Noise/Interference in Communication

Processes
 1. Language barriers
2. Culture shock

Outline: 3. Non-verbal communication (kinesics,

proxemics and paralanguage, etc.)
Brainstorming: Slicing the Meat
• A Norwegian–American MBA student was studying culture, and began to think about how cultural
values influenced her own behavior. She remembered that she had been taught always to slice a
joint of meat into two pieces before baking it in the oven.

• She phoned her mother and asked, “Mum, why do we Norwegians always bake meat in two
halves?” “I don’t know,” her mother said. “But we have to, we always do.” Then she thought about
it, and said, “I’ll ask your grandmother.” So, she phoned her own mother and asked, “Mother, why
do we Norwegians always bake meat in two halves?” “I don’t know,” the grandmother said, “but
that’s what my mother told me. I’ll ask her.” The next day the grandmother visited the student’s
great-grandmother and reminded her of the slicing. “That’s what you said we must do. But why?”
The old lady still had a good memory and answered immediately.

• CAN YOU GUESS THE ANSWER?

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Brainstorming: Slicing the Meat
•

• “Because when you were a little girl, we lived in a house in Norway which only had a very small oven.
And you had many brothers and sisters. So, the only way I could bake enough meat for all of us was to
bake it in two halves.”

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 Brainstorming: Slicing the Meat
• QUESTIONS
1. Was this slicing of the meat into two:
• a matter of national culture?
• a matter of personal preference?
• a matter of family tradition?
2. What mistake did the younger women make? Why? Could you give any similar examples?
3. Which (if any) of these do you agree with? Too often, people:
• Do not forget what they are told to do.
• Make unwarranted assumptions about their culture.
• Do not question what they are told to do.
• DECISION 4.
• You are visiting your foreign subsidiary. This is your first time in the country. You notice that on Fridays, all employees go
home an hour early. You ask why, and you are told “That’s what we always do.” What question do you ask next?

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Discussion
A woman in Brazil planned a long-awaited visit to her sister who lived in Colombia.
In preparation for the trip, she purchased gifts for everyone in her sister’s family.
She could not decide what to take to her brother-in-law, David, but chanced to find
the perfect gift. It was a life-size Brazilian figa, elegantly carved in lustrous
mahogany, and it would look very nice on a coffee table or a desk.
The figa is a hand gesture signifying “good luck” in Brazil. One makes a vertical fist,
placing the thumb up between the index and middle fingers. It is like crossing one’s
fingers for luck in the United States. To display such a carving can make two
statements. One is a statement of a person’s appreciation of finely crafted objects,
and the other is the symbolization of luck.
On opening his gift, David broke out laughing. He rubbed his hands over the finely
grained wood. Grinning, he pronounced, “This is most unusual. I will take it to my
office and keep it on my desk. Thank you very much.”
 1. Language Barriers
there are currently 7,117 languages spoken around the world (Ethnoloque, 2022).
95% of world population - 100 languages.
Top Languages by Population (Ethnologue, 2022) The Powe Language Index (2000)

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2. Culture Shock
2. Culture
Shock
• Culture shock - describes
the feelings of anxiety and
confusion that many
people experience for
some time when they live
in the host environment
(coined by Oberg in 1960).
2. Culture Shock
 Common Non-verbal Communication

3. Non-verbal
Communication
Albert Mehrabian:
only 7% of information is
perceived through verbal
means of communication,
55% - facial expression,
38% — voice intonation and
modulation
3. Non-verbal Communication
3. Non-verbal Communication
Vocalics
The term vocalics encompasses any vocal-auditory behavior except the spoken
word.
1. VOCAL CHARACTERIZERS: laughing, crying, yelling, moaning, belching, yawning.
A belch: eaten well, or that one has bad manners?
2. VOCAL QUALIFIERS: volume, pitch, rhythm, tempo, resonance, and tone.
Volume to Arabs and North Americans?
3. VOCAL RATE is the speed at which people speak.
4. VOCAL SEGREGATES: sounds such as “un-huh,” “shhh,” “ooh,” “uh,”
and “mmh”
The Japanese use an essential gap or silence interval that is called ma; this
silence makes North Americans uncomfortable.
 3. Non-verbal Communication
Kinesics
Kinesics - the study of how people use body movements when they are
communicating with other people (Cambridge Dictionary).
1. GESTURES

2. EYE CONTACT
If there is eye contact of one North American passing another on
the street, he or she will often nod, smile, and say hello
3. Non-verbal Communication
Kinesics
3. FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
In China and Japan “happiness” may express anger or mask sadness. A
Westerner may be confused by the smiling explanation of an employee
in Japan that she was absent because her mother died. Why?
4. HAPTICS (TOUCH)
5. POSTURE
6. SMELL
3. Non-verbal
Communication
Proxemics
Proxemics - the study of the
cultural, behavioral, and
sociological aspects of
spatial distances between
individuals (Meriam
Webster Dictionary)