LATROBE UNIVERSITY

HOMEWORK WEEK 1
GROUP 3: Le Tuan Hung
Le Ha My
Nguyen Tran Hoan
Le Quang Hieu
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Question: Give 2 examples for the high context and low context and explain.
In our society today, culture is always represented by two forms of high
context and low context. There are many distinct differences between high
context and low context cultures. However, many cultures have certain
aspects of the other. Thus, I will explain the differences between them and
how they intertwine.
To begin with, we need to know what is context. Context can be defined as
The environment in which the communication takes places and which help
to define the communication. Alternatively, context helps reader understand
and define unknown words and make sense of outside information .In writing,
context is very important. Without context, information can be misinterpreted;
with context, information can be understood.
In the second place, we will analyze what is high context. A high context is a
culture in which people use communication to build personal relationship.
That means in high context, people pay more attention on the message that
does not express by the word and they define communication as a way to
increase relationships. A few cultures identified as high context are Asian and
Arab countries. In Asian countries, people often pay attention to the high
context and the body language. For example, if you are at a business lunch in
Japan, the leader old person always sit in the farthest position from the
entrance of the room. In Japan, higher levels are usually seated in locations
such priority to show respect and the negotiations here are often slow and
ritualistic, the agreements are taken as a foundation trust.
By contrast with the high context, low context is a culture where people use
communication primarily to exchange facts and information. Cultural
expressions in the context of poverty are generally accurate, with particular
emphasis on the words in the sentence. To be absolutely clear, these people
strive to use precise words and intend them to be taken literally. In other
words, the main function of speech is to express the views and thoughts of
someone as clear, logical and convincing as possible. For example, at US
negotiators, Germany negotiators, the speech of the leaders always speak

directly to the issue which should be resolved, do not prevaricate. Low

context generally focus on two factors: knowledge and concrete action in
order to help the talks achieve the most effective as possible. These context is
more useful when people make the contract or agreement.
In conclusion, there are many difference things between high context and low
context. However, both of them are very important in order to make the
connection between people. Therefore, we must know all categories of culture
context.