In other cultures, what you do may be more important than what you say

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 650.

WATCH THAT HANDSHAKE

One of the most important aspects of doing business internationally is being able to speak other languages. For this reason, there is a current boom in language learning for business people. But unless they can speak a foreign language really well, it is best to save it for socializing.

But actions speak louder than words, and psychologists say that your body language is much more important than what you say. Doing the wrong thing, making eye contact, touching, using people's first names, even how you eat and drink – can all be hazardous for people who are unfamiliar with certain cultures.

Cultures are divided into “low context” and “high context”. In low context cultures such as North America, Britain, Sweden and Germany, people say things very plainly, and rely on clear verbal communication. High context cultures such as France, Japan, Spain, Saudi Arabia, China and South Korea often use silence or hand signals to communicate, and this can be as important as speaking.

Shaking hands is often the most common form of greeting people, but even this can create problems. In Japan, people bow to each other. In England, people shake hands firmly – but not very often – while in places like Italy and France people shake hands all the time but not as firmly as the English. The Germans and the Danish nod their heads while they shake hands, as a mark of respect, while people in Mediterranean countries sometimes lean their heads backwards while doing the same thing.

People from “low context” cultures tend to look into other people's eyes, but in “high context” cultures as China and Japan, this can be interpreted as aggressive behaviour. As a rule, though, close physical greetings such as kissing are not a good idea. For example, the British kiss each other once, on the right cheek, the French kiss each other twice, first on the left cheek and then on the right, but in some cultures, especially in the Middle East, they kiss up to four times and still shake hands!

Trying to make people from other cultures feel comfortable can be confusing as well. Americans often use first names as a way of making instant friends, but this does not always work, especially with the Germans and the English. For although all three are “low context” cultures, the British and Germans are not quite as “open” as the North Americans.

One thing the British and Americans do share when meeting each other, however, is the desire to break ice by making a joke. Some cultures, especially the “high context” ones, could find this rude or disrespectful. Cultures and peoples vary so much, though, that it is impossible to please all the people all of the time. The best thing you can do under these confusing circumstances is to be polite to everyone you meet.

The text under analysis is an article devoted to the most common way of greeting that is handshaking. This type of greeting, which seems to be the most widespread, is considered from the point of view of the cultural development of different societies. The idea of the article is that what seems quite natural in one culture does not work in another one. The main aim of the article is to inform the reader about possible misunderstanding between people, especially if they do not speak a foreign language well and try to use gestures as a means of communication.

The title of the article sounds somewhat precautious. It is because of the meanings of the verb watch (1 to look (at) attentively; 2 to be careful with or pay attention to) and the use of the imperative mood. The explanation under the title gives a clue that it is the physical aspect of the problem that is going to be discussed. So, the reader is appealed to be attentive to his gestures and use them carefully in communicating with people of different from his culture.

The lexical items of the article belong to the neutral layer of the vocabulary but for the word aggressive (derogative always ready to quarrel or attack, belligerent). The most vivid characteristic of the words of the article is their use in the most general sense. For example, to do business (a company, or a person who takes part in business activities); communication (making (opinions, feelings, information, etc.) known or understood by others, e.g. by speech, writing, or body movements); culture (the customs, beliefs, art, music, and all the other products of human thought made by a particular group of people at a particular time); context (the surrounding conditions in which something takes place) and so on. Even the words and expressions that might be referred to terminology are used in the meanings that are known or at least familiar to the majority of the readers. For example, current boom (a (period of) rapid growth or increase); body language (the use of bodily movements and signs as a way of expressing one's feelings or intentions without using words); socializing (spending time with others in a friendly way); verbal (spoken, not written) communication and the like. It should be, however, mentioned that the quoted words can be interpreted differently and one can claim their terminological character. Probably, the words undergo the process of generalization gradually becoming less specific. It should be noted that this is one of the main characteristics of words belonging to a certain conceptual field. The constantly growing level of education in the world makes the once specific notions become ordinary among vast groups of people. In respect to the given article this is the ways people can express themselves and be correctly understood by others which is the cultural aspect of social relations in the societies.

Special attention should be given to the words in the inverted comas: “low context” and “high context”. To avoid elaborate and, probably, too complicated explanations the expressions are marked by the inverted comas so as to show that the adjectives are used not in their direct meaning, but in respect to the importance of the body language in different cultures. Their meaning is explained by a plain example, i.e. by enumerating cultures belonging to either of the contexts.

Another specific feature of the article which is gained through lexical use is that of impersonality. This is achieved by plural and collective nouns, such as people, the British, the Germans, the North Americans and so on. On the other hand, the article abandons in proper names. Here belong the names of separate countries and whole regions of the planet, for example, Britain, France, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, China, North America, Mediterranean countries, the Middle East. This is one of the means to show the variety of the existing on the planet cultures. At the same time, this is the way to find out common and distinctive features of the cultures. For example, “The Germans and the Danish nod their heads while they shake hands, as a mark of respect, while people in Mediterranean countries sometimes lean their heads backwards while doing the same thing.”

The syntactic structure of the article is presented by long developed statements, among which the patterns with the conjunctions while, but prevail. For example, “In England, people shake hands firmly – but not very often – while in places like Italy and France people shake hands all the time but not as firmly as the English.” This is the means to show that the same or nearly the same traditions can be found everywhere underlining the universal character of the human civilization. On the other hand, even slight distinctions make people feel individuality and specific way of development.

A lot of sentences contain parenthesis such as for example, especially in the Middle East, although, though, especially the “high context” ones, as a rule. They fulfil different functions: explanation (for example, the British kiss each other once), generalization (as a rule, close physical greetings such as kissing are not a good idea), concession (cultures and peoples vary so much, though, that it is impossible to please all the people all of the time), specification (some cultures, especially the “high context” ones, could find this rode or disrespectful).

Syntactic patterns with indefinite pronouns and impersonal “you” strengthen the matter-of-fact tone of the article. For example, “… and this can sometimes be as important as speaking”; “The best thing you can do under these confusing circumstances is to be polite to everyone you meet”.

There are two examples in the article in which emotions are expressed. It is the only exclamatory sentence which describes bewilderment at combining two types of greetings (shaking hands and kissing) and the emphatic structure of the sentence which tells about the shared qualities of the British and Americans while greeting (the auxiliary do in affirmative structure).

On the whole, the article “Watch that Handshake” is very informative and educative. It gets the reader acquainted with different societies, their customs and traditions. At the same time, it arouses further interest in learning alien civilizations which can be understood only against the background of your native one.

Popular scientific articles are aimed at getting people acquainted with the acutest problems of science and technology which show the level of the development of this or that society. Purely scientific works contain much terminology; they are aimed at establishing objective laws of interdependence and relationship between different phenomena of the reality. Popular scientific articles help to make the society aware of the complex and contraversive character of the existence and development of the world we live in. They give information on the modern trends, investigations, inventions, creations, and achievements of science and technology. Popular scientific articles should be more expressive and less specific in their contents so as to be understood by an average reader.