Some cultures use words to express the 'objective truth'

Some cultures are very direct in their communication. They use words to say what they see as 'the truth'.

Just saying plainly what you see as 'the facts' is normal for

• Americans.
• Also, Dutch people are known for their directness.
• Most Scandinavians are pretty direct as well.

People from this kind of cultures do not hold back to use words. There are no hidden messages between the spoken lines. Communication to different people does not differ much. The message is in the words spoken. The message is about the same each time, even if the message is addressed to very different people.

Other cultures do not express themselves directly

Many cultures are less direct than people from the United States of America, the Netherlands or Scandinavian countries. For these less direct people there can be many reasons NOT to say things in words.

Most reasons have to do with relations between people. People from these cultures prefer above all to respect the relations they have with people. They prefer to be polite. They honour unwritten rules (traditions). This is more important to them than saying things directly.

Content and context

In direct cultures everything is in the words, in the message, in the CONTENT of the message.

In other cultures, for instance, cultures of Japan and China, to understand what someone is communicating, you have to listen to the words (the content of the message) but you also have to observe the whole picture.

More communication will - in these less direct cultures - be implicit and non-verbal. Some things can be difficult to understand without knowing more, about the backgrounds, the CONTEXT.

Culture experts speak not only about DIRECT and INDIRECT but also about 'low context' and 'high context' cultures*.

Some examples of relevant context

To make it clear er what is meant by context, some examples are:

• It is not polite to show directly that you disagree with your (grand)parents, with older people, with a superior (someone above yourself in the hierarchy, someone with a higher rank)
• If you want to understand who is most important in a group of people, you need to look at where everybody is seated or who speaks first
• When two people greet each other with a bow, the one that is less senior will bow deeper to show his respect
• Traditions and long-lasting relations influence how people interact and communicate
• Non-verbal signs such as tone of voice, facial expressions, body language convey a larger part of the message. A smaller part is in the words spoken

*The concept of high and low context was introduced by anthropologist Edward T. Hall in his 1976 book 'Beyond Culture'