The way we speak or interact to other people reflects our culture. Often, some people would be able to identify one’s culture merely by their verbal and non-verbal behaviors. For example, Japanese people are known for their bows as a sign of respect. Also, there are other culture that speaks loudly and are often mistaken as having quarrels like the Indians. These differences connote different personality and shows different means of communication. I am often intrigued by how Japanese people use non-verbal behaviors to communicate. We used to have a Japanese family in our neighborhood who somehow became a close friend of my parents. According to my parents, they are very respectful and despite their difficulty to talk in English language, they use some gestures that helps them in expressing. It is through their nonverbal cues that they can communicate more. Japanese culture relies heavily on nonverbal communication taking into consideration their values on close relationships and personal space, however, it leads to ambiguity as communication tends to be indirect and accuracy is needed.
Japanese communication style is considered a high context style. This means that they communicate lesser in words and usually uses nonverbal cues to express what they really mean. This kind of communication “emphasizing understanding the message without stating it directly” (Martin and Nakayama, p 146). In this kind of communication, it requires a wide understanding of different nonverbal cues. The problem however is that there are nonverbal cues which connotes different meanings depending on what culture a person belongs to. For example, it is normal for Japanese people to maintain a passive expression while speaking. They are known to have difficulty in expressing. According to Hijirida and Yoshikawa, the Japanese language lacks itself adjectives which express many emotions, known as passive as a noh mask” (p 236). This supports why our neighbors do not say much when we have conversations. As a matter of fact, the conversation only involved an exchange of answers, showing a linear order. The full conversation gives out different nonverbal cues, making the communication a little harder to understand because of how they indirectly communicate. Another example, they would usually smile during the conversation. For me, smiling means being friendly and enjoying the conversation. However, Japanese people has the habit of using the smile to express or hide their feelings. One friend explained that Japanese people also smile to mask the feeling of anger or sadness. This is because they would not want to show negative emotions. It is in their culture that negative emotions can become a burden to others. These examples clearly show different meaning behind nonverbal behaviors among cultures. The difference is a struggle for some to learn other culture and to effectively communicate with them.
Indirect communication or nonverbal cues causes division because of how people put meanings to it. But it is also a reminder to be sensitive and be more understanding when communicating to other culture. Martin and Nakayama remind us that “no group uses a particular communication style all the time” (p 152). This means that nonverbal communication cues vary from time to time. Not because they were passive or inexpressive today means they are like that every day. Japanese people are known to be happy as seen with their festivities, food, and kawaii things or those that brings out their playfulness. But they are also known for their strict personalities. This means that their communication styles differ according to whom they are communicating with. For example, they use indirect styles when talking to their family and friends because they have already established a close relationship that they can already decode their meanings. However, low context is used when talking to people with higher status such as in the workplace.
Another striking nonverbal behavior of Japanese people is how they show respect. We often see them bow when greeting people. This is the Japanese equivalent of handshake for Western people. I realized that their bow depicts the degree of respect they give towards people. The longer and lower the bow show a higher degree of respect. The way they bow also depends on the gender of the person bowing, such as, women put their hands on the lap while men keep their arms to the side. I noticed this when we were invited in one of our neighbor’s parties. They would greet all their visitors by bowing and even when serving food. This nonverbal code shows so much respect that even non-Japanese people would bow back. I believe that everyone whatever culture they come from would understand what it means. This emblem gesture of nonverbal code directly expresses what it means without explaining it. What is more interesting is that, a person instantly bows back at them simply showing they are respecting them back. Although this gesture is not practiced in majority of the world, we see how each culture are willing to practice it back because of the explicit verbal translation. Ambiguity in nonverbal behavior for communication is not present when people can directly construe its verbal interpretation.
Silence is also a known nonverbal behavior of Japanese people. For them, holding back in speaking means preserving harmony and to show reliability and trust. It is important in their culture to give the person a chance to talk because it means listening attentively and showing of respect. However, this nonverbal behavior does not have the same meaning for some culture. For example, Americans can construe silence as showing rudeness thinking that they are not listening and creating an uncomfortable feeling. Americans value active conversation compared to Japanese who must wait for their turn to speak and then stays silent when needed to. This nonverbal behavior is somehow an explanation to what people commonly believe that the more we talk, the more mistakes. As explained by Martin and Nakayama, silence is a nonverbal behavior which is practiced depending on the underlying situations such as when relationships are ambiguous and when there is a power difference (p 189). On this regard, this entails that the cultural difference on nonverbal behavior on being silent can cause ambiguity among culture. The problem here is that different cultures have different understanding about silence. While other culture like Japan shows respect through silence, US gives it a negative meaning. This could mean lack of interest in communication and to engage in different activities. With the ambiguity, it is therefore necessary for other culture to try to adjust to the dominant culture to avoid miscommunication.
The use of different nonverbal behaviors is a great way to put more meaning to our messages. The good thing about gestures, eye contact, facial expressions, and silence is that it allows other people to understand us without trying so hard to verbally express our thoughts. Many tourists say that when they go to non-English speaking countries, they use gestures and facial expression to talk to them and this made their travel a lot easier. This only means that nonverbal behaviors say as much as we talk. However, the problem is that it causes ambiguity and misunderstandings. It is because of how each culture defines each nonverbal behavior. We have seen how Japanese people put meaning to bowing, silence, and smiling and learned about the negative implication of these behaviors to other culture. When in fact, these behaviors are far different from my culture. Respect is done differently from our culture and I say that it gives the same honor as Japanese does. Because of these observations from the Japanese culture, I have learned to be more open when talking to people from other culture especially when they are not verbally expressive. Also, interaction would be more complex since we must be sensitive in putting meaning to different nonverbal behaviors because it sometimes leads to stereotypes putting barriers to effective communication or interaction.
Works Cited
Hijirida, Kyoko and Yoshikawa, Muneo. “Japanese Language and Culture for Business and Travel”. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987
Martin, Judith N. and Nakayama, Thomas K. “Experiencing Intercultural Communication”. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2014
