Communication Style and Cultural Features in High/Low Context Communication Cultures: A Case Study of Finland, Japan and India
KEYWORDS
high/low context culture, communication style, culture, cultural fea-tures, individualism, collectivism, Finland, Japan, India
People from different countries communicate in ways that often lead to misunderstandings. Our argument, based on Hall’s theory of high/ low context cul-tures (1959, 1966, 1976, 1983), is that these differences are related to different commu-nication cultures. We argue that Japan and Finland belong to high context cultures, while India is closer to a low context culture with certain high context cultural fea-tures. We contend that Finnish communication culture is changing towards a low-er context culture. Hall’s theory is complemented with Hofstede’s (2008) individualism vs. collectivism dimension and with Lewis’s (1999, 2005) cultural categories of communication and Western vs. Eastern values. Examples of Finland, Japan and In-dia are presented.
Shoji Nishimura, Anne Nevgi & Seppo Tella Waseda
*University, Japan(Kickaha@waseda.jp)
**Department of Education, University of Helsinki(anne.nevgi@helsinki.fin)
***Department of Applied Sciences of Education, University of Helsinki3