READING

Exercise 1. Read and listen to Part 4of the series about culture using the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/webcast/tae_whoonearth_archive.shtml

Part I

Communication seems such a normal thing to do that we tend to think that everyone - no matter where they’re from - will communicate in the same way that we do. But ‘normal’ is a difficult word to pin down. Take a business meeting, for example. How should a ‘normal’ business meeting be run? What sort of language should you use?

Eilidh Hamilton, who has recently been living in Syria in the Middle East, speaks on two very different ideas of ‘normal’ business behaviour: a westerner would definitely go in with things they want to talk about, things they want to achieve, and preferably within the minimum amount of time. In the Middle East, people would look at it from a very different perspective. They would see that as a social interaction and as such it must be introduced in the same way as any meeting with friends. You'd always be invited to sit down you'd be served a glass of water followed by a cup of coffee. You'd make talk about your family, what you have been doing and it might be twenty minutes before the actual topic for the meeting comes up. So I think if someone went in and said 'Well, this is what we're suggesting, what do you think?' they might well be dismissed out of hand, purely because of their manners rather than because of what they are actually proposing.

Part II

Successful communication isn’t just a question of getting the language right, it’s also a question of using language that’s right for the situation - and what’s right for the situation will vary according to the things that people in a culture think are important. But language - our verbal communication - is only one way we have of communicating. We also communicate non-verbally. We use body-language, we vary the sound of our voices to express emotions like surprise or anger. Our faces can communicate all sorts of things, as can our eyes. And, of course, we think the way we use non-verbal communication is ‘normal’. But we need to be careful when we meet someone from another culture. People in Japan, for example, don't use body language. They don't use their hands or arms when they are talking. Looking at people intensely is also a rude thing to do in Japan.

In 1967 some researchers conducted an experiment on every day communication situations. And what they tested was how much of the communication was through facial expression, how much came through the context and intonation. And finally how much of the meaning of the conversation was transmitted through language itself. Their extraordinary findings were that 55% of the meaning came through facial expression, 38% of the meaning came through intonation and what was understood from the context and only 7% of meaning was transmitted through language itself. So in fact the actual verbal content - the words that you use in a conversation are not as important as you might think. In fact, one of the big differences between cultures is how important a culture thinks words in general are.

Part III

Many academic studies of culture make a distinction between ‘verbal cultures’ - cultures that value and enjoy talk, argument, explanation - and ‘non-verbal cultures’, where people respect listening, silence, social harmony.

Cultures are verbal to different degrees. Some cultures like to talk more than others and this goes back to the idea that language is organized according to the values that your culture holds most dear. So for example, if you come from a culture in which social harmony is valued then you'll probably be less verbal because you'll be less willing to get into arguments with other people because that would destroy the harmony.

In Chinese language you would find examples where people would use their expressions more indirectly - particularly compared to the English language and you don't tend to say things in a very direct manner. You are not encouraged to say that I don't really like it for instance - you would say it in a roundabout way and probably just giving a hint that you don't like it. Everybody who knows about the Chinese culture or even the Japanese culture would understand that very rarely people use the word 'no'.

Verbal cultures value talk and they like to articulate ideas and reason out loud and in public. If you come from a verbal culture you'll need to think about the effect you'll have if you talk a lot in a non-verbal culture.

If you come from a verbal culture then long silences might make you feel rather nervous or might make you feel uncomfortable. But there are cultures that value silence because it does maintain social harmony and in these cultures silence is considered a much more positive thing.

The distinction between cultures that like to talk - verbal cultures - and non-verbal cultures, where people feel that talk can sometimes be a problem, affects two very important areas of communication - how we deal with problems and disagreements - or conflicts - and how we ‘manage’ - or ‘take turns’ - during a conversation. The important thing is to be aware of these different communication styles, and to think about how we like to communicate. If we do this, it can help us find ways of avoiding communication problems when we meet people from foreign cultures - and teach us a lot about our own.

Exercise 2. Complete the sentences from the text.

1. Communication seems such a normal thing to do that _______________.

2. A westerner would definitely__________________________________.

3. In the Middle East, people would look at communication as __________.

4.Successful communication isn’t just a question of getting the language right, it’s also a question of ______________________________________.

5. We need to be careful when ___________________________________.

6. Many academic studies of culture make a distinction between _________.

7. If you come from a culture in which social harmony is valued then _____.

8. If you come from a verbal culture then __________________________.

9. The distinction between verbal and non-verbal cultures affects ________.

10. If we are aware of different communication styles, it can help us ______.

Exercise 3. Prepare a 3-minute talk about the distinction between verbal and non-verbal cultures.

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