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Larry_OHF · 08-29-2001, 12:33 PM

I was unaware at how differntly we talk as a nation, in comparison to the rest of the world. We (the US is a low context group, where as Chinese are a high context group. The difference is that the chinese can take what we say, more literally than we actually are implying, and the fact that for the chinese, what is NOT said can carry just as much meaning as what is.
An example of this is given in my text book about a speech from a US guy that was using the word Partnership...though he meant cooperation. When the Chinese officials saw this word partnership in his sign (before the US guy began speaking), they were very enthusiastic...because that word carried a great promise! When the guy actually gave the speach...he imlied that a cooperation was to be decided, and this confused all of the chinese, and they left the meeting less than satisfied...as though they had been lied to. On the other hand...the US guy had no idea why they would mistake his word for a promise of something that he had not verbally mentioned.
I can see how such a multinational meeting ground such as IronWorks could have trouble with it's membership in this aspect. We are all speaking the same words with different applications and understanding!

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[This message has been edited by Larry_OHF (edited 08-29-2001).]

08-29-2001, 12:33 PM	#1
Larry_OHF Ironworks Moderator Join Date: March 1, 2001 Location: Midlands, South Carolina Age: 49 Posts: 14,759	I was unaware at how differntly we talk as a nation, in comparison to the rest of the world. We (the US is a low context group, where as Chinese are a high context group. The difference is that the chinese can take what we say, more literally than we actually are implying, and the fact that for the chinese, what is NOT said can carry just as much meaning as what is. An example of this is given in my text book about a speech from a US guy that was using the word Partnership...though he meant cooperation. When the Chinese officials saw this word partnership in his sign (before the US guy began speaking), they were very enthusiastic...because that word carried a great promise! When the guy actually gave the speach...he imlied that a cooperation was to be decided, and this confused all of the chinese, and they left the meeting less than satisfied...as though they had been lied to. On the other hand...the US guy had no idea why they would mistake his word for a promise of something that he had not verbally mentioned. I can see how such a multinational meeting ground such as IronWorks could have trouble with it's membership in this aspect. We are all speaking the same words with different applications and understanding! ------------------ [This message has been edited by Larry_OHF (edited 08-29-2001).]