Transcript Culture, Communication and Language

Week 6
Starter
 Watch this short clip of the 3 party leaders just before
the last election and see what you can tell about them
from their body language:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM1E36XKmqM
Learning Outcomes
 Explain the impact that body language has on
intercultural communication
 Consider the importance of listening and observation
in communication
 Evaluate our non-verbal communication skills
Body Language
 According to Albert Mehrabian an eminent researcher in
the field on this website (http://www.kaaj.com/psych/):
 7% of message pertaining to feelings and attitudes is in the
words that are spoken
 38% of message pertaining to feelings and attitudes is
paralinguistic (the way that the words are said)
 55% of message pertaining to feelings and attitudes is in
facial expression
Body language interpretation
 “I would love to meet with you to discuss this issue in
more detail” if accompanied by the following what
does it mean:
 i) getting out a calendar
 ii) moving onto the next topic without a pause
 iii) frowning whilst searching for something in a
drawer while saying the words
Influences on body language
 Cultural background
 Socio-economic background
 Education
 Gender
 Age
 Personal preferences and idiosyncrasies
 Can you think of any examples to demonstrate these?
We on your tables to see if you can
you interpret these?
Eye contact
 Who can look?:
 Boss v subordinate
 Men v women
 Where do they look?:
 Eyes v mouth
Vocalisation and qualifiers
 Vocalisations = non-word noises
 Vocal qualifiers = volume, pitch, intonation and overall
‘melody’
 Think of all the cultural vocalisations and vocal
qualifiers you are aware of and the meaning you think
they have – round robin
Possible ways of showing anger –
matching exercise
Culture?
Display?
1) Japanese
 A) raise voice
2) Germans
 B) throwing things
3) Middle Eastern
 C) verbal tirade with big hand
gestures
4) Korean
 D) sucking in breath/averting
gaze
Gestures
 Individually consider if you can you interpret the
following in different ways? Which?
 Nodding a head
 Lower a head
 Closing eyes
 Banging a fist on a table/Drumming fingers on a table
 Big hand gestures
 Standing tall
Physical Greetings
 The handshake is the ‘linga franca’ of business but
should it be firm should it be?
 Bowing
 Cheek kissing/touching
 Pressing noses (hongi – New Zealand)
Silence
 How do you use silence in your communications?
 Do you feel the need to ‘fill the gap’ when talking has
stopped?
 Silence in high context cultures – often seen as preferable
to speaking especially in Japan
 In business negotiations particularly amongst Japanese
teams much of the discussion is in silence and through
facial expression and body gestures
Section summary
 There are a number of influences on body language of
which culture is one
 Not interpreting body language correctly can lead to
misunderstanding, mistrust and potentially loss of
business
 To successfully read non verbal signals you must
understand the cultural values that give rise to them
 What skills do you need to be able to interpret body
language?
Active listening and observation
 In 2/3s allocate yourself either a, b or c
 Person a will listen first
 Person b will listen next
 Person c will observe both
 Person c will listen last to either a or b and the other
will observe
Can active listening and
observational skills be improved?
 Practice any skill and you will notice improvement
 If you notice/have feedback that suggest you interrupt or
don’t give eye contact you could practice not/giving more
 Being able to paraphrase and summarise what someone has
said and make suggestions of what they want as a result
shows good listening skills
 Observational skills are also important as body language
makes up such a large part of communication
Evaluation of your non-verbal skills
 How would you rate your own non verbal communication
skills? (body language interpretation, listening skills etc)
 Have you ever got any feedback on them?
 http://www.youramazingbrain.org/testyourself/default.ht
m# take any or all of the first 3 tests
 Is there anything you need to do as a result of your
analysis?
Assignment Plan/Mindmap
 Based on everything we have done on the course so far
and the assignment brief start developing an
assignment plan or mindmap (if you have already done
this please share it with me)
University Challenge
 In 2 teams everyone make up the hardest question you can think
of based on what we have covered in the module so far (that you
know the answer to and is different to others in your team)
 Put away all your notes/books
 Take it in turn to ask your question to your opposite number
 2 points if they answer it correctly
 1 point if they have to confer
 The winning team is the one that gets the most points
Reminder of what we have covered
so far
 Week 1: the meaning and impact of culture
 Week 2: the communication process and impact of technology on it
 Week 3: culture shock, the importance of team work, multi-cultural
teams and technology
 Week 4: Hall’s and Hofstede’s theories
 Week 5: key definitions, English language, adapting language and
organising written communication (direct/indirect plan)
Learning Review
Explain the impact that body language has on
intercultural communication
Consider the importance of listening and observation
in communication
Evaluate our non-verbal communication skills
After Half Term
 Conflict styles
 Negotiating skills
 Negotiating with other cultures
 Out of class learning read Chapter 9 in the core text