Cross cultural understanding: a handbook to understand others’ cultures

F.
 
Turn - taking 
In normal, civilized Western-type of conversation, 
speakers do not speak all the time; they wait for their ‗ turn‘. 
But, how do people go about allocating turns to each other or 
themselves? This is the mechanism of turn taking. On the one 
hand, there are natural breaks in every conversation; a speaker 
has to pause for breath, or runs out things to say, or simply 
declares his or her contribution to be finished.
What do you think is happening here? 
Researchers looking into intercultural communication asked and 
Italian and a Japanese to find out particular information from each 
other. They interviewed them separately after the conversation. The 
Italian said, “ He seemed like a nice guy, but 
he never really said 

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98 | Cross Cultural Understanding 
anything”. And the Japanese said, “ He was very friendly, but he 
never gave me a chance to speak”.
 
The way that turn-taking works in a conversation, and 
the role of silence, differ between cultures. In some it is 
acceptable, and even desirable to interrupt, whereas in some 
others it is normal to wait for your partner to finish speaking 
before making your point. In some cultures, a period of silence 
is accepted as the norm.
EXERCISE 1: 
1.
Answer the following questions 
(a)
What is non-verbal communication? 
(b)
The smile has many function. Explain. 
(c)
Why is eye contact important? 
2.
Answer the following questions about your own culture 
(a)
Are there any non-verbal communications in your 
culture? 
(b)
What kind of impression do people form of one another 
based in non-verbal communication? 
(c)
What should a foreigner learn about non-verbal 
communication in your culture? 

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Cross Cultural Understanding | 99