Discussion Post #2

[Kayla Wise]

In learning a new language, it is important to understand the cultural norms regarding communication behaviors for that society. For example, the way people interact with each other in their society can impact their way of communicating and relating with others; such as in individualist societies that focus more on self-interest and live separate lives compared to the rest of society ,as opposed to collectivist societies that function as a part of a larger group and have more shared experiences and therefore more focused on maintaining good relationships (25). Whether a culture is more individualist or collectivist has a great impact on communication, because societies where people have more shared experiences don’t have to rely much on verbal communication to relay a message; therefore there may be nonverbal cues and nondirect messages of communication that may be confusing to those outside of their culture (91-92). I also found it interesting mentioning the cultural values of time, since I don’t typically think about how norms regarding time impact the way we communicate with others. I found the measures of the Hofstede Dimensions of Culture to be interesting, as I’m not sure how exactly you can quantitatively measure how much a certain country demonstrates various attributes/values in their culture such as masculinity, forward-thinking, and uncertainty avoidance. I think this could be unreliable to measure as it does not take into account the multiple cultures within one country, which may have different cultural norms from others. While I agree that all cultures vary on the spectrum of these measures, I’m not sure how accurately this could be quantified. I believe the ideas in the readings are very relevant to learning about Korean Culture as Western Cultures like in the United States are more individualist, and although there may be similarities I know Korean culture emphasizes respecting those older than you, so there are definitely cultural norms of communication that differ greatly from those in the U.S.