Introduction
Every culture has a peculiar aspect that identifies its people as being unique from the rest of the world (Samovar et al. 2011). Such elements may include the nature of the cultural patterns of persons as well as their beliefs, their norms, their values and their social-cultural practices. Therefore, culture is an identity of people from others especially to particular elements within the same setting. There are four components that relate to the taxonomies used in the description of differences in the cultures of people.
For instance, this paper will discuss Edward’s Hall’s concept, which groups cultures into high or low context based on their fundamental usage of messages in communication. There is also the analysis of culture according to the propositions of Geert Hofstede while the third one is the ideology of Shalom Schwartz (Dignen, 2011). The explanation given in this study will compare the four taxonomies of culture about Japan and the UAE.
Edward Hall’s High and Low Context Cultures
Hall proposed that a high context culture is one that considers the meaning of massages used in communication as being related to the environment. The understanding of the communication messages in such cultures refers to the norms and the beliefs of the people. For instance, both Japan and the UAE are high context cultures. In both cultures, communication serves the purpose of creating long-term relations among the people (Dignen, 2011).
In the UAE, the use of language in communication has implications on both the culture of the nation and the relations of the people. There is a considerable level of importance that culture creates about the social settings of the people. Just like in Japan, the UAE is a country that focuses on the use importance of community values, which communication helps to shape. There is also an attached level of importance of the non-verbal cues of communication that are an essential element of the cultural correlations of the people in the two countries.
Such cultures ensure that there is much emphasis on the meaning of the signs used in communication. Considering that each culture has its set of symbols used for non-verbal communications, the two countries have variations in the manners of interpreting the non-verbal messages. The differences arise because of the idea that each community has its set of cultural activities that it observes (Cheng, 2003).
High context cultures consider the usefulness of the rest of the community in shaping the communications among its people. The community describes the culture of a given people in a particular geographical region. Such incidences mean that communication processes are ways of binding the people of such cultures together. Therefore, Hall describes such messages as almost programmed because their meanings are internalized. People in such contexts always pay attention to both the verbal and the non-verbal aspects of the process of communication. Conversely, this study will explore the essential elements of the differences and similarities in the use of non-verbal communication both in Japan and the UAE.
The No-Verbal Cues of Communication in the UEA and Japan
For instance, in the UAE, people demonstrate humility as well as respect for other persons through placing their hands on their chests in the location of their hearts. The same act could also be used in the company of a bow, which transforms the message to ‘Thank you.’ Such actions do not exist in the Japanese culture because of their difference in culture (Yamaguchi, 2006). At the same time, bowing in the Japanese context is an indicator of the status of people and not respect for one another.
Therefore, the society and its culture expects people of the lower social status bow more than those of the higher levels. In Japan, people avoid straight eye contact while exchanging greetings because of the feeling that such actions are a show of respect for the people they are addressing. Eye contact in the Japanese culture implies that the people witch such tendencies are violent or impolite (Yamaguchi, 2006).
The same culture interprets pointing at others using the index finger as an act of rudeness.in the same context, the Japanese indicate their appreciation through bowing, but do not have signs such as kissing and handshakes. In this culture, such actions are taken to be intrusive of people’s peace. There are no incidences of such behavior except for intimate relationships such as family and love relationships (In Gelfand & Brett, 2004).
It is a common practice in the UAE for people to hold their chins when they are in thought. Therefore, the culture of the country identifies the holding of the chin with troubled moments. If such an event happens in the middle of a conversation, the participants need to allow the affected person some time before continuing. There are considerable uses of soft kisses on people’s chicks as a show of their friendship in the UAE. The behavior is common to the male members of the society and people commonly refer to it as a friend’s kiss.
There are also tendencies among the people in the UAE to hold hands for long following a handshake as a way of expressing their friendship, which is common among the Japanese. However, there is no shaking of hands, kissing or hugging between people of the opposite sexes unless the initiative to do so comes from the females.
Conclusion
There are differences in the use of non-verbal cues of communication from one culture to another across the globe. The usage of such aspects of communication relates to high context cultures, which Hall defines as being those that value relationships. In these cultures, the people communicate with one another with the target of establishing life-long associations. The use of non-verbal cues of communication relates to the use of culture and its implications for the people.
Therefore, there are variations in the meaning of symbols across different cultures. This work has analyzed the use of similar symbols in the Japanese culture and the culture of the UAE. There is a discovery that both cultures are high context cultures. However, some symbols in both cultures could have different meanings. For instance, the act of bowing in has the interpretation of respecting others in the UAE while the same symbol means the differentiation in the statuses of the Japanese. There are some symbols that some cultures do not permit such as kissing and hugging in the Japanese culture. Some others may permit some levels of usage of banned symbols in other cultures.
References
Cheng, W. (2003). Intercultural conversation. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Dignen, B. (2011). Communicating across cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
In Gelfand, M. J., & In Brett, J. M. (2004). The Handbook of Negotiation and Culture. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Samovar, L. A., Porter, R. E., McDaniel, E. R., & Roy, C. S. (2013). Communication between cultures. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Yamaguchi, S. Y. (2006). High-context and low-context cultures: Value system variations for American and Japanese university students and their resultant communication patterns. MA: Cengage Learning.