When "Yes" means "No" or "Maybe"--Avoiding CrossCultural Misunderstandings in Global Business

Linda McGovern of CultureSmart offers advice & tips on how to avoid

cross-cultural misunderstandings in global business.
by Linda McGovern, CultureSmart
An American businesswoman comes away from a meeting delighted; she
finally got her Japanese supplier to agree to a price. A few days later, she
receives questions about price. Its almost as if she imagined the meeting.
"What's going on here?" she asks. "We agreed on the price already, didn't
we?"
The businesswoman recalls all the Um-hmms and Yesses she heard in the
meeting. "They agreed to the price, they said yes," she mutters to herself.
"They even nodded and smiled."
Welcome to the world of intercultural business communication--a world
fraught with frequent misunderstandings, frayed tempers and mistrust. This
American Businesswoman is not the first or last to feel frustrated in this
way. Other people have misunderstood a "yes" response.
Ways of Communication:
The businesswoman needs to understand that irrespective of language,
different cultures communicate in different ways.
Good communication American style is to say what you mean precisely, in
as straightforward a manner as possible. Be direct, get to the point, say
what the bottom line is. For other cultures, this style is rude, abrasive and
self-centered.
Many cultures--including Japanese, go to great lengths not to be direct.
The risk of disharmony with other group members is too great to be
outspoken. Its better to agree to somebodys face and negotiate with them
afterwards than to blatantly disagree. In our opening scenario, the
Japanese supplier appeared to say yes, but continued to negotiate a price,
days after the supposed agreement.
Direct communicators like Americans in general, consider this indirectness
deceptive, two-faced and lacking in integrity. What do you think?
Goals of Communication:
The goals of communication vary across culture and languages. In the US,
speech is often used to demonstrate eloquence, power or lack thereof. The

presidential debates are good examples of this. So too are the expressions
"For the sake of argument" or "I'll play the devils advocate and..."
But in many Asian cultures, the goals of communication is to achieve
consensus of opinion and to promote group harmony. "Yes" can mean
"no," "maybe," or even "we've got to think a little more about this and we
don't want to fall out with you."
Styles of Communication:
So how do you know when yes really means no? Simply listen to the silent
messages and read the invisible words.
US culture, with its long tradition of rhetoric, values verbal messages
greatly. Other cultures are more sensitive to non-verbal means of
communication, such as:

Body posture
Hand gestures
Facial expressions
Eye contact
How close people stand to each other

Misunderstandings and blunders result from failing to recognize and understand

many forms of non-verbal communication. Going back to our opening scenario, the
businesswoman remembers the nods and smiles. But what did they mean in the
context of that business meeting?
Not what the American businesswoman thought. They meant disagreement,
displeasure, uncertainty. The lesson to be learnt here is that similar gestures and
facial expressions are often used differently across cultures. The meaning of a smile
is not universal. Neither is a frown.
Avoid misunderstandings in communicating across cultures:
1. Be conscious of body language and non-verbal messages:
What message is communicated in the smiles, frowns, head movements or silence?
2. Watch eye contact:
Reserve judgment on the correct amount of eye-contact. Some cultures encourage
plenty, others frown upon it. You may have to adjust the amount of eye contact
according to the status of the person you're talking to.
3. Listen without interrupting:
Americans are often considered too talkative. People from other cultures may
interpret many interruptions as disrespectful.

4. Summarize what you hear often:

Keeping in mind point #3, clarify what you think you have heard, rephrasing as
simply as possible.
5. Speak slowly, enunciate and avoid idioms:
Only 5% of the worlds population speak English as a first language. You may be
doing business with a person who speaks fluent English but who has difficulty
understanding your accent, the idioms, jargon or slang you use. Remember, the
simpler the English, the better.
In the next newsletter, well look at how to develop international English for marketing
and other business endeavors. In the meantime, success in your intercultural
business interactions!
Linda McGovern and her company, CultureSmart,
provide cross-cultural and international business consulting and training services
such as pre-departure briefings, orientations to working and living in the US and
business and technical English instruction programs. Business Success Across
Cultures. Tel/Fax: +1-510-471-6607 e-mail:CultureSmart@mncmc.com
Copyright 1998, Linda McGovern

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http://www.japanese-language.aiyori.org/article6.html

Be careful of the meaningless yes and hidden

no
Learners of Japanese learn at a very early stage that Japanese and
mean yes and no respectively. I teach these two phrases in Lesson 2 of the
Beginners Course. But once again, learning Japanese words without considering
the situations in which they can and cannot be used is a waste of your time.
and are no exception.
People who are not familiar with Japanese culture, even advanced learners who can
speak perfect Japanese, always complain that the Japanese people do not keep
their promises. They say that when they were discussing something, their Japanese
listeners kept nodding their heads and said (yes). They happily thought that the
Japanese agreed with their suggestions but it turned out that the opposite was true.
Simply speaking, their Japanese listeners were innocent. They have such complaints
because they dont know about a very important element in Japanese conversations.
This element is called (), which means brief response. In a Japanese
conversation, it is very unnatural for someone to talk for a while without getting any
response from their listeners. When a Japanese is on the listening side during a
conversation, he must say (yes), (indeed), (really?) or other
similar phrases to show people that they are listening. All Japanese know that these
phrases do not mean a yes or imply any agreement. On the other hand, in many
non-Japanese cultures, it is impolite to interrupt when people are talking and we are
taught to keep our mouth shut until people have finished their sentences. So
naturally we have the tendency to keep our mouth shut even when we are in a
Japanese conversation. If both sides of the conversation are foreigners, e.g. to
practice spoken Japanese, it is okay. But when you are talking to a native Japanese,
if you keep silent while he is talking, he will be unhappy and the situation will become
embarrassing because it is very likely that he thinks you are not listening. ,
though meaningless, is a very important element in Japanese conversations. If you
dont know about it, you will misunderstand your Japanese friends. And if you dont
use it, your Japanese friends will surely misunderstand you as well.
One more thing you must know about Japanese yes and no is that Japanese
RARELY say no directly when they are turning down offers. For example:
A: (Lets see a film together this
Saturday)
B: (I want to go, but this Saturday is a little
bit)

In Bs dialogue, surprisingly, the most important part is , which implies that B is

turning down A. Every Japanese understands that is a rejection. If you think that
I want to go is the key phrase and ask your Japanese friend whats wrong with
Saturday or suggest Sunday as an alternative, you are being impolite. On the other
hand, when you want to turn down an offer from a Japanese, you shouldnt directly
say (no), because in Japanese shows people your consideration of their
feeling.
In business world, when you hear a Japanese say (We open our
mind to it), (Well try our best), (We will think about
it), (Please let us study it) or other similar phrases, he is
rejecting you politely, trying not to hurt your feeling with a direct rejection. You should
NOT call him next week and ask him about the progress of his study, because he will
never do any study. It applies sometimes even when a Japanese is speaking in
English. So how to tell when a Japanese really means to say yes? A good rule of
thumb is whether he goes into details to elaborate his yes or just say yes without
adding anything.
Maybe you dont like the ambiguity of the Japanese language. But Japanese people
consider ambiguity as the beauty of their language. As long as both the speaking
and the listening sides can get the true meaning between the lines, the superficial
meaning should be as unclear as possible, especially when we are criticizing or
rejecting people, ie. something that will hurt other peoples feeling. As a learner, you
shouldnt just learn how to express your ideas in Japanese. You should also build up
a Japanese mindset and use Japanese the Japanese way.