If you've grown up in the United States or lived here for a while, you know that this culture values direct communication.
However, not all cultures value direct communication in this way; cultures vary in their directness when it comes to verbal communication.
We can divide cultures into two broad groups based on this:
Low context communication cultures are very direct, so the meaning of what people say is mostly carried verbally. People in these cultures don’t rely a lot on context or nonverbals for the real message to get across.
While all cultures use nonverbal context, low context communication cultures tend not to rely on it as much as high context communication cultures.
In other words, people in these cultures want others to get to the point; they believe the primary purpose of language is to transmit information.
This is known as an indirect communication style; the meaning is in the context and nonverbals. The real focus is on courtesy and respect, rather than on simply getting to the point.
EXAMPLE
Say you are writing a document for a business situation in a low context communication culture. You would open the document with some courtesies and statements of respect instead of getting right to the point like you might if you were communicating in the United States.In high context communication cultures, language is not only about transmitting information, but also about preserving social interests and harmony.
When people with two different degrees of directness in communication interact, there can sometimes be misunderstanding or even conflict.
EXAMPLE
Two men are standing in a room and having a conversation. One man is younger, and he's wearing a hat. The other man is older, and of higher status and rank. The older man, without the hat, looks at the younger man and says, “Nice hat.” If the younger man is from a low context communication culture, he might take what the older man said at face value; the younger man would probably say, “Thank you.”Because communication is about both transmitting information and preserving social harmony and interests, people in high context communication cultures are very sensitive to the effect their words have on others. They can thus be very uncomfortable coming right out and being direct.
IN CONTEXT
Let's say there is a business person from the United States, a low context communication culture, doing business in a country that has a high context communication culture. The business person arrives at the planned time, ready to get to work immediately. This person maybe exchanges a few niceties, but then wants to be direct, efficient, and get the job done.
Conversely, the people from the high context communication culture approach this differently. Because the project they’re working on is important, there is preliminary socializing to set the tone and get to know people; they might discuss things that have nothing to do with the project, such as sports, the weather, or family. All of this involves reading cues and understanding the context.
This situation could easily cause a misunderstanding. The person from the low context communication culture could be thinking, “They're not really serious about this project. Why aren't we getting to work?” Meanwhile, the people from the high context communication culture may be feeling as though this business person from the United States is rushing work, and is insensitive about family and other topics that are being discussed.
This person might also be seen as insensitive to feelings, because when they ask the team, “Are there any disagreements here?” and expects a direct yes or no answer, they might not interpret a question response such as “Do you think we could consider…?” as disagreement. They might just keep moving forward because there was no direct objection to the plan.
Because indirect communication can feel like hinting or not being clear to someone from a low context communication culture, a person from a high context communication culture might not feel heard.
Source: Adapted from Sophia tutorial by Marlene Johnson.