Talaera Talks - Business English Communication

68. High-Context Culture, What Is It Like? - Talaera Talks

October 11, 2022 Talaera Business English Communications Training Episode 68
Talaera Talks - Business English Communication
68. High-Context Culture, What Is It Like? - Talaera Talks
Show Notes Transcript

Not understanding the differences between high- and low-context cultures can lead to serious misunderstandings at work. Learn the different communication styles and get some (super!) easy-to-apply tips to make sure collaboration across cultures is smooth as silk.

Check out the notes and transcript on the blog: https://blog.talaera.com/high-context-culture


Business English training for career success.

.📩 hello@talaera.com

Paola Pascual  0:03  
Welcome to Talaera Talks, the business English communication podcast for non native professionals. My name is Paola and I am co hosting the show with Simon.

Simon Kennell  0:13  
In this podcast, we're going to be covering communication advice and tips to help express yourself with confidence in English in professional settings. So we hope you enjoy the show.

Paola Pascual  0:24  
All right, welcome back to a new Talaera Talks. This time we're doing it again online. And I'm joined by Simon. Simon, how are you today?

Simon Kennell  0:35  
Good. I'm good. I'm recovered from our week long retreat last week in Utah. And yeah, back to zoom. But that's okay. It's uh, yeah, it's great to be in Florida for now. But I'll be coming back to to Denmark soon. How are you doing? Have you recovered?

Paola Pascual  0:55  
I think so after a week, kind of back to normal. It took me also about about a week or a few days, but it was so great. So for those of you who haven't seen it, Simon and I were in Utah, as he said, with a the the rest of the Talaera team and we recorded an episode. Live in person so you can see the video go back to, to that episode. And yeah, check it out. Let us know what you think.

Simon Kennell  1:22  
Yeah, it was, it was fun. It was, it was really cool to just kind of be in person and go through all those idioms and everything like that. And I don't know, it's, uh, yeah, it was a good time. I'm looking forward to the next one. And that's the thing we talked about which working remotely is getting in person is like, I forgot how intense it is of, you know, that kind of frequency, when you're together is just a totally, totally different thing. So it was yeah, it was fun. And definitely looking forward to the next one.

Paola Pascual  1:56  
Yeah, same here. Me too. And so for today, we have a culture related bit, we're actually a talk an episode. And we're going to talk about high context cultures and low context cultures. What is that? Like? What can you just give us a one liner of what that?

Simon Kennell  2:15  
I definitely can't do a one liner. But what I can say is, yeah, I mean, we talk a lot about cultural communication, cross cultural communication, how can we go into a different environment with people from different cultures and communicate effectively? And one thing, one of the biggest items around that is high and low context cultures. And this is something to always kind of be aware of when you're Yeah, communicating across cultures is, you know, first and starting from the self is, you know, am I from a higher low context culture? And am I going to be communicating with someone from a high and low context culture? And, you know, we'll give an example. And then we'll talk a little bit about what specific high and low context culture means. But I think the example that we have is kind of Yeah, it'll kind of Yeah, paint a clear picture. What do you think? Yes, yes,

Paola Pascual  3:18  
I think starting with an example is always a great idea. I think before we jump in, it's always important to remind people of, you know, the fact that culture is dynamic. And that, yes, we're going to give very specific pieces of information about the different kinds of cultures and how we communicate. But then, always, always, always remember that we are individuals, and that every individual within a culture is unique. And they may not conform to the general characteristics of that culture, right. Like, we're all different. And we all have our unique, you know, backgrounds and communication styles. So also, the the other thing that I want to bring up is that there are differences. And that's something that we already know, we've talked about this many times, but there's no right or wrong way to do things, right. There's no, there, it doesn't mean that one way is better than the other. It's just different. And so we just have to learn, especially in business how, how we can adapt to it.

Simon Kennell  4:23  
Right, right. And that's the thing, right, as we talked about this before, on, like, how to increase your CQ is, ultimately, it's about how you can navigate it a little bit better, right? And how you can feel more comfortable and feel more prepared. And that's what this is really about is feeling more prepared and feeling like you can navigate these situations. So okay, so let's start. We're going to do a little roleplay, which I don't think we've ever done this before, actually. So we're gonna do a little roleplay and this is a short communication segment between a Spanish executive and a Chinese employee. And I'm gonna play the Chinese employee and we'll give the Spanish executive over to the Spanish executive. And if you're listening, see if you can tell, where does this go wrong? Where where is the miscommunication in this in this context? So all right, Paola, I'll let you start.

Paola Pascual  5:21  
Awesome. Great. So yeah, it looks like some of us are going to have to be here on Sunday to host the client visit. 

Simon Kennell  5:30  
I see. 

Paola Pascual  5:31  
Can you join us on Sunday?

Simon Kennell  5:35  
Yes, I think so. 

Paola Pascual  5:37  
Oh, that would be a great help. 

Simon Kennell  5:40  
Yeah, Sunday is a really important day. 

Paola Pascual  5:44  
Oh, in what way? 

Simon Kennell  5:47  
It's, it's my daughter's birthday.

Paola Pascual  5:49  
Oh, how nice. I hope you all enjoy it.

Simon Kennell  5:52  
Thank you. I appreciate your understanding.

Paola Pascual  5:56  
Awesome. So this brilliant example was actually taken from the Culture Map by Erin Mayer. It's a great, great book on cross cultural communication. So go check it out. But yeah, so from this interaction, Simon, what happened here?

Simon Kennell  6:10  
Yeah, this is like, kind of a textbook, high and low context culture. situation, right. So if you're listening, you're probably like, Huh, okay, I get the field. Like, the fact is, it's clear that I, it's my daughter's birthday on Sunday. Right. And I brought that up. And there's also this claim does it on Sunday. But then there's something there's something there that we can't, it's like, we have to dig a little bit to understand, right? And we have to find what's called the implicit meaning in what I'm saying about. Yeah, you know, I think I can join on Sunday. It's also an important day, it's because my daughter's birthday, the implicit meaning there is what exactly?

Paola Pascual  6:54  
It means I actually cannot do it. I am much more, you know, I rely on the words not on the meanings behind those words. Then I as the Spanish executive I understood, you know, I assumed that you were coming on Sunday. Right?

Simon Kennell  7:13  
Yeah. Because you asked me Can Can you join us on Sunday? And I said, Yes, I think so. Right. And that's... In your ears, that's like, yeah, okay, he's gonna join, right. But then I added this kind of meaning to it of that. Yeah, I think I can join, but no, like, not going to be able to join, right? 

Paola Pascual  7:37  
That's right. So if people listening are a little bit confused, like, whoa, but how can I truly understand what the other person means? Or how do I navigate this? We're going to start by giving a definition of what a high context culture or the way they communicate, and then the way low context culture would communicate? Shall we do that? 

Simon Kennell  7:56  
Yeah. And before we do it, just if you're listening, I want you to think about from this interaction, which one do you think will be high? And which one do you think will be low context? And we'll, we'll, we'll break it down when we when we go through these definitions. But first of all, like, what is when was this concept first described?

Paola Pascual  8:20  
Yeah. So back in the 70s, Edward T. Hall, wrote this book, Beyond Culture, great book. And that's where he first described this concept of high context and low context. Now, hight-context happens in countries like China, Japan, Indonesia, and the MENA countries. Right. Right. And then low context, culture is what happens in North America, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Germany.

Simon Kennell  8:50  
Right, right. And so with high context, typically, it's what we talked about this implicit meaning, which, you know, think about high and low with high context, meaning there's much more reading between the lines, there's much more kind of digging, you have to get a sense of what's happening. It's not just the exact words whereas low context think about there's like low filters, it's just very black and white, you know, I say this, and then I mean, this right. And, and that's the thing with with the high context, there's the, it can be much more indirect, it can be subtle, layered. A lot of it is with context, right? So you see this in Yeah, definitely. Japan is a great example where so many of the communication rules are baked into their culture from 1000s of years. So there's all of this context, there's all of this layers of of yeah of meaning. And if I look like this than I mean this and if I say this in this way, then it actually means this right? And that's kind of the the high context. I mean, what do you think? Is that a good? Is that a good overview?

Paola Pascual  10:09  
It's a great overview. And there's something that you said that I would love to, you know, add on to, and you said, it's built throughout years and years and 1000s of years of tradition. And that's a thing, that's a very important tip to remember. It's like, people from high context cultures tend to be from the same in group, they tend to be from, not always, but they tend to be from the same ethnicity from the same country from the same religion. So they share a lot of background together. That's why they don't need to explain it so much. Everyone understands it, because everyone shares that knowledge. So that's something important to remember. And you also were talking about all these, like body language and gestures, and the tone of voice that you use will impact the meaning of your message, not so much the words, so you rely a little bit less on words and more on that, you know, context and physical space and, and voice interest. Interesting, right?

Simon Kennell  11:14  
Yeah. And it's, this is can be very, very challenging if you come from a low context culture, right. So if you come from a low filter culture, where it's very black and white, and then you're going into a high context, it's like, all of these little signals, and all of these little things are just like, they can easily just fly by your head. And you just, you're thinking, you know, you're driving on one road, but really, you're driving like totally off the path on a different road.

Paola Pascual  11:43  
Yes, it can be very tricky. But yeah, if we look at people who are from high context, cultures, they tend to be, you know, quite intuitive, and they're generally concerned with the collective and building relationships. So if you're in a business context, dealing with a person from as we said, Japan, China, Indonesia, perhaps from, you know, from the one of the MENA countries, then you may think, oh, it's taking a long time to move on, you know, and go to the next step. But that just means that they're, they're taking the time, they're investing their time in building that relationship. But then the payoff is that that relationship will probably last for a long period of time. Right.

Simon Kennell  12:28  
Right. Right. And those those high context cultures, generally, they correlate, they're generally going in the same direction as high trust cultures, like, you know, cultures that want to establish that base, that base of trust, like you said, and kind of move forward. Okay, so we have the high context, right, a lot of filters, a lot of this, you know, kind of intuitive nature of communication. Now, what about low context cultures? Which, which countries are those typically?

Paola Pascual  12:58  
Yes, so here we have the United States, Canada, Scandinavia, just like Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, those are some of the countries with, you know, with the lowest context, or like, Yeah, more towards that side of the spectrum. And these people, of course, it's very rarely black or white. So it's cultures do share characteristics from one another. But here, these, the people from these cultures tend to rely more on verbal language and words, the words that are Isay are the truth.

Simon Kennell  13:38  
Yeah, yeah. Or they're or they're my literal meaning, right? That's, you know, if I'm like, Yeah, Paola, no, I think you're wrong. It's like, in a low context, culture, that would be very, very, whoa, like you just plowed through all of those filters and just went straight for something that very direct, but in a low in a low context, culture, it's just very, it's like, yeah, I'm just giving the meaning. And that's, that's very, you know, that's the way it goes. Right. So that concise, straightforward nature, right?

Paola Pascual  14:11  
That's right. That's right. So then effective communication for a person in a high context, culture, that would mean, you know, that it's, as you were saying before, it's nuanced, and it's layered, and it's sophisticated and subtle. While here with low context cultures, it's all about being concise, being direct and straightforward, explicit, simple. Everything has to be very, very clear. That's what effective communication means for them.

Simon Kennell  14:40  
And so that's, this is always a funny one, because if you're coming from the States, effective communication, for me means something different than if you're coming from Japan. What is effective communication mean? Right? And so the challenge here is when we're working, you know, with a high context culture, but you're coming from low context culture, you have to take a lot of these points into consideration. And that's what we're talking about today. You know how we do this? One thing, you know, when it comes to, when it comes to working across cultures, like, you know, there's a lot of kind of different tips that we can cover and things that we need to watch out for. But before we do that, do we have countries that are kind of like in the middle that maybe you know, they're not going to go in this box or this box?

Paola Pascual  15:33  
There are a few we have most Latin American countries or Spain, Italy, and Poland, they fall somewhere down the middle. And again, as we said, even the countries more towards the polar opposites, the extremes of that spectrum still share some ideas from each other, like body language is important wherever you go, is just where is the focus? So here, you know, for, as we said, high context is more the context, the body language and the situation. And then for low context is more the words themselves. Yeah. And then you can see this in like very specific examples of business. Like, if you have a meeting with someone from a high context culture, you will see that perhaps a summary is not necessary. And everyone kind of like implicitly understands the next steps. Well, if you have a meeting, for example, with someone from the US or any other low context, culture, then everyone expects that, okay, here's the recap. And here's like a reminder of the action items and what's going to happen next, and that follow up email, clarifying everything. And then they these low context, cultures tend to focus more on some basic questions like what is happening? Where's that happening? When is it going to happen? How is it going to happen? Right, like very, very useful for operations, while the other high context cultures may focus on other more interpersonal questions.

Simon Kennell  17:06  
Right, right. Right. So we have these differences in high and low context culture, which one was I was I had the daughter's birthday. And I was trying to express this to my boss, to Paola. If you are thinking that I am coming from the high context, because I'm giving these like subtle hints, then that's exactly right. I'm from the high context. And you're more from the low context, because you asked a direct question. Hey, can you join us on Sunday? And I said, Yes, I think so. Right. And, and so, if you if you got that right away, great job, you're awesome. We have some more quizzes coming later. But But let's, let's jump into, we have kind of three big tips like three big things to keep in mind. Or we have these three big things to keep in mind. And then we have like three tips. But when we're working with in a high context, culture, so again, this is coming from a low context into a high context, culture, you know, what are some things that we need to keep in mind? 

Paola Pascual  18:11  
Yeah, so some of the stereotypes that I am hoping no one will fall into after this episode. But sometimes, people from a low context culture working in a high context, culture tend to think, oh, but these people, you know, they're very unclear. They're all very secretive. Like, why don't you just tell me what you think? Right? Or they lack this transparency? Or they cannot communicate effectively, as in? You know, I would think, but if Simon couldn't come on Sunday, why didn't he tell me I cannot come because it's my daughter's birthday. So that's a bit the mentality, but it's really just about learning how, okay, what can I do to avoid that kind of miscommunication? Well, one general tip that works for any single situation, not only for high, low context, cultures is to agree on a communication framework. And that means, you know, talk to your team and develop your own language for communication. And that has to do with understanding the cultural differences within your team. And just creating a strategy that benefits everyone perhaps is saying, okay, when you have requests, perhaps add it to what Trello board and you just need approved or not approved, and that way, there's no miscommunication. That could be just one way of, you know, operating within your team, whatever works for you just talk about it explicitly. And and use that to your own, you know, to your own team's benefit. So that's one thing. And then Simon, you have three great tips for specifically that person from low context culture, like a person from the United States working in, perhaps in in Malaysia.

Simon Kennell  19:56  
Right, right, right. And so these are kind of more things to consider and to keep in mind and I think I love what you said about agree on a communication framework. And the first step is knowing that there is like, there are differences, right knowing that there should be something that you should consider. But when coming into a high context, culture number one, nonverbal cues are important. So, you know, keep keep in mind that things like body language, tone of voice, eye positioning, facial expressions, these are all very important in how and in the communication spectrum, these are not like, these are not just the, you know, the second level or third level of communication, this goes together with what we're saying, right? You want to be actively listening, and we've talked about active listening before. But, you know, there's a great expression like you have two ears, two eyes and one mouth, like and use them in that in that way. That's what you should, you should do, right?

Paola Pascual  20:59  
And also here, I really like everything you were saying. And I love that analogy of like, you know, two eyes, two ears, one mouth. Also try don't ever expect it may happen, but don't ever expect a clear No, we're clear? Yes. And even if it does happen, try to read between the lines and understand what that no means and what that yes means because it may not be what it means to you.

Simon Kennell  21:25  
Yeah, yeah, you have to be open to the idea that what you automatically assume you may need to check on that. And that's exactly right. I use this expression, like provide the the canvas and let the other person paint. So if you're in a high context culture, it's like, you know, don't don't push people into corners with yes or no questions, right, use open questions and let them paint the meaning, right, let them provide the meaning. So instead of, do you think this is a good idea, you're painting someone in a corner where if they're in a hierarchical, high context society where you're their boss, they are going to just tell you, yes, it's a good idea. But if you say, hey, what do you think about this idea? Right, you're keeping it more open phrase, and that's going to allow them to paint the meaning and you're going to get the actual, you're going to get the real information out of there. Yeah, and so you have some great phrases. Hear that you? Do you think these are like road signs that like, if you hear these phrases, you want to like, stop and try to get some more information? And what are those phrases?

Paola Pascual  22:33  
Yes. So if you hear these phrases it that we're going to share in a moment, that means you know, it's that it's a great sign to extract more information. It's like, okay, there's something here that is not being shared, and try to, you know, through open questions, try to find out what it means. And those phrases are, I will think about it, I guess. So. I will do my best. So for many people, I will do my best means it will happen for sure. And for others, it means it's probably not going to happen. So find out. Is it going to happen or not? What can I expect? If they say it will be very difficult, but I'm going to give it a try? Yeah, you're those things like, you know, in that example, that we role played up the beginning when I asked you can you join us on Sunday? And you say, Yeah, I think so. What is that?

Simon Kennell  23:26  
I'm, I'm offering this, you know, little thing here, this little this little sign that says, hey, maybe maybe you should take this sign here that I can't make it right. Yeah, yeah, very, I love that these little signposts that you need to watch out for. You want to allow space between the question and the answer, right? So in some cultures, there's going to be some space that's appropriate between asking question and then the person is going to think about it. And then they're going to provide an answer. And so you want to you want to provide some space, right? Don't just rush to fill in the space between a question. And that, that's, that's really, you know, that's a really important part of this is let them kind of think about it, and get their thoughts. And then, you know, consider that with communication. You can oftentimes like Rush communication, and you can oftentimes, like let it come with with high context, you have to let the communication come right. Don't rush it, don't rush it, because a lot of it is, you know, relationship building long term thinking. Okay, so we have nonverbal cues, right, watch for body language, provide the canvas open, open questions, let them paint, and then we want to use auxiliary verbs. Alright, so we're bringing in some, some grammar here. And this is a great way to soften ideas or directions. So this is from you, if you're a manager. If you're trying to get something to happen instead of saying, it will be very helpful for us to do this, you know, you can use it could be very helpful. Or it would be nice if we could do this. And using could or would it could be it would be, what do you think we should do write? These are great ways to kind of soften that, that communication. What do you think about that?

Paola Pascual  25:25  
Yeah, I like that. It's one question that I've gotten before it's like, but if I say that, how will they know that there's no choice that they have to do it?

Simon Kennell  25:37  
That's a great question. And I think it comes down to the culture, right? If you're in a culture where you're the manager, and they're in, it's hierarchical, and they're gonna follow your directions, you know, you can also leave an open ended question of asking, you know, what timeline? Do you think something like this could get done then? Right? And so you're signaling like, Hey, we should do this. And you're asking, you're literally in a high context where you're asking, When is this gonna get done? Right? If you're thinking, what do you think a timeline like this could look for? Like, look like? You're asking, Hey, when are you going to do it? You know, and that's, that's a different way to communicate it.

Paola Pascual  26:17  
Yeah, you can also I like that. And you can also add a quick clarifier at the end. So you start with that softer nurse so that they become more engaged in and they receive your message much better? Like, it could be very helpful if or do you think we should do that? And then once they give your answer, like, what do you think a reasonable timeline looks like? And they say, Well, I think a reasonable timeline would be by the end of October, and then you can clarify. Okay, let's pin it for the end. And that's one way of like, okay, this was the the final answer, if you feel a little bit anxious of not knowing if the other person understood your instructions correctly.

Simon Kennell  26:58  
Yeah. And if they say, it could be by the end of October, it will be difficult, but you know, I'll give it a try, then, you know, that's a little signpost you need to dig in there and see what else you can find there. But good, good. Okay. So we have these kinds of three things to watch out for when we're going into a high context culture to communicate. Now, when we're when we're actually there, and the things that we want to specifically focus on when we're communicating, you have a few points here as well, that I think are pretty, pretty important.

Paola Pascual  27:34  
Yeah. So here, it's basically, if you're still listening from the beginning, and you're like, Okay, I understand the difference. And I got the point. But why, like, if you're not fully convinced of why it is important to know how to identify these things, and how to communicate with both high and low context, we have a few pointers here. The first one is very clear. And I think that is to avoid misunderstandings, especially with timelines, with expectations with setting up project. So that's the first one. Knowing how to adapt knowing what is your communication style, and and that of the people you're communicating with. That will truly avoid like a lot of misunderstanding. So that's the first one. The other one will be to avoid making mistakes. Embarrassing or offensive. And we wrote down here, this is an expression though, learned a couple of years ago that I really liked from, you know, Japanese, and I'm not going to pronounce it well. But it's something like cookie guy. Yamane. And it's shorten with K. Why? Have you heard that before? Simon?

Simon Kennell  28:46  
Yeah. So if you're like a k y person, right, it's that you're basically you can't follow along, right? You're sure. Well, I mean, what's there's a literal like translation, right?

Paola Pascual  28:58  
Yeah, it's you're unable to read the air. You are not able to understand what's going on. You are not able to read between lines. Yeah. Oh, you don't want to be labeled? K? Why

Simon Kennell  29:13  
though? No, no, no, I'm pretty I've I think back sometimes in my life, I was like, wow, though, I was a real K y person at that point. Yeah, so that's definitely something you want to avoid making mistakes because that can really come back and bite you. And again, like with avoiding misunderstanding, and avoiding making mistakes, All of this costs a lot of time and a lot of money. So that's why you know, I'm like, I would love if someone did a study on like miscommunication and labeling miscommunication and then showing how much time and how much money that costs and accompany I would like that would just be amazing.

Paola Pascual  29:53  
Be cool. I'd love that. What else would do you have any other you know, really important reasons. For someone to, to learn how to communicate with high and low context cultures,

Simon Kennell  30:05  
yeah, I mean, the biggest thing is really building strong relationships. So obviously, we want to avoid all these mistakes. But we also want to build, you know, in our personal professional relationships, you know, again, on many, many times coming from a high context, culture, business relationships, just like personal relationships are seen as long term, right, we're just going to slowly build up. And if you can do that, in a professional relationship, that counts for a lot, right? If you can build up long term customers, you know, and consider that, you know, when you're going to work internationally, and when you're going to work across cultures is, you know, thinking about how you communicate may have an impact on all of these points.

Paola Pascual  30:49  
Oh, yeah, it will, it will and really put yourself in the other person's shoes like will accompany from a high context, culture appreciate you getting right to the point, perhaps, who rushed? Or will a person from my low context culture, get bored, if you keep talking about a subject and beat around the bush and just, you know, instead of addressing it directly, so your communication style? And as always, it's usually like, think about your audience? And what they want?

Simon Kennell  31:21  
Which, which one, do you think they'll most likely want to sign a deal with? The person that kind of asks them a super direct question, which startles them, and they're like, Wow, this is a KY guy. And this means like, probably our whole, you know, professional relationship together will be this kind of stuff. Or if someone comes in and is, you know, you can relate to them and how you communicate, I think there's a very, very clear difference,

Paola Pascual  31:45  
right. And I think to wrap up, it's worth mentioning that even cultures, from you know, very high context cultures, if they are in a, in an international business environment, they might be more towards the middle of that spectrum that we talked about. So it's much more subtle than if they are just a local vendor, that have never interacted with anyone from abroad. But if they have, then they're probably used to the different communication styles. You just need to be just aware enough to see okay, to what extent do I have to adapt my communication style?

Simon Kennell  32:23  
Yeah, read the air. Read the air. That's it.

Paola Pascual  32:28  
Awesome. What else? Do we have anything else? Are we are we good to go? Simon.

Simon Kennell  32:32  
One last thing, super quick quiz. I'm gonna give everybody right here. So if you're listening, and actually, I'm just gonna ask them to you, Paola. And if you're listening, I want you to go faster than Paola and then you'll be a real expert. Okay, so does this person come from a high context culture or a low context culture? If they prefer direct verbal indication, interaction? Is that low context or high context?

Paola Pascual  33:02  
They prefer direct, that would be low context.

Simon Kennell  33:06  
Yeah, low filter. Exactly. Right. What about someone who values group membership, they value the collective?

Paola Pascual  33:16  
If they value the group, then that would be high context. Yeah.

Simon Kennell  33:21  
More typically high context. Exactly. Right. And if you're going faster than Paola, no great job. If they say no, directly, lower high context.

Paola Pascual  33:35  
So direct communication usually relates to low context.

Simon Kennell  33:40  
Ah, good, good. What about if they tend to better understand meanings? Embedded at many different socio cultural levels?

Paola Pascual  33:54  
Ooh, so that's a lot of like, you know, hidden meanings. So the high context

Simon Kennell  34:00  
Good, good, good, good. And then if their communication is simple, and but it couldn't be ambiguous at some times, it could or it could not. It can can be ambiguous. Yeah. Oh, then

Paola Pascual  34:15  
if it can be that's a little tricky, right? Because just the the ambiguous gave it away. So that must be high context.

Simon Kennell  34:24  
There you go. Good. All right. Great job. 100%. Power just over. Awesome. Well, okay. And if you did, faster than Paola, then you are an expert. Congratulations. Go and test all of this out because it is critical to winning over customers, clients, employees in a high context culture. So Paola, what did we cover today?

Paola Pascual  34:53  
Yes, so today we talked about how to better navigate the differences between high context and low context cultures. Just a super, super quick recap, high context cultures are Japan, China, Indonesia, and the MENA countries. And these people give a lot of importance to not only the words, but the whole context, the whole situation. So that means body language and physical settings, the tone of your voice, the relationships between the people involved, the social status. And here communication tends to be a little bit indirect or implicit settled, there's a lot of nuances and, you know, they really value relationships. For low context cultures, and here we have North America, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Germany, these are some examples here, the most important part is are the words themselves, and they are taken as a you know, by their literal meaning. And here, effective communication means being concise and straightforward, explicit, simple and clear. So here, you know, you won't have to be second guessing anyone, what you hear is what the other person needs. Right? That was a bit the main differences and then you gave three great tips. Let me see if I remember correctly, he talks about the importance of paying attention to nonverbal cues, right, like body language and the tone of voice and the eye positioning and so on. listening, listening, listening a lot, and paying attention. The second one, can you share again, I really like that the canvas

Simon Kennell  36:34  
provide the canvas, which is the thing that you paint on, right and let them paint, right. And that is, don't use direct yes or no questions, use open questions and let them paint their meaning. Let them provide that. And this allows space for you to find that. Remember those signposts? If you hear these phrases? I'll think about it, I guess. So I'll try my best. Those are, you know, little signposts that say, Hey, dig down a little bit deeper here.

Paola Pascual  37:01  
Yes, that's it. And then the third tip was use softer nurse. And that could be axillary verbs, or modal verbs such as like, coulda, woulda, shoulda. So they you doesn't look so rough or rush to go in in more high context cultures. And these are tips, again, if you're working in a high context, culture. Awesome. So all of this basically comes down to not being a K. Why?

Simon Kennell  37:31  
Yeah, don't be a K. Why? Exactly right, unable to read the air, right, you want to be able to read the and again, you're not just going to be able to snap your fingers and read the air. The first starting point that we always talk about is understanding yourself and understanding where you fit when it comes to high and low context, culture and how you communicate. And then you can start to look out a little bit more. But yeah, I mean, I love all the points here, a lot of really great information. Pile up before we end today, do we have anything else that we want to share with people,

Paola Pascual  38:06  
we have a lot of webinars, and I really hope that everyone listening is able to attend, we are giving so many signups. And that makes the whole event much more fun, because we always have the chat open, and people get so excited right after sharing ideas and sharing examples. And the next one will be October the 25th. And there we will talk about how to write effective business emails, but we'll take it from we'll forget the basics. And we'll do it a little bit more advanced. So we'll talk about you know, that kind of tricky emails that are a little bit difficult for everyone like how to follow up or how to push someone like, hey, I need I need an answer now, or how do you pitch an idea? Or how do you turn down a proposal? You know, like all those kinds of like, trickier emails, there's there will be a lot of culture involved as well. So if you enjoy this episode, then I'm sure they'll enjoy it as well.

Simon Kennell  39:01  
Right. And the great thing about those webinars is that we have people from everywhere high and low-context cultures. So they you get a sense of you know, what people want, you know, what people think are important in these different cultures. And it's, it's yeah, really helpful. Okay, awesome. Great. Well, that wraps up our episode here on high-context culture. So working in high context cultures. If you have any questions, you want to hear something specific on one of the podcasts, let us know at hello@talaera.com. Otherwise, Paola, thanks for joining again today. This was fun. Thank you. It was a lot of fun. Great, great. And to all of you out there listening, as always, everybody, keep learning.

Paola Pascual  39:46  
And that's all we have for you today. We hope you enjoyed it. And remember to subscribe to Talaera Talks. We'll be back soon with more.

Simon Kennell  39:54  
and visit our website at talaera.com for more valuable content on business English. You can also request a free consultation on the best ways for you and your team to improve your communication skills so have a great day and keep learning