about her feelings toward the United States. Michiko might believe that Jim is being far too direct and invading her privacy. Besides, the fact that she has traveled halfway around the world should lie indicative of her desire to be here, right? There must he something about the United States that attracted her. Michiko cannot possibly say something critical about the United States because she would lose face, as would Jim, as a native. She relies on imprecise and indefinite answers. Case 29:
Misunderstanding
Idioms are simply statements that are not strictly true, but their meaning is understood by a group of people. If you ask what happened to Martha and people say, \does not mean that she literally did this; it means she died. Just like in the case my student's friend did not literally mean that Shang should get out of the apartment. Idioms are common in all cultures, but when used in intercultural settings they can create a lot of confusion. One potential area of misunderstanding related to idioms is when to use them and with whom. For example, I would not use the \with my grandmother and I am going to tell her about someone who has died, I may use what is often perceived as a gentler idiom and say the person has \context of when an idiom is appropriate or sensible is part of intercultural knowledge. Case 31: Going Out to Eat
In the interaction, Jim is a student at a local university. He was born and raised in the United States. Akira is an exchange student from Japan. Jim and Akira are eating dinner together in a local restaurant. They have known each other for only a short time. Not only is Jim's style of communication overtly personal, but he's also quite direct.
Jim is trying to involve Akira in the conversation by relating to him his personal experiences and preferences. Jim uses the first person \as \says little, even addressing Jim as \. Jim.\, Akira probably sees Jim as socially superior and uses a formal title. Moreover, rather than talking about his personal preferences, Akira mentions that Japanese people enjoy restaurants. Case 32:
What Is Wrong with the Interaction?
This case can reflect different nonverbal communication patterns exist in the actual
intercultural communication. Nonverbal communication differs according to different cultures. People might have different opinions about the proper space, time, body language and paralanguage. If we don’t pay attention to intercultural nonverbal communication, we will have some misunderstanding and conflict. In this case, Jim (an American), Mitsuko and Akira (two Japanese) belong to totally different cultures; they have very different opinions about the space and body languages. Therefore, Mitsuko and Akira felt uncomfortable when Jim gave some exaggerated body language and kept close space distance in communication. Case 33:
Are Americans Indifferent?
This case can reflect different nonverbal communication patterns exist in the actual
intercultural communication, especially facial expression differ according to different cultures. Compared to most Chinese, Americans like to smile a lot and to have causal and rich facial expressions in their daily lives, even though they have some misfortune. In this case, because of the different opinions about facial expressions in intercultural communication, the American lady talked about her father’s sickness and death in a smiling way to show she still has the optimistic way to treat the future life, which is misunderstood as being indifferent and selfish by the Chinese. Case 34:
What Is Sue’ s Problem？
This case can reflect nonverbal intercultural communication should be according to the
different context, too. Context refers to the actual setting when communication occurs and is also important in nonverbal communication. In this case, Sue knew how to wai and she knew that bowing was generally important in the Thai culture, but, as is so easy to do in a new environment, she forgot to consider the context. Relational hierarchy is very important in Thailand. Sue’s deferential actions may have appropriate in certain settings, but given her status of elder visitor such actions directed toward the children were extremely confusing and uncomfortable for the students and teachers alike. Case 35: A Quarrel
This case can reflect the different use and understanding of silence can influence the actual intercultural communication. Different culture might have different interpretations to the silence. The Eastern culture usually attaches more meanings to silence, while the most western cultures consider silence to be absence of communication and most rude communicative behavior. In this case, Li Hua wanted to provide the opportunity for them to calm down and think about the matters carefully and so she kept silence, while this silence was misunderstood by Smith as the absence of communication and he might think Li Hua looked down upon him and became angrier. Case 36:
Don’t Put Your Hand on My Arm
This case can reflect different cultures have different opinions to spatial relations. Different cultures have very different opinions about an individual’s unconsciously structuring the microspace immediately surrounding the physical body. Some cultures can have relatively close distance when communicating while other cultures cannot. Some western cultures consider body touch between people of the same gender to be cultural taboo and a symbol of being homosexual. In this case, Sam is from western cultures and knows the social taboo of body touch very clearly, so he wouldn’t let others misunderstand Mark’s close body distance and touch with him, even though Mark from Chile doesn’t know the cultural taboo at all. Case 37: What’s wrong?
This case can reflect different gestures can represent different meanings in different cultures and misuse of some gestures can lead to ineffective intercultural communication. For example, the common “OK” gesture means being good and friendly in some western countries such as USA, while in Latin America it represent something dirty and obscene. Therefore, in this case, the gesture of the American politician is really a disaster and it hurt the people in this Latin American country and also made himself to be unwelcome person. Case 38:
An American Librarian’s Puzzle
This case can reflect the meanings shown by facial expressions and gestures differ according to different cultures in intercultural communication. For example, the smile in China can convey lots of meaning, such as being friendly and attentive and nodding one’s head in China is not always to say “yes”, sometimes it is just to say “I’m listening.” While in USA, nodding one’s head and smiling is usually to say “yes” and show agreement. Therefore, in this case, the American Librarian misunderstood the Chinese student Zhu Xiaohua’s facial expression and gesture –nodding and smiling and felt quite puzzled. Case 39:
Marriage and Social Status
Shaheed was disappointed, but he understood the problem and accepted the situation. However, in part because of different worldviews, this story really bothers .many Americans. How many differences in worldviews did you recognize in this experience? I count at least five. For example, an American would have felt that the hierarchical nature of the situation that helped to establish the concern in the first place was inherently wrong. Shaheed and the woman would be seen as equals. In addition, if there were to be any differences between the two, they should have been determined by achievement, not ascribed to the individuals by birth. Third, the decision to go with what is wanted by the families or groups involved is in line with a collectivistic approach rather than an individualistic approach, which would have encouraged each person to do what was best for him- or her-self. Fourth, Shaheed's mother's understanding of the meaning of being served bananas at tea depended entirely on lhe context rather than the verbal message. Many Americans who hear this story worry, about whether Shaheed's mother got the right message. Finally, Americans would tend to want to discuss the issue more, asking, \the young woman's mother that it is okay. This orientation is grounded in using
communication primarily as an information source rather than as a social lubricant, which Shaheed's mother did by not threatening the face of the other person or the status quo of the current relationship. Case 40:
How Can We Lend Money to Her?
It is not unusual for married couples to come into conflict over money or how they relate to in-laws, but in this case it is complicated because there are cultural differences in what is good and bad and what is morally appropriate in this situation. In Germany there are strong norms against borrowing unless you absolutely have to, and then you borrow from a bank and pay it back as quickly as you can. Except for very rare occasions in which a child must borrow from a parent, you would never borrow from family members, because they have enough problems of their own. In contrast, Lao borrowing norms indicate that borrowing is a natural and ongoing part of life. No one has everything they need, so everyone will need to borrow at some time. Buddha has said, \. Finally, borrowing from an institution is frowned upon because you will not get a good deal and it will look like your family does not care about you. Case 41:
Getting Frustrated
Jay was frustrated in large part because many of the norms he was used to didn't apply in
Saudi Arabia, and many Saudi norms did not make sense to him. Much of the business done in Saudi Arabia depends on baksheesh, a type of kickback to a middleman (and it is a man), who facilitates contacts between potential business partners. The middleman is doing a service and expects to get paid for it. The more baksheesh the person gives, the more likely it is that the person will succeed, because the middleman will be sure to treat him very well. Giving baksheesh is a norm in the Saudi business community. In addition, Saudis believe that God gave us multifunctional hands and that the hand is our best tool for eating. However, they are also
concerned with hygiene. They reserve the left hand for cleaning themselves and use the right hand for eating. Saudis have a number of norms related to restricting male and female interaction that, within the context of their religious beliefs, make perfect sense but would be very inappropriate to most Westerners. Case 42: Wrong Signal?
Ning Tong was not observing the house rules for watching TV, which was probably why he eventually stopped saying anything in the argument. Usually, when a Chinese chooses not to say any more things in an argument, it would mean one or both of the following: the person feels that he/she is wrong; the person wants to stop the argument by not talking any more. The latter would often mean tolerance as one has to resist the impulse of reasoning with the other, especially when one feels he/she is right. When Ning Tong became quite, he was hoping that his silence could stop Tom since Tom would not have anything to respond to.
Tom was clearly frustrated at not being able to relax and enjoy some programs connected with what is happening back home. Tom probably thought Ning Tong’s decision to stop arguing was “passive aggression”--- making the other person look bad by pretending to be mild-mannered or even not interested---yet not yielding in an argument. Case 43:
The Improvement Does Not Work
Following their individualistic orientations, Mr. Patterson and Mr. Wyman were perfectly
comfortable with the idea of creating team leaders within the individual sales groups. However, as Park Young Sam mentions, doing so upset the harmony of the groups, which in turn led to poor performance. In the United States, workers are often motivated by the opportunity for promotion and advancement as this serves the individualistic drive for individual achievement. In collectivistic cultures, however, workers may be motivated by being a part of a cohesive and productive team.
Individualism and collectivism are terms that describe whole cultures. But cultures are not pure. Members of collectivist cultures may practice individualistic tendencies while members of individualist cultures may value collectivist ideals. For example, Denmark is a country with both collectivistic and individualistic tendencies. In Denmark, individual freedom is nurtured through a devotion to established traditions and customs. Regarding income and social rank, Danes are staunchly egalitarian. At the same time, however, Danes consider themselves free to be nonconformist and to stand out from the group. In this way, Danes may be at the theoretical midpoint of the individualism and collectivism cultural continuum. Case 44:
When Shall We Meet For Dinner?
Uncertainty avoidance orientation can be seen in this case. In the dialogue presented below,
Kelly and Keiko are interacting about a dinner invitation. Kelly, from the United States, possesses a relatively low uncertainty avoidance index, while Keiko, from Japan, comes from a culture with a relatively high uncertainty avoidance index.
In the dialogue above, Keiko is confused by Kelly’s easygoing attitude toward the evening’s plans. Coming from a high uncertainty-avoidant culture, Keiko would prefer to plan ahead to avoid uncertainty and prepare her script for the evening. Kelly, on the other hand, is perfectly comfortable making plans based on how the evening progresses. Without a plan, how will Keiko know how to act? Case 45: What Is Valued?
This student's desire for privacy and personal space became obvious in a setting that denied her the ability to achieve either one. Things we value, such as privacy, honesty, ambition, kindness, and so forth, are things we hold as important and desirable. Therefore, it is when we are unable to experience them that we most clearly understand what we value. Case 46:
How Do Students Learn?
The American teacher cannot adapt to the traditional Chinese way of learning and interpret the students’ behaviors as a problem. In China, being modest is a virtue and nobody wants to be special and boasting, so students would rather keep silent even though they know the right answer. Chinese people love keeping harmony, so they would not point out the mistakes in their classmates’ composition, because this is seen as a disturbance of harmony. Case 47:
Talk or not Talk?
If you see an American friend, you can just say, \walking without even slowing down, but with his friends from the Middle East he needs to stop and talk for awhile, no matter where he is and what he is doing. Khalid explained knew John had been in a hurry the other day and Khalid did not want to cause him to be late, so he thought it best to avoid any interaction rather than either be rude to his friend or cause John problems.
Coming from an individualistic perspective, the idea of just briefly greeting a friend from a group I belong to and continuing on with my own plans seems like no big deal. However, these connections are much more vital to who we are from a collectivist perspective, and it is important to maintain these connections even if we are personally inconvenience in the example, Khalid recognized the predicament that he would face if he met his friend when he was with John, who was in a hurry to get to a meeting, and wisely avoided it. We cannot always avoid such predicaments, but if we understand what is involved in them, we can better manage them when they happen. Case 48:
Gift from a Chinese
Chinese people love giving gifts. Usually, the value of the gift is an indication of how important the receiver is in the sender’s eyes. Most people giving gifts are concerned about whether the gift will be seen as valuable enough. An inexpensive gift means a loss of face. Dongxie may have a practical reason in giving the ginseng to his manager, but most Chinese will take it as something usual for a subordinate to do this to a manager out of a sign of respect.
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