Getting Through: The Pleasures and Perils of Cross-Cultural Communication

by Roger J. Kreuz, Richard M. Roberts

We can learn to speak other languages, but do we truly understand what we are saying? How much detail should we offer when someone asks how we are? How close should we stand to our conversational partners? Is an invitation genuine or just pro forma? So much of communication depends on culture and context. In Getting Through , Roger Kreuz and Richard Roberts offer a guide to understanding and being understood in different cultures. Drawing on research from psychology, linguistics, sociology, and other fields, as well as personal experience, anecdotes, and popular culture, Kreuz and Roberts describe cross-cultural communication in terms of pragmatics -- exploring how language is used and not just what words mean. Sometimes this is easy to figure out. If someone hisses "I'm fine!" though clenched teeth, we can assume that she's not really fine. But sometimes the context, cultural or otherwise, is more nuanced. For example, a visitor from another country might be taken aback when an American offers a complaint ("Cold out today!") as a greeting. And should you apologize the same way in Tokyo as you would in Toledo? Kreuz and Roberts help us navigate such subtleties. It's a fascinating way to think about human interaction, but it's not purely The more we understand one another, the better we can communicate, and the better we can communicate, the more we can avoid conflict.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction

304 pages, Unknown Binding

Published August 11, 2017

About the author

Roger J. Kreuz a.k.a. Roger Kreuz has been a professor of psychology for 35 years. After studying psychology and linguistics at the University of Toledo, he earned master's and doctoral degrees in experimental psychology at Princeton University. He was also a post-doctoral researcher in cognitive gerontology at Duke University. Since 1988, he has been a faculty member at the University of Memphis. He has researched and published on diverse topics in the psychology of language, primarily in the areas of text and discourse processing and figurative language. He currently serves as an associate dean and as Director of Graduate Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Memphis.

Reviews

[Kerstin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent! I plan to read through this one again

Wish there was a little less attention on what pragmatics are and more on how they affect cross-cultural communication, but that's mostly because I already knew about the former.

[Teri-K]

Not a bad book, but I'm not finishing it. The topic just doesn't interest me enough. I've lived overseas and had many friends from many countries, so the material seems obvious to me. But as I'm not finishing it, it might get deeper further on.

[Nancy Rosaasen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m such a geek! I love this type of book… interesting anecdotes and clear explanations. I just wish there were more stories. Sometimes a theory was stand alone and I would have enjoyed an anecdote.