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Nordics and say Japanese may be listening cultures but in such a profoundly different way that it is hard to put them in the same group. Japanese and Koreans s

Nordics and say Japanese may be listening cultures but in such a profoundly different way that it is hard to put them in the same group. Japanese and Koreans speak in a very indirect and polite fashion. Us Nordics tend to be very blunt and direct. But we share this with the Dutch and Germans. For me the main dividers are between direct and indirect speakers. Like Americans like to keep things a bit fluffy and casual until they know you better or have sort of warmed up in the conversation. We are often opposite. We like going straight to the point and do the fluffy stuff last as way of ending a conversation.

shagie 5y ago
This is known as "context". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-context_and_low-context_cultures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-context_and_low-context_c... The Western European and Scandinavian cultures are often used as the classic example of low context cultures and asian and middle eastern ones as the classic as high context cultures. Look up the art of Yang Liu and the "Ost triff West" project ( http://www.thedailytop.com/24-infographic-shows-differences-germans-chinese/ http://www.thedailytop.com/24-infographic-shows-differences-... ) Though, even within a culture, there are graduations of context. Rural tends to be higher context than urban (pull up https://www.bigtop.org/tentshowradio.html https://www.bigtop.org/tentshowradio.html and listen to the last minute of the podcast... "well, I suppose..." - that's rural midwest US - and there are different high/low context cultures across the US - http://robslink.com/SAS/democd83/us_regional_cultures_map.htm http://robslink.com/SAS/democd83/us_regional_cultures_map.ht... ). This can show up in some odd spots: * https://webdata-solutions.com/en/2018/08/01/why-you-should-consider-cultural-factors-in-pricing/ https://webdata-solutions.com/en/2018/08/01/why-you-should-c... * https://langsolinc.com/cross-cultural-communication/ https://langsolinc.com/cross-cultural-communication/ There's a lot of other material on this that is rather interesting.
yencabulator 5y ago
America vs Nordics is almost the opposite ends. Americans will ask you fluffy questions if they don't know you -- not expecting an answer! -- while Northern Europeans will mostly engage strangers factually and to the point. And you don't go asking strangers about how their day has been, that's none of your business, and you wouldn't do that unless you were actually offering to help deal with their stresses or such.
- TinkersW 5y ago
  Are Americans really fluffy? Many of the questions people perceive as fluffy aren't actually questions... How you doing? etc that isn't a question and you aren't supposed to give a detailed response- it is basically just a dumb was of saying hi.
  - dasyatidprime 5y ago
    When thinking of that as the default, within the culture, “we know what it actually means” is the most salient. When thinking of that as not the default, in a cultural comparison, “how are analogous-role conversational elements expressed differently” is the most salient. So compared to a culture in which you don't ask that so cheerily, obligatorily, without-‘really’-meaning, yes, it totally is fluffy. (Speaking as someone who's theoretically American but culturally ambiguous, who's recently been suggested by someone reviewing my social skills in a professional capacity to inject more low-content happy-mood pleasantries into my conversation—they may have actually used the word “American” in the process, and I hardly disagree with the connection. Of course, that's papering over a lot of intra-American variation too.)
  - Jetrel 5y ago
    Uh, speaking as an american, yes, it is 100% actually a question, and yes, I do in fact want to actually know how the other person is doing. I'm fine with them leaving anything out they don't feel comfortable disclosing, but … if they do feel comfortable, it's an invitation to just cut through the nonsense and become a friend. It's the most no-nonsense way to bulldoze through the usual pointless formalities and actually get to know someone. It's a deliberate short circuit to a real human problem - the problem of two compatible people (whether friends or lovers) being artificially delayed on connecting with each other because of "customarily enforced" protocol on how quickly they're allowed to be familiar. That problem is bad enough that it's a staple trope in rom-coms and buddy cop films - and it frequently leads to tragedy because of how short life is, and how opportunities don't last. It feels like there are a lot of people in the american cultural milieu who've picked this up from other groups of americans (america's a huge country with tons of different culture groups), but … are missing the absolutely CRITICAL ingredient of taking it at face value. It is exactly what it looks like; it's not facetious, it's not fake, and anyone who treats it like that is kinda cargo-culting it.

shagie 5y ago

This is known as "context". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-context_and_low-context_cultures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-context_and_low-context_c... The Western European and Scandinavian cultures are often used as the classic example of low context cultures and asian and middle eastern ones as the classic as high context cultures. Look up the art of Yang Liu and the "Ost triff West" project ( http://www.thedailytop.com/24-infographic-shows-differences-germans-chinese/ http://www.thedailytop.com/24-infographic-shows-differences-... ) Though, even within a culture, there are graduations of context. Rural tends to be higher context than urban (pull up https://www.bigtop.org/tentshowradio.html https://www.bigtop.org/tentshowradio.html and listen to the last minute of the podcast... "well, I suppose..." - that's rural midwest US - and there are different high/low context cultures across the US - http://robslink.com/SAS/democd83/us_regional_cultures_map.htm http://robslink.com/SAS/democd83/us_regional_cultures_map.ht... ). This can show up in some odd spots: * https://webdata-solutions.com/en/2018/08/01/why-you-should-consider-cultural-factors-in-pricing/ https://webdata-solutions.com/en/2018/08/01/why-you-should-c... * https://langsolinc.com/cross-cultural-communication/ https://langsolinc.com/cross-cultural-communication/ There's a lot of other material on this that is rather interesting.

yencabulator 5y ago

America vs Nordics is almost the opposite ends. Americans will ask you fluffy questions if they don't know you -- not expecting an answer! -- while Northern Europeans will mostly engage strangers factually and to the point. And you don't go asking strangers about how their day has been, that's none of your business, and you wouldn't do that unless you were actually offering to help deal with their stresses or such.

TinkersW 5y ago
Are Americans really fluffy? Many of the questions people perceive as fluffy aren't actually questions... How you doing? etc that isn't a question and you aren't supposed to give a detailed response- it is basically just a dumb was of saying hi.
- dasyatidprime 5y ago
  When thinking of that as the default, within the culture, “we know what it actually means” is the most salient. When thinking of that as not the default, in a cultural comparison, “how are analogous-role conversational elements expressed differently” is the most salient. So compared to a culture in which you don't ask that so cheerily, obligatorily, without-‘really’-meaning, yes, it totally is fluffy. (Speaking as someone who's theoretically American but culturally ambiguous, who's recently been suggested by someone reviewing my social skills in a professional capacity to inject more low-content happy-mood pleasantries into my conversation—they may have actually used the word “American” in the process, and I hardly disagree with the connection. Of course, that's papering over a lot of intra-American variation too.)
- Jetrel 5y ago
  Uh, speaking as an american, yes, it is 100% actually a question, and yes, I do in fact want to actually know how the other person is doing. I'm fine with them leaving anything out they don't feel comfortable disclosing, but … if they do feel comfortable, it's an invitation to just cut through the nonsense and become a friend. It's the most no-nonsense way to bulldoze through the usual pointless formalities and actually get to know someone. It's a deliberate short circuit to a real human problem - the problem of two compatible people (whether friends or lovers) being artificially delayed on connecting with each other because of "customarily enforced" protocol on how quickly they're allowed to be familiar. That problem is bad enough that it's a staple trope in rom-coms and buddy cop films - and it frequently leads to tragedy because of how short life is, and how opportunities don't last. It feels like there are a lot of people in the american cultural milieu who've picked this up from other groups of americans (america's a huge country with tons of different culture groups), but … are missing the absolutely CRITICAL ingredient of taking it at face value. It is exactly what it looks like; it's not facetious, it's not fake, and anyone who treats it like that is kinda cargo-culting it.