Being on Time

Professor Enell enjoys teaching and invites his students to his home to celebrate the end of the semester with him and his wife. He asks them to come for dessert and coffee at three o'clock in the afternoon.

At two thirty, the doorbell rings, and Mrs. Enell—not yet ready to receive her guests—opens the door to find her husband's Korean students standing there. Flustered, Mrs. Enell ushers them in.

Not everyone interprets time in the same way. Most Americans expect that guests will arrive at the appointed time or perhaps a few minutes later; they are generally not prepared for guests who arrive ahead of time, especially thirty minutes. However, both Japa­nese and Korean guests tend to arrive early. This is their interpre­tation of being "on time."

Carol tells about a Nigerian man who invited her to an eight o'clock dinner in the United States. He reminded her to be prompt because the dinner was on "American time, not Nigerian time." Previously, she had learned what Nigerian time meant—she had attended a one o'clock Nigerian Catholic wedding that did not begin until three o'clock.

Judy, too, made a discovery about ethnic time differences when she showed up at five thirty for a six o'clock Indian wedding, and no one else was there. The ceremony finally began at eight forty-five. Afterward, she asked if there had been a misprint on the invitation. "Oh, no," she was told. "We never pay attention to the time."

American regional interpretations of time differ as well. Margie arrived thirty minutes late for a brunch, and when her Vermont hostess scolded her, she retorted, "In Tennessee, twelve o'clock means twelve thirty. At home, if I were to arrive at twelve for a noon brunch they would ask, 'What are you doing here?' In the South, people don't expect you until thirty to forty minutes after the set time."

• 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.

Physical Characteristics

Voice

Paralanguage is vocal communication other than the verbal content. In addition to loudness, paralanguage includes the speed of speaking, accent, tone, and such non-words as grunts or "uh nuns" and other filler-words. Often, hearing a stranger's voice (in a telephone conversation, for example) is sufficient to guess the person's gender, ethnic group, age, and other char­acteristics. Voice is a means by which individuals can be identified nonver­bally.

Loudness of voice when speaking is another type of nonverbal communi­cation. Generally, we speak more loudly when we are more distant from the person we are addressing or when we are in a public speaking situation, such as in a classroom. Males often speak more loudly than females. Asians gen­erally speak softly, with Asian women speaking even more softly than men. Most Thais speak very softly, and it is considered good manners to do so. Thais typically perceive that North Americans are angry, or at least rude, owing to their relatively loud manner of speaking. Emotions such as anger, excitement, or enthusiasm may be conveyed by speaking in a loud voice.

In Arabic nations, males speak loudly in order to indicate sincerity. North Americans consider this volume aggressive and obnoxious. A Saudi Arabian also lowers his voice in order to show respect for a superior. This leads his North American conversation partner to raise his voice. Soon, both individuals are frustrated and confused.

North Americans often think Latin Americans are arguing when they are just having a conversation. Qualifiers such as voice volume, pitch, and tone give this false impression.

This is also true of French speaking style.