RANDOM format=PAGE>0</sdfield></p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Cross
|
||
Cultural Confusions</font></p>
|
||
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Joseph
|
||
J. Green</font></p>
|
||
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif">Northern
|
||
Arizona University</font></p>
|
||
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%; page-break-before: always">
|
||
<br/>
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"> Dealing
|
||
with different cultures certainly has its share of hurdles. Different
|
||
cultures have opposite meanings, or no meaning at all, for certain
|
||
gestures. Various cultures have different ways of communicating in
|
||
general. Some prefer to be absolutely direct, and others tend to be
|
||
more indirect. Eye contact, which many Americans are thought is
|
||
exceptionally important and polite to practice, other cultures, they
|
||
might not feel quite the same way. There are, of course, some
|
||
precautions that can be taken when interacting with other cultures to
|
||
try to maintain the best relationships possible, and communicate our
|
||
ideas as cleanly as possible.</font></p>
|
||
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"> Eye
|
||
contact is a particularly hard issue to overcome. In many countries,
|
||
it is incredibly impolite to not make eye contact, in others making
|
||
eye contact is a challenge, and others still vary depending on
|
||
situation. For example, in Mexico, it is polite to avoid eye contact
|
||
with people of a higher authority. Mexican children are taught this
|
||
from a young age in an effort to respect their wise elders
|
||
(Philipchuck, Tuttle and Moreland, 2001). While Americans, on the
|
||
other hand, may become agitated or feel that the other person isn’t
|
||
showing proper respect if they avoid eye contact in any situation.</font></p>
|
||
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"> Gestures
|
||
are another source of discontent between people of different
|
||
cultures. The same hand symbol in one country, could be completely
|
||
obscene in another. For example, the American sign for “A OK,”
|
||
where they put their index finger on their thumb, means something
|
||
completely obscene in Brazil (Darkwing.uoregon.edu, n.d.). Or a
|
||
“thumbs up” which means approval to Americans, means something
|
||
horrible in Argentina (Rhani.public.iastate.edu, n.d.). Germany is
|
||
another great example, where they may tap their forehead to indicate
|
||
that they think someone is stupid, yet that same gesture moved a bit
|
||
closer to the temple in the United States means that they think
|
||
someone is smart (Intercultural Communication, n.d.).</font></p>
|
||
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"> In
|
||
some places around the world, especially in Asian countries, it can
|
||
be seen that people like to avoid being direct. Where an American or
|
||
a German might say a thing and mean that thing, a Japanese or Korean
|
||
person may say a thing, but not necessarily mean that thing, but
|
||
instead use cultural context clues to signify approval or disapproval
|
||
(Intercultural Communication, n.d.). In fact, the Japanese
|
||
specifically find it polite to be indirect, and have a hard time
|
||
coming terms with being direct when moving to, or visiting, America,
|
||
whereas the American sees being direct as the polite thing to do
|
||
(Yokota, 2000).</font></p>
|
||
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"> While
|
||
there are many hurdles to overcome, they are not insurmountable.
|
||
Gestures are actually really easy to deal with. Just don’t use
|
||
them. Some gestures may be positive to some cultures and negative to
|
||
others, but no gestures at all is a safe bet. If they are avoided
|
||
completely, people can’t accidentally insult people by using the
|
||
wrong gestures. However, most other things, such as eye contact and
|
||
speaking style, are much harder to deal with. The most important
|
||
thing that can be done, is to learn about a target culture before
|
||
interacting with it. If someone has the luxury of having associates
|
||
local to the culture being interacted with, they can be used to watch
|
||
for something offensive, or even help understand what the people
|
||
doing business actually mean. When dealing with cultures with a
|
||
different language, interpreters will be needed. Interpreters can
|
||
help, just as the local associate, by letting someone know if (s)he
|
||
is being rude, or what is expected to be polite. When dealing with
|
||
important deals or documents, it’s prudent to have multiple
|
||
interpreters and for each party to to communicate through the
|
||
interpreters the ideas as they understand them to hopefully insure
|
||
synergy in intent and understanding (Intercultural Communication,
|
||
n.d.).</font></p>
|
||
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><font face="Times New Roman, serif"> As
|
||
we can see, it’s incredibly easy to make a faux pas if one tries to
|
||
assume that gestures are the same across cultures. It’s just as
|
||
easy to find problems if people assume that people of other cultures
|
||
communicate the same way, or have the same expectations of that
|
||
communication. Even something as simple as improper eye contact could
|
||
ruin business deals. However, these hurdles aren’t as big of a
|
||
problem so long as proper measures are taken to prevent offending
|
||
each other’s culture, and to make sure our ideas are being clearly
|
||
transmitted.</font></p>
|
||
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 200%"><br/>
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h2 class="western" align="left" style="font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; page-break-before: always">
|
||
<font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">References</font></font></h2>
|
||
<p style="margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0.08in; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">
|
||
<font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">Darkwing.uoregon.edu.
|
||
(n.d.). <i>Customs Brasil</i>. [online] Available at:
|
||
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~sergiok/brasil/customs.html [Accessed 18
|
||
Mar. 2018].</font></font></p>
|
||
<p style="margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0.08in; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">
|
||
<font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><i>Intercultural
|
||
Communication</i>. (n.d.). [video] bigworldmedia.</font></font></p>
|
||
<p style="margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0.08in; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">
|
||
<font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">Philipchuck, C.,
|
||
Tuttle, S. and Moreland, S. (2001). <i>Mexico E-Resume ~
|
||
Nonverbal</i>. [online] Academic.depauw.edu. Available at:
|
||
http://academic.depauw.edu/mkfinney_web/teaching/Com227/culturalPortfolios/mexico/nonverbal.htm
|
||
[Accessed 18 Mar. 2018].</font></font></p>
|
||
<p style="margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0.08in; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal">
|
||
<font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman">Rhani.public.iastate.edu.
|
||
(n.d.). <i>Non Verbal Communication</i>. [online] Available at:
|
||
http://rhani.public.iastate.edu/nonverbalreading.html [Accessed 18
|
||
Mar. 2018].</font></font></p>
|
||
<p style="margin-left: 0.2in; text-indent: -0.2in; margin-bottom: 0.08in">
|
||
<font face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-variant: normal"><font color="#000000"><span style="letter-spacing: normal"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">Yokota,
|
||
K. (2000). </span></span></span></font></span><span style="font-variant: normal"><font color="#000000"><span style="letter-spacing: normal"><i><span style="font-weight: normal">American
|
||
Directness and the Japanese</span></i></span></font></span><span style="font-variant: normal"><font color="#000000"><span style="letter-spacing: normal"><span style="font-style: normal"><span style="font-weight: normal">.
|
||
[online] Leo.stcloudstate.edu. Available at:
|
||
https://leo.stcloudstate.edu/kaleidoscope/volume3/direct.html
|
||
[Accessed 18 Mar. 2018].</span></span></span></font></span></font></p>
|
||
</body>
|
||
</html> |