High Context & Low Context Culture

High context culture is an Asian culture whereby people believe that non-verbal communication is the key. & If you speak incessantly, you are considered rude. Whereas in a low context culture - westernized. They believe that being descriptive being ale to speak -alot- is the way to go, much emphasisis placed on the spoken words and that non-verbal cues are despicable and deceptive.

In an Asian society, not everything is spelled out to us. We have learnt to read non-verbal cues, from the awkard silence to the raising of the eyebrows, and the wide open mouth to express shock. Because of this, we tend to physco-analyse every little action and read too much into it. As such, we often twist the message and a miscommunication might occur. Personally I feel that we Asians should stop beating around the bush, get straight to the point and score.

Whereas in a low context culture like the States. You know how they are always portrayed - holding a glass of wine, standing akimbo and looking as if they have endless stuff to say. They are very descriptive and they have the ability to paint a vivid image of the subject they are discribing. For example, when an Asian describes a tree, he goes "A big tree". When an American describes a tree he goes, "With roots sinked into the earth, the thick wrinkled trunks needs little effort to hold up the decaying leaves of the 100 year old tree."

Hence, proving that westerners are more descriptive and that is why they believe that Asians are deceptive because it seems like we deliberately left out information as to cloud their understanding of a particular subject. In this case, the tree, without further description, one will not be able to identify the specific tree out of say,maybe 3 trees.