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There are a lot of nations in the world, and a lot of different cultures. All people communicate differently. How are people the country where you live now different from people in your home country or in the country where you lived before? What are the main differences? What kind of communication problems and misunderstanding have you encountered after you moved to foreign country where you live now?
Let talk about differences in communication.
Are you talking about face-to-face communication, or the electronic type (cell phone, internet, FaceSpace, etc.)?
I work in a culture that is extremely non-confrontational. This is pleasant in some respects, but makes it difficult to achieve tasks. They place relationship ABOVE task completion, so, few tasks are completed. And there is a strong aversion to responsibility, so they like to make themselves the top managers, and push ALL responsibility downwards. Thus, if you get assigned a task, it can be difficult to complete since the others don't want to assist and will undermine your attempts. But the undermining will be passive, and behind-the-back, because they don't like confrontation, eh?
Very different. Asian culture is very face oriented, and said to be polite. This means one must attempt to save the face (reputation) of the person with whom you are talking. For example, if Wan has not yet completed his project task, and you are the task leader, you must make Wan aware of the fact that he is not yet done, but you cannot come out directly and say that. You have to imply it in a round about way.
The Wrong Way:
Me: "Wan, why are you not yet done with your task?"
Wan: "Oh, sorry," hahahahaha. (Laughing rarely means something is funny; it is more a nervous laugh that says- Don't make me lose face.)
The Correct Way:
Me: "Wan, we are planning on presenting our project to the bosses next week. What do you think of that idea?"
Wan: "Oh, good idea [he wouldn't say NO, that would make me lose face], I will have my part done by then."
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