This is cultural and not universal. In some cultures if you wait for the pauses, you will never be able to speak. I found this to be the case while living in

This is cultural and not universal. In some cultures if you wait for the pauses, you will never be able to speak. I found this to be the case while living in Eastern Europe. The people there generally keep speaking until you interrupt. It's not considered rude though. They just assume you'll interrupt when you have something to say. If you don't interrupt, they'll keep talking.