It’s amazing how different cultures are. I learned a lot in my anthropology class about intercultural communication: different cultures exercise different manners and behaviors and can exhibit opposing communication context styles.
As a Korean-American, I feel caught in-between. I don’t know whether the message is a message-in-a-message, or a simple, straightforward answer.
I don’t always understand the message that Korean elders are trying to convey when speaking to me; or more like not speaking to me… Anyways, I may not be perfect in speaking and understanding the language but I know enough to get by. Even if I knew Korean to understand, I would still find myself lost trying to figure out their message because, most of the time, it’s in the form of a story or some other indirect way that I need to dissect and figure out.
As for Americans, it’s more of the tell-it-like-it-is.
Now I understand why people who don’t enjoy their job are always complaining and stressed out about it.
