Discussion post #2

[Ethan Han]

Figuring Foreigners Out splits cultural values into five categories. The first one is about being either alone or belonging to a group of people. If you are alone then you must take care of yourself by yourself. However, if you are in a group then you rely on others to take care of some of your needs. The second one was about communication verbally or non-verbally. In a culture how do people primarily communicate with each other? Do they say everything verbally or rely on physical cues or both? The third is about how cultures view time. Is time limited or is time unlimited? Do you have to make use of every second of the day or believe that you have tomorrow to finish a task? The fourth area that is talked about is internal vs external. Are the results in your life directly correlated with your actions or do some things happen to you randomly without reason? And the fifth and final subject that is talked about is how well people communicate with each other. How well can people in the same culture understand each other indirectly? Hofstede also puts cultural values into five categories one of the categories Hofstede mentions is masculinity. How strongly does a culture put emphasis on masculinity? I personally like Hofstede's cultural values more than Figuring Foreigners Out. Hofsteded examples such as masculinity are much more prevalent in cultures I have seen. In Korean culture, men are required by law to join the military but women are not. However, in American culture men and women are treated the same. I feel like the categories in Figuring Foreigners Out can be seen in all cultures at all sorts of ranges. For example, the value of indirect and direct communication. In America and Korea not all of the population is on the same level of understanding. The people in each country are on a wide range of direct and indirect communication. One culture doesn't act all the same.