Men and Women Communication Strategies Across Cultures - Essay Example

MEN AND WOMEN COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES ACROSS CULTURES Communication would be best described to be the process through which information passes from one person to another through a specific media. It involves the basic components, which are the information, sender, receiver, as well as the media through which it takes place. Its effectiveness is realized only when the recipient understands the intended meaning and reciprocates through feedback. Three steps are involved in the process, which are conception of the idea, the feeling or information, by the person intending to communicate, relaying of the information is passed through words or symbols (verbal and or non verbal). Finally, the recipient decodes or translates the symbols or words into understandable pieces, which can be responded to and therefore responds through what is the feedback to complete the cycle. Humans have varying ways through which they communicate and the differences may be dependent on personal background in culture, education, age as well as on gender among other factors. Femininity or masculinity are attributes that effectively explains the speech characteristics that individuals exhibit in communication. In fact, studies indicate that men and women adopt particular strategies of communication as influenced by their sexual orientation and the cultural and social dictates on the gender orientations (Anon, 2). The styles and strategies that men as well as women adopt for communication are described by ‘debate versus relate’, competitive versus co-operative’ and ‘report versus rapport’. It is however, worth noting that conversation is an art of everyday hence is not restricted to either social or working environment but rather to all such environs. This paper therefore intends to study how the differences between men and women’s communication strategies relate to social or biological norms. The comparison is also aimed at establishing what values of the society that the different approaches reveal. The conception of the differences exhibited by males and females is often viewed from the point of who talks more, who interrupts in a conversation, gender patterns in meetings and conversation set-ups, differences in assertiveness and such other common differential attributes. For instance, men initiate more conversations while compared to women in social settings while women exhibit more tolerance to interruptions by men in conversations as against men. Hobbs (243) shows that in sociolinguistic research, women adopt more polite word strategies while communicating as against the men. Often, in informal settings, women indicate attentiveness through head nods and this often lead to misunderstandings when men perceive the nodding as expression of agreement. Men on the other hand have the tendency of staying calm and quiet in conversation which make women feel as though they are not concentrating hence must keep probing them whether they understand or not. While many men interpret direct eye contact in conversation with women as challenge to their power, women like it, as they perceive it as effective in establishing relationship. Another difference notable in men-women conversations is that while women like approaching men from the front, men do it from side or at a certain angle which carry different interpretations too in the society (Lieberman, para 1). It is however worth noting that different societies and cultures have well developed gender based verbal as well as non-verbal strategies of communication, which in most instances are distinct from those that are in use within another society and or culture (Jones and LeBaron, 499-516). Biological norms as well as social dictates influence the processes of communication as embraced from a society to another and this affects both spoken and acted forms of communication. For instance, the Indian culture is known to have high regard of non-verbal language in communication as against the use of verbal language (Feghali, 345-347). For example, in greetings, the Indian people (all genders) use the word ‘Namaste’ and put both hands on chests bowing head slightly. This is therefore known as the formal greeting recognized by the customs of Indian people with the word Namaste implying ‘my salutation’ or ‘to you I bow’. However, a distinction is made in greetings between genders where while men shake hands among themselves, women are not allowed to have handshakes with men. In American culture however, handshakes (not withstanding gender) are highly esteemed and hence the difference pointed between these two cultures (American versus Indian). In communication, different gestures signify different meaning among the Arabs where grasping earlobes signify remorse while tapping another person’s shoulders and tapping on forehead expresses apologies. Another most distinct form of non-verbal language much practiced in the Indian cultures is the head wobble which ends up being confusing as it has various meanings depending on the context. Regarding clothing, Indians esteem clothes highly as one would be understood from what region and culture he/she comes from by clothing. Besides, gender differences are notable from the clothing worn among the Indian communities. It is to be noted that this forms a difference and a similarity with the Americans where gender differences would be pointed out in the clothing worn. For instance, the wearing of dresses is wholly feminine in America though changing times have brought about sharing of trouser between men and women in America in the current society. The communication through touch is equally very distinct within Indian cultures and in often times, a touch signifies a kind of bond especially family bonds (Avecilla and Vergara, 344-350). Nevertheless, many religious practices abhor touch and hence become basic component of nonverbal communication within the cultures. Verbal communication within Indian culture is equally well developed with at least 18 dialects being recognized within the supreme constitution of the country. Among other defining features within most of the languages is that asking questions directly is considered inappropriate and as such, no direct answer should be expected. Initiating a dialogue and dominating the dialogues is interpreted as being disrespectful in the Indian cultures. Dialogue is therefore expected to have periodic pauses which gives time for disapproval whereas silence is esteemed within the cultures. This implies that sitting down speechlessly with a person is not offensive but rather understood as just enjoying the company other people. In American cultures, long pauses coupled with prolonged gazes to a person are used purposely to indicate a turn for one to communicate while in a dialogue or discussion while this may not be the case with other cultures. For instance, the Arabic culture may interpret the long gaze, pauses as confrontational, and hence triggers a different meaning even in verbal communication (Carteret, para 1-5). Non-verbal language in America is much pronounced where majority of the Americans freely express themselves through gestures as against most cultures in the Asian region. In the US, there is an observable phenomenon in use of an index finger while showing direction while in India, it is perceived as bad to use a finger while pointing; a whole hand is used instead. Moreover, showing a person a closed fist in America means approval while in India and many Asian countries, this is interpreted to mean an insult. In another aspect, the American culture acknowledges same sex romance and therefore, getting two men walking in romantic embrace is ok but this is an insult within the Indian culture. These are equally notable differences in communication strategies adopted across cultures and which norms hold absolute across genders. In conclusion, therefore, inter-gender communication is shown to vary from a society to another as influenced by cultures and biological norms. The initiation of communication, dominance in communication as well as the choice of words and gestures while communicating within many societies is dependent on gender orientations hence the differences pointed out in the study. Works cited Anonymous, “Gender communication” nd. Web. 19 April 2014. Avecilla, Roy Ramos, and Maria Belen Vergara. "Nonverbal Immediacy and Teaching Effectiveness of Asian and American Lecturers." Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge 19.2 (2014): 344-50. Carteret Marcia, “Non-verbal Behavior in Cross-Cultural Interactions” Dimensions of culture. 2011. Web. 26 February, 2014. < http://www.dimensionsofculture.com/2010/11/non-verbal-behavior-in-cross-cultural-interactions/” Feghali Ellen, “Arab cultural communication patterns.” Intr. J. Ink-cultural Rel. 1997. Print. 21(3): 345-378. Hobbs Pamela, “The medium is the message: politeness strategies in men’s and women’s voice mail messages” Journal of Pragmatics 2003. Print. 35: 243–262 Jones Stanely E. and LeBaron Curtis D., “Research on the Relationship Between Verbal and Nonverbal Communication: Emerging Integrations” Verbal and Nonverbal Communication. 2002. Print. 26 February, 2014. Lieberman, Simma, “Gender Communication Differences and Strategies” 2014. Web. 19 April 2014.< https://www.experience.com/alumnus/article?channel_id=diversity&source_page=additional_articles&article_id=article_1134067276840> Read More