14. The specificity of non-verbal communication: cultural differences in the concept of time.

One man writes about Hong Kong, "I presume Hong Kong is a busy area, where people walk fast, talk fast, and overwork to death." One aspect of the concept of time which will be all too obvious is that there seems to be too little time in which to do too many things. This sense of time might be called time urgency, a term taken from descriptions by researchers into stress. As they have described this "hurry sickness," it is a syndrome of behavior in which the person continually tries to accomplish more than can be humanly accom­plished. Until very recently, time urgency was thought to be a characteristic of Americans, particularly American males in the generation born in the period from the Great Depression through to the end of World War II (1929-45).

It should be obvious that this sense of time urgency is no longer a cultural characteristic of just this one generation of American males. It is a characteristic of the Asian "salaryman," and is spreading throughout the world rapidly as one aspect of the internation­alization of business and government. As that discourse system spreads together with international business communications, this sense of time urgency also appears to be spreading.

The most important aspect of this sense of time is that in discourse it will almost always produce a negative evaluation of the slower participants by the faster participants in a communicative situation. Those who share in this concept of time urgency will come to see anyone who moves more slowly than they do as conservative, as uncooperative, as resistant to change, and as opposing progress. Behind the concept of time urgency is the idea that what lies ahead in the future is always better than what lies behind in the past; it is based solidly on the belief in progress.

Time can be measured formally by seconds, hours, days, months, years, by different calendars—or informally by moons and weather seasons, or other systems. People seem to easily understand the differences in formal time be­tween cultures. But time can also be structured informally by a culture, and informal time elements are loosely defined, not explicitly taught, and typi­cally operate outside consciousness. People therefore comprehend this in­formal structuring of time across cultures with less accuracy than their un­derstanding of a formal time system. In addition, chronemic cues can be intentional or unintentional, and are often ambiguous. To further compli­cate matters, time cues have an ability to evoke strong emotional reactions.

Punctuality and waiting time are important elements of informal time, but what constitutes acceptable punctuality or waiting time can vary by cul­ture and by situation. Arriving five minutes late for a business appointment in the United States usually elicits a brief apology, whereas arriving thirty minutes late in another culture would not merit mention.

Different perceptions of acceptable punctuality and waiting time can cause people to take offense where none was intended. However, these ele­ments can also be used to send intentional messages, even in a culture such as the United States that is considered to be very low-context in communi­cation style. The story is told that shortly after Harry Truman became presi­dent, a newspaper editor called on him. After waiting forty-five minutes, the editor asked an aide to convey to the president his annoyance about the long wait. Truman is said to have replied that the same editor had kept him cool­ing his heels for an hour and a half when Truman was a junior senator, and that as far as he was concerned, the editor still had "forty-five minutes to go." In this situation, chronemic cues evoked strong emotions in both par­ties. Since different cultures conceive of or perceive time quite differently, this difference in perception greatly affects cross-cultural communication.

The North American Sioux have no words for "late" or "waiting," and Truk Islanders have no past tense in their language, treating the past as if it were the present. These cultures would certainly "use" time differently than, for example, the punctual Swiss, who sometimes complain about the lax manner in which North Americans treat time.

The difference in perception of time greatly affects cross-cultural com­munication and frequently generates misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and ill will.

Monochronic concept. The monochronic concept indicates a linear and sequential approach toward time that is rational, suppresses spontane­ity, and tends to focus on one activity at a time. People are punctual, effi­cient, and "get to the point" quickly. It is more typical of the Western than the Eastern world, and in the West predominates in North America and Northern Europe.

In the United States, particularly when communicating in a business en­vironment, one may actually be asked to "get to the point," whereas in many countries to start out with "the point" too quickly is considered rude.

Polychronic concept. Cultures that have a polychronic, or multiple-activity, "matrix" concept of time only loosely measure time with the sym­bols of a formalized system. Business relationships are personalized, based on trust, and take "time" to establish. It is "time" to move on to the next activity when the current set of activities is over. This approach toward time considers activity more important than the abstract measure of time by a clock. A polychronic concept of time is typical of Latin and Mediterranean cultures and, to some degree, Eastern cultures. Persons in polychronic cul­tures typically carry on many activities at the same time.

When trying to communicate, northern Europeans and North Americans tend to find multiple, simultaneous activities and conversations chaotic and difficult to follow. They may be overwhelmed when trying to meet with someone in a Latin American office while people come in and out, the sec­retary asks a question, the errand runner brings back a part for the car, the phone rings, and several conversations are carried on at once, and they may find social situations with multiple cross conversations and people talking all at the same time uncomfortable and confusing. They commonly state that such situations "drive them crazy." Certainly, for communication pur­poses, individuals from predominantly monochronic cultures have different personal capacities to adapt to polychronicity. North American accountants and North American musicians probably conceive of time quite differently. Even so, either a monochronic or polychronic treatment of time usually dominates in a given culture.

Polychronic cultures have different patterns of turn-taking when speak­ing than do monochronic cultures. Interrupting another speaker is not un­common in a polychronic culture, and in fact may be taken as indicative of one's interest or enthusiasm, but interruption causes offense in some cultures. While some interruptions are acceptable in southern Europe and Latin America, conversational overlap is considered ill-mannered in northern Eu­rope, and in the United States. Interruptions frequently frustrate Scandina­vian and German negotiators when they conduct meetings in Italy, Spain, or Greece. Swedish researchers, in recording Spanish-Swedish negotiations, found that the Spaniards interrupted the Swedes five times more often than the reverse.

Trying to carry on a conversation with someone from a culture with a turn-taking rhythm that we have not learned is as awkward as trying to dance with someone when you just cannot get in step.

For people in polychronic countries, it is important to take time to get to know someone before deciding to do business with them. Business and so­cial calls both take time and often require multiple visits, where one visit would suffice to accomplish the same purpose in a monochronic culture. In the view of a number of French writers, the legendary instant friendliness of North Americans is superficial, because it is so unlike the time taken in more polychronic France to painstakingly explore another's personality to achieve intimacy.

The Japanese are extremely prompt, often to the second, in meeting with someone at an appointed time. It is considered very rude to keep someone waiting even for several minutes. Many Japanese students have never been late for a class! In contrast, as we have seen, individuals in Latin America and the Middle East are extremely relaxed about punctuality.

• Cultural background affects ideas of what is on time, what is early, and what is late. To avoid unpleasant surprises, explain your ex­pectations about time and ask those from different regions and cultures about theirs.