Cultural and Intercultural Communication Practices - Essay Example

For example, the United States of American and the United Kingdom are countries that considered low context groups due to their standard form of communication style and tone. In these countries, communication is done in the context of messages to a large population versus a specialized group. With this understanding, low context culture is also known to communicate through words and verbal cues versus allowing people to make their own inferences through the context of a given scenario or event.

Because of these aspects, people in low context cultures tend to be more logical, individualistic, action-oriented and linear than those in high context cultures (Marin n.d.). Low context communication is expected to be concise and straightforward so there is little room for error when listening to communication messages. While low context cultures center on large populations, a high context culture focuses on types of communication messages that are specific to a certain group within the culture.

With the purpose of high context cultures being to communicate specifically between specialized groups within a culture, people have a lot more opportunity to use their own inferences to make decisions and gather information versus those in a low context culture. Examples of high context cultures include France, China, Japan, Russia and India. Within high context cultures, people generally focus more on interpersonal relationships and building trust within the groups. Communication, whether written or verbal, in a high context culture is more formal than low context with special attention being paid to the way a message is delivered.

People in a high context culture will focus on a person’s tone, facial expression and demeanor when communicating just as much as they focus on the actual message itself. With the definitions of these terms established, the focus can now shift to analyzing how low context and high context cultures interact with intercultural contact and intercultural ethics. When people from differing cultures communicate, there is a need for each party to assess their own communication tendencies as well as those of the person they are hoping to communicate with.

For example, an American who is native of the state of New Jersey may have trouble communicating with a person who lives in Japan or China. When analyzing the more formal and contextual ways in which people from many Asian countries communicate, the laid back, potentially brash way in which someone native of the state of New Jersey, which is a low context culture, communicate might not mesh well with the Asian culture. In order to understand the potential issues that can arise when cultures and contexts mix, it is important for all parties involved to do some preparation work before the meeting takes place.

First, people from both cultures need to gather some background information about the culture the other person is coming from. By asking themselves if it is a high context or low context culture, they will be able to determine if the person they are going to be attempting to communicate with is comfortable with a laid back style or expects a formal tone and sense of conduct