3.12 Time

Another important dimension of nonverbal communication is time. Chronemics is the way in which time affects communication. The amount of time elapsed before being considered late for an appointment varies widely from culture to culture. The Japanese are extremely prompt 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, individuals in Latin America and the Middle East are extremely relaxed about punctuality.

The length of time for a certain type of communication may also be culturally determined. Let’s take the following example. An American was invited by officials in a Japanese advertising agency to a 10.00 a.m. meeting at their office in Tokyo. The topic was interesting, and the discussions were exciting. But after 11.00 a.m., the visitor noticed that he was the only one talking. The Japanese officials seemed to have lost any interest in the discussion. Later, he learned that the appointment had been pre-set for one hour. Because Japan is a high-context culture, this point was not explained to the visitor. It was assumed that he knew. The Japanese officials had other appointments at 11.00 a.m.

Time can be organized into technical, formal, and informal components. Scientists developed the atomic clock to be the most accurate available; time is measured by the vibration of electrons in atoms. Formal time involves the process of separating units of time into days, weeks, and months. In the United States, formal time is used for precise appointments: government hearings, court dates, job interviews. Informal time in the same culture has a more loosely defined (within limits) approximation: 8.00 can mean anywhere between 8.00 and 8.15 to 8.50. Informal time involves attitudes about punctuality within a culture.

Symbolic uses of time can be related to a person’s or culture’s orientation. In the West, time is viewed as a linear progression from the past, to the present, to the future. Other cultures do not segment events the same way. Some cultures have a reverence for past experience; they value precedent and reject the present as untested. Other cultures have a future orientation – visions of how life will be. Others find both looking backward and forward irrelevant – the present is what counts.

Language can reveal a culture’s attitudes towards time. In the United States we “spend” time; “time is money”; and we ask if we can “have some of your time?”

3.13 Touch

Haptics is nonverbal communication that involves touching. Individuals within a culture vary as to the degree to which they touch while speaking, and there are important differences in touching from culture to culture. Touching is usually intended to convey warmth, caring, and other positive emotions; but it may be playful or show irritation. Hugging or kissing as a greeting conveys intimacy.

A set of cultural conventions guides who may touch whom, under what conditions, and where to touch. For instance, same-sex touching in the United States is more permissible than cross-sex touching. Male-to-male touching is much less frequent (except in sports) than female-to-female touching, perhaps out of fear that such touching might be perceived as indicating a sexual preference. The difference is the displays of touching are not only gender based, they are also determined by status. In business, higher-status employees generally initiate touch; lower-status employees are less likely to do so since the behavior could be interpreted as assuming a familiarity which does not exist.

Shaking hands is an example of differing cultural perceptions. In the United States, a moist handshake transmits a message that the individual is nervous or anxious. Most people in that culture think that a firm handshake is appropriate, and that a weak handshake is wimpy. In India, where handshaking is not practiced very widely as a form of greeting, a rather limp handshake is culturally appropriate. Indians generally greet each other by holding their palms together in front of their chest. In Korea and in Mali a person touches his/her right forearm with the left hand while shaking hands. Moroccans kiss the other person’s hand while shaking. Islamic men may greet each other by embracing and kissing first on one cheek and then on the other. Thais greet each other with a wai (pronounced “wi”), which is executed by placing the hands together in a praying position in front of the chest. Japanese people greet each other with a bow. The depth of the bow depends on the other person’s status. Bows entail bending at the waist at about 30 degrees, 45 degrees, 90 degrees, depending on the relative status of the other person. One should not rise from the bow until the person of higher status has risen. The arms should be at the sides while bowing and one should gaze downward. A common greeting between a Japanese person and a foreigner is to bow while shaking hands.