nonverbal communication----time language

nonverbal communication----time language

The varying attitudes toward time and its utilization held by the various cultures in the world means that serious misunderstandings may arise in intercultural communication unless those individuals involved are aware of, and sensitive to, a number of basic considerations.

Americans and others in the Western world are said to live in the present and the near future and hence plan carefully. Other cultures, such as in the Middle East or Asia, live in their ancient pasts or in the far distant future and hence do not plan so assiduously. To the Hindu and Buddhist this life is only one among countless lives yet to come, merely one dot in an endless series of dots, so why plan?

Americans look upon time as a present, tangible commodity, something to be used, something to be held accountable for. They spend it, waste it, save it, divide it, and are stewards of it, just as if they were handling some tangible object. In order to use time well, they schedule the day and week and month carefully, set up timetables, and establish precise priorities. They prepare carefully for business conferences, for personal interviews, for group meetings of all types. This they assume to be an elementary aspect of efficiency. But some Arabs, Asian and others look on this as obsessiveness, and aggressiveness. Their lack of planning communicates to Westerners laziness, inefficiency, and untrustworthiness.

Americans expect an invitation to a dinner or a request for a date or for any other social event to be proffered reasonably far in advance. This shows evidence t

hat the inviter really wanted to have the guests, and that it was not some last minute decision on his part dictated by factors other than his honest desire. To do otherwise would be considered an insult. In fact, often such last minute invitations, no matter how enticing, will be turned down basically because the recipient refuses to permit himself to be “secured” at the last minute. But in the Arab and Asian world, many simply forget appointments and arrangements if they are planned too far in advance, and their last minute invitations are sincere, and certainly not to be interpreted as insults.

Americans place great stress on punctuality. Any consistently tardy person is taken to be undependable, untrustworthy, and disrespectful vis-à-vis the audience, message, or occasion.

For many situations Americans would consider tardiness of five minutes to be relatively serious and improper, but other cultures would consider such an attitude to be a rather neurotic slavery to time. Many Americans abroad could avoid much frustration if they realized that someone in another culture would have to be fifteen or even as much as forty-five minutes tardy if he were to be considered as late in his time framework as five minutes is in America’s. In some cultures it is assumed that a busy, important person should come late. Hence, coming on time would only lower his prestige. Americans serving abroad have to clarify whether the beginning time of a scheduled meeting is to be “American” or “local” time.