【正文】 s normative structure with high cultural demand characteristics. ? In highcontext cultures most of the information is in the physical context or is internalized in the people who are a part of the interaction. Very little information is actually coded in the verbal message. ? In lowcontext cultures, most of the information is contained in the verbal message, and very little is embedded in the context or within the participants 82 Some Features of HC amp。 LC ? Highcontext establish social trust first value personal relations and goodwill agreement by relations and goodwill negotiations slow ? Lowcontext get down to business first value expertise and performance agreement by specific, legalistic context negotiations as efficient as possible Low Context High Context 83 Comparing lowto highcontext cultures Tends to prefer direct verbal interaction Tends to understand meaning at one level Tends to prefer indirect verbal interaction Tends to understand meaning at many sociocultural levels Is generally less proficient in reading nonverbal cues Is generally more proficient in reading nonverbal cues Value individualism Value group membership Relies more on logic Relies more on context and feeling Employ linear logic Employ spiral logic Says no directly Talks around point。 avoid saying no Communicates in highly structured (context) messages, provides details, stresses literal meanings, gives authority to written information Communicates in simple, ambiguous, noncontexted messages。 understands visual messages readily Cultural differences at the airport ? You will notice an interesting phenomenon at the arrival gates of international airports. Usually there is a group of family members or a host waiting to meet the Chinese, Japanese, and other Asians who are getting off the airplane. Often there is no one waiting to meet the Westerners who are arriving. They just collect their baggage and then take a taxi or a bus to their destination. ? Apparently the Asians think that no one arriving in an unfamiliar place should be left to find their on their own. They need people at this time. Westerners are more likely to assume that certain predictable services will be available such as hotel booking counters and transportation services and that they can find these and the city and already learned a lot about the airport, hotels, tourist site, what people he will need to contact for particular purposes once he gets there, where to get a good dinner, and more. ? Westerners, as lowcontext municators, look for, trust and use impersonal sources of information while municators from more highcontext cultures prefer personal sources of information. ③ A crosscultural dialogue ? Foreign affair officer (FAO): Foreign teachers ask me for lots of information before they e to China. ? Foreign teacher (FT): What do you tell them? ? FAO: I tell them they’ll find out everything that they need to know when they get here. ? FT: Oh. ? FAO: Yes, my office and the teaching departments arrange everything for them. Every foreign teacher has a contact person to help them with problems of teaching and daily life. ? Westerners appreciate the personal help they receive when they e to China, but they also want lowcontext information to help them plan, act and adjust to a new situation. ? Highcontext municators need the lowcontext messages they receive, but without human helpers they experience their new cultural situation as cold and impersonal.