9. Western, Japanese, and other styles of conversation

Use of language should be appropriate to the cultural context and situation. When people of
different cultures meet and try to communicate in English, they might know the language, but they
may not know that their use of the language in conversation differs, since they use different,
culturally given styles of conversations. The source 1 shows an example of intercultural
communication in English between people using Western and Japanese conversational styles. The
following source 2 is an example of communication between an American and Greek. In the source 3
you will learn about differences in communication styles in high-context and low-context cultures.
The source 4 explains the importance of non-verbal signals in communication and possible
misunderstanding that can occur in intercultural contexts.