Intercultural vocabulary

1. Intercultural vocabulary • Terms to help you describe different aspects of culture

2. Importance of work • Masculine business culture • Career overshadows family • Competition encouraged • Gender differentiation tolerated • Feminine business culture • Solidarity & cooperation important • Weak taken care of • Gender equality expected

3. The basis of status • Ascription-based culture • Status ascribed (given) to certain groups • Older males • Members of important families • People with the right background • Achievement-based cultures • Status has to be won/earned/achieved • Young people often high positions • People evaluated on results (their track record)

4. Doing business with others • Deal-focused cultures • Direct approach to customer possible • Producer with the best product gets the order • Contract protects the two parties • Relationship-focused cultures • Introduction by third party essential • Time must be invested in developing the relationship • Mutual trust is the basis of the deal

5. Being a boss • Individual leadership style • Directive management style • Top-down communication • Competence, authority & decisiveness expected • High power distance common • Group leadership style • Consultative management style • Two-way communication • Team-building, openness, empathy expected • Low power distance common

6. Getting work done • Systematic working environment • Importance of rules & regulations • Detailed plans, deadlines, action plans important • Precision & thoroughness prioritised • Monochronic culture • Organic working environment • Focuses on people • Creativity & flexibility encouraged • Polychronic culture

7. Interacting with others • Formal communication style • Use of titles (academic or professional) • Politeness & protocol important • Common in ascriptive cultures • Informal communication style • Little use of titles or polite forms • Speaking plainly is encouraged • Common in achievement-based cultures

8. Speaking your mind • Indirect communication style • Vagueness common (implicit style) • Tact & diplomacy prioritised – high context • Important to read between the lines • Direct communication style • Directness common (explicit style) • Clarity & honesty appreciated – low context • Things can be taken on face value

9. Showing your feelings • Emotional cultures • Enthusiasm, pleasure, anger & disappointment shown openly • Extensive use of gestures & facial expressions • Neutral cultures • Calmness is appreciated • Emotions kept under control (disguised) • Little use of gestures or facial expression • Straight-faced communicators

10. Conversation etiquette • Overlapping • Interruptions common – sign of interest • Often than one person speaking at a time • Common in emotional cultures • Turn-taking • Interruption uncommon – sign of rudeness • Wait your turn to speak • Common in neutral cultures

11. The meaning of silence • Silence indicates different things in different cultures & contexts • The person is thinking • The listener has understood • The listener has not understood • Lack of interest – even annoyance • Tolerance of silence is either high or low

12. Other non-verbal signals • Proxemics (space) • How close do you stand? • How large is your personal zone of privacy? • Oculesics (eye contact) • Does direct eye contact indicate honesty or rudeness? • Kinesics (gestures) • How extensively are gestures used & what do they mean? • Haptics (touch behaviour) • How frequent is physical contact between speakers?