What are culture-specific ways of communication and why? - High versus low context: relationship and networks

6 important questions on What are culture-specific ways of communication and why? - High versus low context: relationship and networks

What is a high context (HC) communication or message?

One in which most of the information is already in the person, while very little is known in the coded, explicit, transmitted part of the message.

What is a low context (LC) communication or message?

The opposite of a high context communication or message; i.e. the mass of the information is vested in the explicit code.

What do people do in high context cultures?

People usually maintain close relationships among family, friends, colleagues and clients and therefore, for most normal transactions in daily life they do not require, nor do they respect, much in-depth, background information.
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What do people do in low context cultures?

People compartmentalize their personal relationships, their work, and many aspects of day-to-day life and one cannot assume that the other party in the conversation shares background information.

Which three levels of communication exist in Japanese?

  1. Meta communication: considers whether or not to say it, who is to speak, when and where to speak and how to take turns.
  2. Meta-pragmatics: considers territory of information (i.e. who, between the speaker and hearer, knows more about the information) and to acknowledge the distinction by means of modal expressions of evidentials (i.e. grammatical elements in a language which specify the source of information). The speaker also needs to consider situational factors.
  3. Propositional communication: the speaker says the propositional content.

What can be found on websites of companies based in low context communication countries?

  • Information is more accessible;
  • navigation interface is more attractive: greater and more effective use of colours and graphics;
  • contain more corporate information and product information;
  • more amenable to transactions; clear pricing information, stock availabilities and delivery updates;
  • more interactive, with options of sending email messages or following up with phone calls; and
  • more likely to have different language versions.

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