“ Throughout Central Africa and the Arab states ,” it continues , “ time is viewed as fluid .” These cultures put personal involvement and completion of projects above schedules . For example , the person who showed up late for their appointment in the preceding paragraph may have helped someone with car problems along the way or listened sympathetically to a worker ’ s grievances . To him , “ the person with immediate needs has as much claim on my ( his ) time as the person waiting for the appointment .” Understanding these “ informal guidelines ” or “ appropriate knowledge ” as they are referred to , is of great assistance in reducing tension and cultural shock .
This cultural view of time was apparent in the training courses I conducted in some Central and East African countries years ago . 10-15 years ago , in Europe , the trainer and the group being trained often would establish training behaviors . For example , they may ‘ agree ’ that the latecomer might sing a verse of a song , tell a short story of why they were late or offer some other apology to the waiting group . ( Although , the current attitude seems to be just to ignore latecomers .) The embarrassment , it was assumed , would encourage them to be on time .
In some African countries I visited , even though in general the participants were eager to learn , they weren ’ t particularly concerned with time ; i . e ., arriving on time , starting on time , returning on time after a break , etc . The , ‘ European ’ methodology therefore , had no effect on the Africans , who enjoyed the focus of the group when they would walk in late . In addition , they love to sing ! In fact , the whole group would join in singing / dancing !! On the other hand , they had no problem staying late to finish the course . Time , as defined above , was “ fluid ” to them .
SPACE - GIVE ME SOME ROOM !
How we view our personal space , both in the area of physical environment and communication space between participants of discussions is also largely governed by our culture , and varies from culture to culture . “ Germans , for example , generally use space and physical separation to reinforce social distance .”( v )
To illustrate ; a German manager would have an office separate from his workers , whereas , the Japanese manager usually has no separate office . The Japanese would “ display ” their position and / or status by the location of their desk in an open area filled with many desks . A German , entering a Japanese office might interpret it as egalitarian , but in reality , it is not viewed that way in Japan .
Another way in which the cultural view of space is seen is in the area of communication . Sensitivity to the space issue can reduce stress . Talking about spatial orientation , the book Intercultural Interactions , discusses the “ comfortable ” distances people keep between themselves , and notes that these distances seem to remain rather constant among cultural groups . “ Latin Americans ” explains this source , “ typically keep much less distance between themselves during casual conversation than do European Americans . The close distance comfortably maintained between Latin Americans typically evokes hostile or sexual feelings in northern Europeans ( or Americans )…
Care should be taken to avoid misinterpretation of such culturally influenced differences .” Americans or northern Europeans may “ refer to some people as pushy or distant and cold ( all adjectives with negative connotations in this context ),” the same source notes . Therefore , care needs to be taken about labeling persons ’ actions , since spaces maintained between individuals are “ usually not reflections of aggressive or pushy personalities or of cold and distant ones , should a larger … distance be maintained ; rather they are culturally determined .” How people use space can accent or even override the spoken word . The intimate space around the body is usually reserved for intimate associates . In the United States , this space is about 18 inches .
Secondly , the casual-personal space is reserved for friends , which ranges from 18 inches to 3 feet . The social-consultative space is used for most day-today interactions , and is from 3 to 4 feet among the Americans . The last , public space is over 4 feet . From this you can imagine the difficulties in communication that could arise when Americans interact with other cultures whose space distance is at variance with theirs .