Describe The Differences Between My Culture And American Culture

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When it comes to verbal communication norms, there are similarities and differences that can be identified between my culture, South Korean Culture and the United States culture. For instance, when engaged in conversation with someone, all cultures take into consideration the idea of saving face (255). In my culture and the South Korean culture, they will use ambiguous language in order to decrease the chance of losing face while talking with another person. But, in the United States culture, one is more concerned with saving the face of himself or herself rather than someone else. This also ties back to power distance, because with the high power distance like my culture and the South Korean, there tends to be a greater social gap between those in power and those under someone else’s power. When speaking to someone in power or someone older than you, it is more common in my culture and the South Korean culture to be more polite and respectful. That is not to say that the United States culture does not also practice this type of communication behavior. The …show more content…
In fact, not showing eye contact is often taken as an offense to the person with whom that person is speaking to and can lead the other person to believe that they are not interested in the conversation or that they are trying to hide something (287).
Another nonverbal communication that is distinct between my culture, the South Korean and American culture is the use of personal space. According to the Communication between Cultures textbook, those cultures that put more emphasis on the individualism, like the United States culture, rather than the collectivism, as seen in my culture and the South Korean culture, tend to prefer having more personal space (293). I find this to be especially true when I look into the