It includes language (countries using Anglo-Saxon ones are usually closer to the low-context, Asian countries lean clearly more towards the high-context) and history (high-context cultures tend to have a longer shared history than low-context cultures). According to this theory, a high context (HC) culture, such as Japan, is characterized by nonverbal communication and meanings shared implicitly by speaker/listener that are highly dependent on the context. With time, I reached a point where I managed to organise myself in a way that allowed me to still keep in touch with people I wanted to stay in close touch with (scheduled online calls - because 'let's catch up' just doesn't ever work well enough) and visit relatively often. How did your friends react to your decision of moving abroad? - Our Planet Today on April 20, 2022 Is Poland a high or low context culture? During communist rule, educational and economic advancement of the Polish worker and peasants were fostered. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Family provides the foundation for endurance andperseverance, Each family member must take responsibility for self andfamily, Hierarchy helps structure roles and reduce uncertainty, Traditionally male dominated society, slowly changing. In high-context communication, a message cannot be understood without a great deal of background information. Jozef Chemoski was a famous Polish painter belonging to the realist school. Contracts can take months to negotiate. Compare and contrast two countries and their levels of context. Is Poland a high or low context culture? - Our Planet Today Most business entertaining takes place in restaurants. This may take several group and one-on-one meetings. Try to make initial introductions through a local representative rather than on your own. Authors: Przemysaw Hensel No full-text available . Poland was under the rule of communism from 1945- 1989 The Polish culture has greatly evolved over the years having been influenced by the geographic location of the country at the confluence of European regions with their distinct cultures. President Nixon did the same thing existing an airplane in Brazil flashing his famous OK sign with his thumb and forefinger forming a circle, but this is the middle finger in that culture. The world's cultural diversity naturally leads to many types of communication differences from one region to the next. yes it is a high context culture! Indirect The Culture Map - intercultural communication - Project Abroad D.I.V.E. In my eyes however thats nothing in comparison to what the Polish are capable of. Humor is sometimes used to make a point. Christianity is the dominant religion in Poland with about 92.2% of Poles being Roman Catholics. Poland is in the middle on the scale, closer to low-context which doesn't mean it is easer for us to adjust. Long-term orientation focuses on the future and not the present or the past. 3. Other religions practiced in the country include Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. But making decisions may take longer than in some fixed time cultures because of the emphasis on maintaining relationships and building consensus. One of the earliest researchers in the area of cultural differences and their importance to communication was a researcher by the name of Edward T. Hall. 45 Lien represents the confidence of society in the integrity of egos moral character, the loss of which makes it impossible for him to function properly within the community. Asia, the Polish name, is spelled the same as the continent but pronounced very differently! Originally, the concept of face is not a Western even though the idea of saving face is pretty common in every day talk today. #expatcoaching #expatlife #livingabroad #expatcoach #workingabroad #lifeabroad #workabroad #careerabroad #internationallife #internationalcareer #globalcareer #globallife #globalleaders #culturalawareness #selfawareness #selfgrowth #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment #culturalcompetence #movingabroad #zyciezagranica #zycienaemigracji #pracazagranica #rozwojosobisty #polacyzagranica, If youd like to explore your own cultural values and see how they are at play in your working life - DM me the word CULTURE and Ill share more information with you about the CQ Assessment and debrief session where we discuss your personalised assessment report and create a plan forward to develop your cultural competences further! Geography Communication in Polish society is ' low context ', meaning that they usually speak frankly and can be very direct when it comes to saying 'no'. Its important to understand that for an American for instance (America is located to the very left of the scale, by the low-context), both British and Polish cultures may seem very high-context and combining that with a tendency to use sarcastic humour cultural shock guaranteed! When it came to trait affection given, the United States participants reported giving more affection than any of the three other countries. Messages are communicated in many ways. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. In anthropology, high-context and low-context cultures are the ends of a continuum portraying the level of explicit information and the importance of context in a given culture. But they pay attention to the volume of their voices and tend to speak quietly in business and in public. The United States ranks 64th out of 76 countries analyzed (Singapore was number 76). Communication within a family or close-knit group is high context in almost any part of the world. And yet they hurt. More simplistically, face is essentially a persons reputation and feelings of prestige within multiple spheres, including the workplace, the family, personal friends, and society at large.49 For our purposes, we can generally break face down into general categories: face gaining and face losing. What am I going to do without you!'. The top 5 percent had incomes of $191,157 or more.25. Lien is both a social sanction for enforcing moral standards and an internalized sanction.46 On the other hand, mien-tzu stands for the kind of prestige that is emphasized in this country [America]: a reputation achieved through getting on in life, through success and ostentation.47 However, David Yau-fai Ho argues that face is more complicated than just lien and mien-tzu, so he provided the following definition: Face is the respectability and/or deference which a person can claim for himself from others, by virtue of the relative position he occupies in his social network and the degree to which he is judged to have functioned adequately in that position as well as acceptably in his general conduct; the face extended to a person by others is a function of the degree of congruence between judgments of his total condition in life, including his actions as well as those of people closely associated with him, and the social expectations that others have placed upon him. Its always great to get another perspective on cultural differences! Collectivistic cultures tend to think about actions that might affect the entire group rather than specific members of the group. Working with people from low context culture . Being an American and moving from a lower context culture to a higher context culture, you will experience different emotions and challenges than moving from higher context culture to the lower one. Generally there is low tolerance for ambiguity and people require detailed explanation and understanding before making decisions. The father holds absolute authority and must be obeyed by the children. Pickles and sauerkraut are popular side dishes and dessert options will often include ice cream, cheesecake, apple pie and "makowiec", a poppy-seed cake. I have to admit, I can't remember exactly the moment I told my close ones about the move abroad, it all happened so quickly in my case As such, women are placed in a subservient position to their husbands are often identified socially by their husbands. When realising the way the British work, I managed to easily adjust to their style. #expatcoaching #expatlife #livingabroad #expatcoach #workingabroad #lifeabroad #workabroad #careerabroad #internationallife #internationalcareer #globalcareer #globallife #globalleaders #culturalawareness #selfawareness #selfgrowth #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment #culturalcompetence #movingabroad #zyciezagranica #zycienaemigracji #pracazagranica #rozwojosobisty #polacyzagranica, Lets laugh at language misunderstandings together! Bg si rodzi, Bogurodzica are some of the oldest musical compositions originating in Poland. This page titled 6.3: Cultural Characteristics and Communication is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Jason S. Wrench, Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter & Katherine S. Thweatt (OpenSUNY) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request. Figure 6.3.2 illustrates some of the patterns of context that exist in todays world.21. Does it mean that I sometimes go there and back for just the weekend? Heres a 4-minute speech from Erin Meyer on this topic as an extra source: click. DM me the word 'CULTURE' and I'll come back with the details of how to get started. and Mrs. John Smith. In feminine cultures, men and women are upheld to the same standards, and their relationships should be based on mutual friendship. High-context cultures typically lack explicitly stated or written regulations. Summarize the importance of Stella Ting-Toomeys face and facework in interpersonal relationships. 29. There are still emotional difficulties involved of course, but it is technically easier to focus on facts than to understand the communication based on hundreds years of complicated history and customs. People from high-context culture communicate in an allusive way, body language is very important because the interlocutors use non-verbal signals to a large extent. ACTION is your ability to adapt (and not adapt) when working in multicultural contexts. While working in multicultural teams therefore important to state the fact that there are currently various cultures involved in the project. Accessibility StatementFor more information contact us atinfo@libretexts.orgor check out our status page at https://status.libretexts.org. Formula One Racing was first introduced to Poland by driver Robert Kubica. Most often, in cultures which are closer to the Direct side of the spectrum, you can expect that what is being said has the most value.