Chapter 9

1. Chapter 9 Code Usage in Intercultural Communication

2. Organization of Verbal Codes • How do you “correctly” structure a message or essay? • In US • Thesis statement and paragraph are central organizing components • US English progresses linearly toward stated goal

3. Organization of Verbal Codes • How do you “correctly” structure a message or essay? • Other Cultures • Japanese: organization characterized by indirection and implication rather then explicit links (“stepping stones”) • Hindi: may include digressions that include many different topics • Chinese: rely heavily on contextual cues • English is speaker responsible while Japanese is listener responsible

4. Cultural Variation of Persuasion • Persuasive Styles: • Culturally preferred ways of convincing others • What is regarded as Logic varies from culture to culture

5. Cultural Variation in Persuasion • What is acceptable as evidence? • Evidence is what a persuader offers those he/she is trying to persuade • Use of expert testimony varies greatly across cultures • I.e., Muslims and Christians parable or stories are powerful evidence (especially from Koran or bible) • Confucianism: rely on metaphors and analogies • US-depends on testimony of others • What is reasonable? • Cultural Patterns determine what is “correct”

6. Cultural Differences in Styles of Persuasion • Quasilogical style • Values statistical and testimonial accounts • Western Cultures • Presentational style • Emphasizes emotional appeals to listeners • Mexico Culture • Analogical style • Uses stories, parables and analogies with explicit and implicit lessons • Native Americans

7. Cultural Variations in the Structure of Conversations • Value of Talk and Silence • European and African Americans-words are all important ways of communicating • Japanese, Korean and Chinese cultures-words are distrusted and silence more acceptable

8. Cultural Variations in the Structure of Conversations • Rules for Conversations • Conversational rules are cultural prescriptions that determine how verbal and nonverbal codes are used • Topic choice, turn taking, and requests all involve rules

9. Ask yourself or send message through other people Do you get to the point or hint what you want (respect) Grand language filled with images or only relevant information Cultural variation in conversational style

10. Cultural variation in Conversational style William Gudykunst and Stella Ting-Toomey: • Direct-indirect • Explicit and reveal true intentions OR reveal true intentions in ambiguous statement • Elaborate-succinct • Use of frequent metaphors, proverbs OR precisely the amount of information required

11. Cultural variation in Conversational style (Cont’) William Gudykunst and Stella Ting-Toomey: • Personal-contextual • Individual is the center of action OR social roles others have is emphasized • Instrumental-affective • Goal oriented and explicit OR emotional and require sensitivity to meaning of verbal/nonverbal code systems

12. Cultural variation in Conversational style “The differing potencies of black and white public presentations are a regular cause of communicative conflict. Black presentations are emotionally intense, dynamic, and demonstrative; white presentations are more modest and emotionally restrained” • Pg 257

13. Effects of Code Usage on Intercultural Competence • Knowing the syntactic rules of other languages is not sufficient for intercultural competence • Understand that other cultures may organize their ideas, persuade others and structure conversations differently • Look for differences in how people from other cultures accomplish their interpersonal objectives