10.3 Language Use and Culture

People in different cultures use different communication styles. According to Hall’s (1976) context theory, the use of context in communication varies across cultures, meaning that a culture can be categorized as a low-context culture or a high-context culture. In many Middle Eastern and Asian cultures, people communicate indirectly. This means that the context is more important than the content during communication. The context includes the environment, the relationship between the communicator and the recipient, and nonverbal behaviors. The indirect communication style is found mostly in collectivistic, homogeneous, and high power distance countries. In contrast, many Western countries use a more direct communication style. In this case, the content is more important than the context, meaning people communicate in a more explicit and unambiguous way (Thomas & Inkson, 2017). Direct communication styles are more likely to be observed in individualistic, heterogeneous, low power distance cultures (Neuliep, 2006). High power distance countries are countries where people accept and expect large differences in power between individuals or groups. Low power distance countries are countries where people prefer equality and expect power to be distributed more evenly.

Studies have explored the varying communication styles of low-context cultures and high-context cultures. For example, Broeder (2021) investigated the differences in communication styles among Dutch, Greek, and Japanese people. The Netherlands is considered a low-context culture, Greece is considered a medium-context culture, and Japan is considered a high-context culture. Broeder found that Dutch people use more nonverbal communication, Greek people use more hand gestures, and Japanese people use more indirect communication. Another study explored the communication styles among people in Finland, India, and Japan. The study revealed that Finnish people and Japanese people have more introverted communication styles, but Indian people have a more extroverted and lively communication style (Nishimura et al., 2008). These studies highlight how cultural context shapes communication. Low-context cultures favor direct communication, high-context cultures rely on subtle cues, and mid-context cultures fall somewhere in between.