Culture on Communication. Then Explain Two Ways

¶ … culture on communication. Then explain two ways misunderstandings might occur among cultures with different communication styles. Finally, propose two solutions to enhance cross-cultural communication.

Communication: The influence of culture on communication

Although the urge to communicate using a common language may seem to be a universal impulse, the ways in which communication takes place is highly dependent upon an individual's cultural context. For example, within an Asian cultural context, the level of hierarchy, social distance, and expectation of obedience is different between parents and children than in a Westernized cultural context. This can often cause conflict for Asian adolescents reared in the United States who are still 'acculturated' to Asian norms by first-generation parents at home (Rhee, Chang & Rhee 2003: 750). While the relationship of a child to a parent exists in all cultures, the expectations attached to that relationship are far from universal in nature and scope. Acculturation difficulties are not only associated with difficulties in language acquisition but also in adjusting to how communication expectations are conveyed.

According to one research study, "Asian students reported more communication problems with their parents than Caucasian students," in America perhaps because of the expectations of greater intimacy between parents and children within Westernized culture (Rhee, Chang & Rhee 2003: 757). Asian students more often reported that parents said things the students thought better left unsaid. They had more difficulties opening up to parents than their Caucasian peers -- in other words, their interactions did not conform to the less hierarchical expectations characteristic of parent-child relations in Western culture. However, it is important to note that this does not mean that Asian parents are less caring than their Western counterparts. It is probable that Asian adolescents, reared in an American culture that prioritizes individualism and personal autonomy now expect this kind of freedom in their relationships with their parents. Asian-American students see an Americanized, friendly relationship between their peers and peer's parents and in the media. This parental relationship is founded on mutual exchanges of information rather than authoritative pronouncements. The parents of the Asian-American students are acting in a way that is considered loving within their own perspective, based upon their upbringing, but it is not necessarily interpreted as such by their westernized children. Asian-American adolescents must negotiate a difficult cultural transaction and be equally fluent in the culture of their parents and their peers to be functional at home and at school.

These differences in cultural expectations can also affect relationships in the workplace. One of the most common barriers is manifested when individuals from high-context cultures interact with individuals from so-called 'low context' culture. In general, "there is more indirectness in high-context cultures where people rely on a broad array of social cues to communicate than in low-context cultures where people rely on few social cues to communicate," particularly in impersonal work relationships (Sanchez-Burks et al. 2003: 364). Americans tend to make more errors in interpreting indirect, subtextual cues than Japanese or Korean persons and in an American office, communication is more overt than would be the case in an Asian workplace (Sanchez-Burks et al. 2003368).