High-Context {may lead to} High Stress
Crammed into a small classroom of our new language school, 60 anxious students gathered to learn about the "modules" we are expected to participate in each week. A teacher briefly explained that in order to have a full 18 hours/week of language school, each student is required to choose 3 modules to attend each week. She quickly gave the title of each module (such as creative writing, theater, phonetics, literature, songs, and economics) and promptly passed papers around the crowded room for each student to sign up for his/her chosen modules with limited seats in each class.
It was stressful! But why?
You see, in France, unlike in the United States, we live in a highly contextual culture. Wikipedia explains it well: In a high-context culture, many things are left unsaid, letting the culture explain. Words and word choice become very important in higher-context communication, since a few words can communicate a complex message very effectively to an in-group (but less effectively outside that group -- note, here in France we are outside of "that" group), while in a lower-context culture, the communicator needs to be much more explicit and the value of a single word is less important.
A few weeks ago our church met at a new location. I asked a teammate, "Do we have a sign outside to direct people to the right place?" He paused and said, "No..." as if to ask, "Why would we need that?" Then I remembered: I'm in France; it's a high-context culture.
The very first time we visited France, nearly 3 years ago, we traveled a lot by train. We noticed several people taking their train tickets and sticking them in a small yellow machine/box. Looking at the box that read "compostage", we wondered if it was some sort of recycling machine. Soon we learned that composte in French actually means "punch"; the machine is used to validate and stamp train tickets, not recycle them.
At pre-field training we were warned that, with an occupation like ours, we will live in constant, unrelenting stress. The adjustment from a low-context culture like the United States to a high-context culture like France is just one example of how we experience the constant, unrelenting stress in everyday situations.
It was stressful! But why?
You see, in France, unlike in the United States, we live in a highly contextual culture. Wikipedia explains it well: In a high-context culture, many things are left unsaid, letting the culture explain. Words and word choice become very important in higher-context communication, since a few words can communicate a complex message very effectively to an in-group (but less effectively outside that group -- note, here in France we are outside of "that" group), while in a lower-context culture, the communicator needs to be much more explicit and the value of a single word is less important.
A few weeks ago our church met at a new location. I asked a teammate, "Do we have a sign outside to direct people to the right place?" He paused and said, "No..." as if to ask, "Why would we need that?" Then I remembered: I'm in France; it's a high-context culture.The very first time we visited France, nearly 3 years ago, we traveled a lot by train. We noticed several people taking their train tickets and sticking them in a small yellow machine/box. Looking at the box that read "compostage", we wondered if it was some sort of recycling machine. Soon we learned that composte in French actually means "punch"; the machine is used to validate and stamp train tickets, not recycle them.
At pre-field training we were warned that, with an occupation like ours, we will live in constant, unrelenting stress. The adjustment from a low-context culture like the United States to a high-context culture like France is just one example of how we experience the constant, unrelenting stress in everyday situations.
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