What Is The Difference Between a High-Context and Low-Context Culture?
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
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It has been said that when Americans want to say 100 things, they will verbalize 150 things for they are explicit in their use of language in communication. When the Japanese verbalize 70 things, they are trying to get the other person to understand 100, for they are using implicit understandings and at times non-verbal cues to get their point across.
Edward T. Hall, a cultural anthropologist, found that cultures can be separated into two groups with regard to communication. High context cultures (such as East Asian, Latin American, Southern Mediterranean and Arab countries) were commonly homogeneous, sharing a history of common values and assumptions. When people of high context cultures communicate, it is not necessary for them to say everything explicitly. Non-verbal cues often communicate what is not said, and silence can have great meaning!
In parallel to this are low context cultures (such as America, Canada and Western European countries). These communicators prefer clear descriptions, unambiguous communication and are highly specific. Low context communicators do not rely on or trust our relationships in business communication. They rely on the spoken or written word.
Deborah Rinner, Vice President, Tero International explains how we can bridge the communication gap between high-context communicators and low-context communicators.
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What other topics around culture would you like us to explore?
This is very true. when i first moved to America i had difficulty communicating with people. My friend kept telling me you have to be straightforward and explicit. I'm still struggling with that but better than when i came
Even as a native in the US I had a hard time when people told me to be more direct. It's just really uncomfortable a lot of times being open/direct about what you want with people you don't really know.
@@yunoletmehaveaname are you from the south? the south tends to be a little bit more high context from what i understand
@@DarkArcticTV Indeed Latin Americans are high context thinkers and communicators
@@midnightsss_1989 Given yuno said she's "a native in the US", I think DarkArctic meant "the south" as in the southern US, not the south as in Latin America.
In order to be direct and straightforward, it requires a degree of confidence and not caring about what the other person might think.
And when negotiation requires you to be implicit, as this video on cultural languages suggests, you need to very concerned with how others feel.
This video is so cool. Low-context speeches often times sound rude to high-context listeners. Because in high-context cultures people outweigh directions or instructions. It's imature to boil down a business relatiobship to rules and contracts because there are people behind them.
I study business but really love human resources. I love knowing how stake holders behave as well as working on companies data and resources to increase profit and growth. That inspire me to do a double bachelor in business analytics and in organizational behavior.
Very solid presentation of high and low context communication. Will use as an example in the future.
Thank you for the kind words, Eugene!
You explained it very well. I was preparing for my Human resource management exam and this explains so much. I have seen your other video on monochronic and Polychronic too. It was such an eye opener to view the culture with that spectrum. Can you make some more videos on that? Thanks a lot.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you very much for such a great explaination. Loved the video. It seems like you are also in the low context culture because you're too direct which made me understand this topic very thoroughly.
it's so true how people of high context culture don't say everything explicit. nonverbal signs are very big. Low context like people in America is absolotuly right they don't trust anything hardly.
Great explanation ma'am,love from INDIA😊🙏
Thank you ma'am. I am from India.stay healthy and bless me .
Excellent video! Being able to understand the context of cultural interactions and the values of culture facilitates connection across shared humanity. Thank you for making this video @Tero Trainers! 🤟
It's interesting! I've never heard such view about communication. I am from Brasil and I work as an english and portuguese teacher. It's possible to see how americans show some difficult to understand our way of comunicate even when they speak portuguese. I don't want to insult, but sometimes it seems like an ingenuous reaction, of course I know it's not the case but now I can understand it. Could we say that in a high context we have a richer semantic comunication and, on the other hand, in low context we have a poorer semantic comunication, since we need more than words to express ourselves?
Ponto interessante. No entanto, eu acho que o que mais influencia, no caso de línguas como o português e o japonês (alto-contexto) vs o Inglês (baixo-contexto) é a entonação que colocamos em palavras nas línguas de alto-contexto. Estudo inglês também e noto muito isso quando vou falar. Não adianta estressar as palavras na língua inglesa, eles não vão entender e a língua mesma não funciona assim. Ainda mais quando queremos ironizar alguma coisa, não funciona - tem que dizer muitas palavras.
GRACIAS, JUST WHAT I NEEDED FOR MY ESSAY!
Very helpful; provides clarification this topic for my business communication class. Thank you!
Good summary but I think it should have spent a little time explaining something that people from high-context cultures should understand about interacting with people from low-context culture both for the sake of fairness and because it is important. Namely, if you are not explicit with what you are saying, you can easily be seen as inarticulate at best, actively deceitful at worst.
「もっと多くの人が必要なので、このビデオをもっと
This video really explained it well for me! Thank you so much :)
She explained this really well.
Thank you!
Need this for college thanks!
thank you so much for this video. i have a question, we say people of high context or people from high context
i have a coming exam in culture thanks so much for your help
SHORT AND INFORMATIVE
I'm originally from Latin America, but have lived in the USA for many years.
I think there are a lot of combinations of high and low context communicators around me also depending on the situation. It's like people use high or low context for different things.
Pondering 🤔.
Thank you so much
the only video that explains it best!! THANK YOU
Great video.perfect explanation.
Some segments in the video are stamped not adjacent to each other
Thank you, great explanation!
I love videos like this because they a biased? (Question) *What about Africa?* It's difficult to generalize Africa as a single cultural entity because it is a continent with vast diversity and variation within its cultures. However, many African cultures tend to be considered *high-context,* meaning that they rely heavily on implicit communication and nonverbal cues. This is due to the fact that many African cultures are collectivist and place a high value on community and relationships. For example, in some African cultures, it is important to build trust and rapport before discussing business or other important matters.
That being said, it's important to remember that there is a great deal of diversity within Africa and each culture has its own unique communication style and norms. It's essential to approach each culture on an individual basis and to take the time to understand the cultural context and communication style. - #ScreenOfSpace
Yeah, this video also doesn't mention Australia either. And even within the US this gets tricky because people of the same racial/ethnic group in the US tend to do high-context communication with each other. Videos like this are indeed biased/general and limited in scope and don't take into account nuance, but they're a decent place to start
Good explanation mam, crystal clear
Thank you so much 🙂
Voice is clear
Thank you. Very helpful
Very good and funny videos bring a great sense of entertainment!
Very well said, kudos to you madam!
べんきょうになる
This video is helping, thanks
Trying to categorize verbal and social culture into two opposed tendencies seems to be foolish. If you are a linguist you will know that the nature of the language and of the social and bureaucratic tradition dictates so much more variety in habits than something that can be defined in general bipolar terms.
Thank for this
thank you!
Thank you so muchhhh!!!
Not clear Africa is missing
I noted you apparently included all the major cultures and left out Africa.. mmh?
Stop
They also left out Australia
Italy and Spain and Portugal are not western European apparently...
High context absolutely. I lived in Spain and Sicily... Now in Puerto Rico... All high context
Miss Sally class😊
Character In the video It's great, I like it a lot $$
I personally believe high-context cultures to be the downgrade of communication. As it is less effective in receiving results. Trying to Imply meaning through “hints” and gestures is the same as “beating around the bush”. Just say it.... Be assertive so that resolving problems becomes “clear”.
What i’ve noticed about indirect communicators (high-context), they don’t resolve any problems. Instead perpetuate them by presenting empty statements with no detail to provide accurate responses to. Which leads gossip and finger blaming. They also usually “hide” their intentions behind their words which is sign of dishonest cultures. And that is what China, Middle-east, Russia etc have been for centuries. Not Advanced....... common sense tells us who’s culture is truly Higher on the scale in communication by our way of life.
But if I were wicked i’d reverse the two concepts on purpose.
i was agreeing with you until you started being a racist dumbass
広めてください」、
I dont get any of these cultural dimentional concepts. To me it sounds like bigotry and not scientific at all. If we for example take a work interview in the western world, it would not be highly specific but instead relationship building like in high-context cultures but in other business situations they would act in line with low-context cultures like when writing a contract. It's stupid to group people into either one because they are flexible on when they want to be specific or personal.
Thank Christ I found someone who thinks similar. It all seems like a very outdated philosophy to have, especially when I live in the US, where High Context is the norm in any non-written communication. The only part of this "High-Context/Low-Context" Philosophy that's true is that Different Cultures have different traditions and different standards for certain words, but honestly, why not just say that their context is completely different from your own? That'd would get the point across without the blatant inaccurate stereotyping (or 'prototyping' as they call it now)
I'm not low context, I'm high comprehension.
came here after seeing in class
im 21 and never noticed this until now...wth
In general I hate when they lump fundamentally unrelated traits in with each other that don't have anything to do with the basic definition of something (even if they're lumped in because they might correlate) and the definitions are often incoherent (I hate the individualism vs. collectivism definitions that you've find almost everywhere- it makes no sense. A collective is the sum total of the individuals who compromise it - how can you prioritize one over the other? Individualism seems to be partially defined as egoism and collectivism -partially - as agreeableness etc. - I know that's off topic). I don't want to go into detail. It's hard for me to believe that primarily low context cultures actually exist but maybe my standards are high. I believe the low context style is superior.
Take some communication courses. This shit is just 101... it’s a continuum that requires ALOT to actually grasp the relationship between these two interacting.
Why do people refer to the USA as "America", America is the hole continent, or is there a specific reason why is that called that way? It's nonsense for me.
Thank you for your question. It is a question many people have, and there are many answers to it. Some think it is because throughout history people from the United States began being referred to as Americans, others think it is appropriate due to the fact other countries such as Mexico which is also the United States of Mexico, and Russia which is the Federation of Russia began calling their citizens Mexicans and Russians. There are other examples. We have included a link which provides many opinions/ answers as well as a discussion of the very topic you bring up. We hope you find it interesting.
www.quora.com/Why-are-US-citizens-called-Americans-despite-the-fact-that-the-whole-continent-of-North-and-South-America-make-up-America-as-a-whole
Because we’re the most significant country here
In most developed countries (such as the United States, Germany, etc), it is taught that there are 7 continents. This includes North America and South America. When the term "America" is used, this is means the United States. It is the same in Chinese and Japanese 「アメリカ」(amerika).
"America" means the United States in most developed countries.
A more direct answer is, "America" is shorthand for "The United States of America."
This is similar to "Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea" being shortened to "North Korea", or "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" being shortened to "Saudi Arabia".
There is no evidence for high context or low context cultures. People are the same for the most part.
✨
But does Hall's model account for bullying and bullies having their way in Japan?
This is a lot
くさんありますありがとうございます」、
uugh.... ,,,, mmmm
Like animals..🤔
🤓
Latin American is in America