A Crosscultural Study of Daily.docx

A Crosscultural Study of Daily.docx

《A Crosscultural Study of Daily.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《A Crosscultural Study of Daily.docx（11页珍藏版）》请在冰点文库上搜索。

ACrossculturalStudyofDaily

AsianSocialScienceOctober,2008

151

ACross-culturalStudyofDaily

CommunicationbetweenChineseandAmerican

--FromthePerspectiveofHighContextandLowContext

JianengWang

ForeignLanguagesCollege,ZhejiangGongshangUniversity,Hangzhou310018,China

E-mail:

jianeng101@

Abstract

Incross-culturalcommunication,ignoranceofcontextsusuallyleadstomisunderstandingandconflicts.Basedon

Edward.T.Hall’snotionofhigh-contextandlow-context,thispaperaimstogeneralizethebasicdistinctive

characteristicsofthetwocontextsbyanalyzingtheactualcasesindailycommunicationbetweenAmericanandChinese.

Thispaperalsotriestoconcludesometipsforcommunicationcrossingthetwocontextsinaccordancewiththecase

analysis.

Keywords:

High-context,Low-context,Communicatio,Culture

1.AboutHall’shigh-contextandlow-context

Contextisimportantinallcommunication,butitisrelativelymoreimportantinsomesituationsthaninothers.There

arealsosignificantdifferencesacrossculturesinthewaysandtheextenttowhichpeoplecommunicatethroughcontext.

Oneofthemaindistinctionsbetweencultureshasbeenthenotionofhighandlowcontextcultures,proposedbythe

AmericananthropologiesEdward.T.Hallinhis1976classic,BeyondCulture（Hall,2000）.

1.1Whatishigh/low-context?

EdwardT.Hallhasdescribedculturaldifferencesintheuseoflanguageandcontextincommunication.Hecalls

communicationthatoccursmostlythroughlanguagelowcontextandcommunicationthatoccursinwaysotherthan

thoughlanguagesashighcontext.

Ahigh-context（HC）communicationormessageisoneinwhichmostoftheinformationiseitherinthephysical

contextorinternalizedintheperson,whileverylittleiseitherinthephysicalcontextorinternalizedintheperson,while

verylittleisinthecoded,explicit,transmittedpartofthemessage.Alow-context（LC）communicationisjustthe

opposite;i.e.,the,massofinformationisvestedintheexplicitcode.

Anytransactioncanbecharacterizedashigh,lowormiddlecontext.HCtransactionsfeaturepreprogrammed

informationthatisinthereceiverandinthesetting,withonlyminimalinformationinthetransmittedmessage.LC

transactionsarethereverse.Mostoftheinformationmustbeinthetransmittedmessageinordertomakeupforwhatis

missinginthecontext.

Althoughnocultureexistsexclusivelyatoneendofthescale,somearehighwhileothersarelow.Americanculture,

whilenotonthebottom,istowardthelowerendofthescale.AndChineseculture,whilenotonthetop,istowardthe

higherstartpointofthescale.

1.2Distinctivecharacteristicsbetweenhigh-contextandlowcontext

Hallobservedthat"meaningandcontextareinextricablyboundupwitheachother"（Hall,2000,p.36）,andsuggested

thattounderstandcommunicationoneshouldlookatmeaningandcontexttogetherwiththecode（i.e.,thewords

themselves）.Bycontext,werefertothesituation,background,orenvironmentconnectedtoanevent,asituation,oran

individual.WhencommunicationisHC,itisnotonlythenon-verbalandpara-verbalcommunicationthatcomesinto

play.HCcommunicationdrawsonphysicalaspectsaswellasthetimeandsituationinwhichthecommunicationtakes

place,nottomentiontherelationshipbetweentheinterlocutors.Theclosertherelationship,themoreHCthe

communicationtendstobe,drawingonthesharedknowledgeofthecommunicatingparties.

ByusingscalesmeanttoconceptualizethedifferencebetweenHigh-andLow-Contextcommunications,Gudykunstet

al.（1996）identifiedHCcommunicationtobeindirect,ambiguous,maintainingofharmony,reservedandunderstated.

Incontrast,LCcommunicationwasidentifiedasdirect,precise,dramatic,open,andbasedonfeelingsortrue

intentions.

Vol.4,No.10AsianSocialScience

152

Thusbasicdistinctivecharacteristicswithinthetwocontextscanbegeneralizedintothewaybywhichpeopleexpress

themeaningandthinkaswellasthemediathroughwhichpeoplecommunicatei.e.directnessorindirectness;lineror

circular;verbalornonverbal.

Detailedanalysisaboutthesethreedistinctivecharacteristicswillbegiveninthefollowingpart,usingtheactualcases

indailycommunicationbetweenChineseandAmerica,toillustratetheimportanceofrecognizingthedifferencesof

contextincross-culturalcommunication.

2.CasesanalysisbasedonHall’sviews

A.directnessvs.indirectness

HalladdsthatthosewhouseLCcommunicationstyleare"expectedtocommunicateinwaysthatareconsistentwith

theirfeelings,"whereasapersonfromaHCculturewillsetthecontextandthesettingandletthemessageevolve

withoutreferringtotheproblemdirectly.Intheeventofaconflictarising,HCculturestendtouseindirect,

non-confrontational,andvaguelanguage,relyingonthelistener'sorreader'sabilitytograspthemeaningfromthe

context.LCculturestendtouseamoredirect,confrontational,andexplicitapproachtoensurethatthelistenerreceives

themessageexactlyasitwassent.Thefollowingdialogisatypicalcommunicatingfailurehappingbetweenpeople

fromthetwocontexts.

Case1

Mr.Jones:

Itlookslikewe’regoingtohavetokeeptheproductionlinerunningonSaturday.

Mr.Wu:

Isee.

Mr.Jones:

CanyoucomeinonSaturday?

Mr.Wu:

Yes.Ithinkso.（withahesitativetone）

Mr.Jones:

That’llbeagreathelp.

Mr.Wu:

Yes.Saturday’saspecialday,didyouknow?

Mr.Jones:

Howdoyoumean?

Mr.Wu:

It’smyson’sbirthday.

Mr.Jones:

Hownice!

Ihopeyouallenjoyitverymuch.

Mr.Wu:

Thankyou.Iappreciateyourunderstanding.

AnalysisandDiscussion:

OneoftheproblemsinthiscasestudyisthatMr.JonesisbeingdirectinhisquestionwhileMr.Wuisbeingindirectin

hisrefusal.Firstly,aChinesepeoplewillchoosetoaskindirectlyasakindofsuppose:

“youdon’thaveany

arrangementinSaturday?

”insteadofasking:

“CanyoucomeinonSaturday?

”sinceSaturdayisnotaworkdayandask

someonedirectlymakesitasakindofforce.Mr.Liontheotherhandwantstorefusetherequirementatthevery

beginning,andsupposeshisbossjustoffersakindofeuphemisticrequirement.AndtoaChinese,hewillneverrefusea

boss’srequirementdirectly.SowhenthebossaskswhetherhecancomeonSaturday,Mr.Lihaven’tansweredno

directly.Consideringthe“face”oftheboss,Mr.LitellshimSaturdayisthebirthdayofhissonasahintofrefusing.

However,asonecomesfromalow-contextculturewhoexpressesmeaninginadirectwaydoesn’tcatchMr.Li’s

indication.That’sreasonwhythecommunicationfailseventually.

B.linervs.circular

Thoughtpatternisanotherdistinctivecharacteristicwithinthetwocontexts.LCculturestendtoemphasizelogicand

rationality,basedonthebeliefthatthereisalwaysanobjectivetruththatcanbereachedthroughlinearprocessesof

discovery.HCcultures,ontheotherhand,believethattruthwillmanifestitselfthroughnon-lineardiscoveryprocesses

andwithouthavingtoemployrationality.Inconversations,peopleinLCcultureswillshiftfrominformationalready

statedtoinformationabouttobegiven,whileHCcommunicationwilljumpbackandforthandleaveoutdetail,

assumingthistobeimplicitbetweenthetwointerlocutors.Alsocaseanalysiswillbegiveninthefollowingpartto

exemplifythetwothoughtpatterns.Thefollowingcasewouldbeagoodexampletoillustratehowthetwocontexts

distinguisheachotherontheaspectofthoughtpatterns.

Case2

GeorgeHallwasattendingatradefairandlookingforanopportunitytodobusinessinChina.Hehadbeenvery

successfulinUSandpridedhimselfonhisability“togetthingsmoving”.FinallyheapproachedMr.Li’scompany

whichhethoughtwouldbemostresponsivetohisproducts.SincehehadreadthatChinesefindgettingdownto

businessimmediatelytooabruptandrude,hebeganacasualconversation,eventuallyleadinguptothetopicofhis

productsandsuggestinghowMr.Li’scompanymightbenefitfromusingthem.Georgethensuggestedthathecould

AsianSocialScienceOctober,2008

153

arrangetogettogetherwithMr.Liandprovidemorespecificsanddocumentationonhisproducts.

Mr.LirespondedinfairlygoodEnglish,“Thatwouldbeinteresting.”

KnowingthathehadonlyafewdaysleftinBeijing,Georgewantedtonaildownatime.“Whencanwemeet?

”

“Ah.Thisweekisverybusy,”repliedMr.Li.

“Itsureis,”saidGeorge,“Howabout10o’clock?

Meetyouhere.”

“Tomorrowat10o’clock?

”askedMr.Lithoughtfully.

“Right,”saidGeorge,“I’llseeyouthen?

”

“Hmm,yes;whydon’tyoucomebytomorrow,”wasthereply.

“OK,”respondedGeorge,“Itwasnicemeetingyou.”

Thenextdayat10o’clockheapproachedMr.Li’scompany’sexhibitonlytofindthatMr.Lihadsomeimportant

businessandwasnotabletomeetwithGeorge.HecalledbacklaterinthedayandwastoldthatMr.Liwasnot

available.

AnalysisandDiscussion:

Inthiscase,besidesthedifferenceofdirectnessandindirectness,thefailurealsoresultsfrompeople’spatternof

thoughtfromthetwodifferentcontexts.GeorgeHall,comingfromacultureoflow-contexthassethispurposeatthe

verybeginningoftheircommunication.Thusallthewordsheusedtoconveyhismeaninggoestotheobjectdirectly,

andinhiscontext,thepurposeofcommunicationorwhatthetwotalkingaboutisinvolvedinthesituationthatthey

mayhaveacooperationinthefuture.Sowhenhearing:

“Thatwouldbeinteresting.”“Whydon’tyoucomeby

tomorrow.”Hetakesitasanindicationofallowance.However,forMr.Li,whocomesfromalow-context,hedidn’t

taketheirtalkingseriously.Forhimonet