Spoken Discourse

In our daily conversations, be it on the phone or in-person, we actually mutter many listener responses. And the way we respond is actually greatly affected by culture. It's very interesting to know that even the way we "listen" differs across cultures.

An interesting example would have been the Japanese listener vs the American listener. It is part of Japanese culture to utter many listener responses to show that you understand and are following the speaker. Whereas this does not hold true in America. So an American peaking to a Japanese might actually get annoyed by being interrupted with the Japanese's constant string of "Hais/Yes". But if the Japanese was speaking, he would wonder why the American was so silent and think that the American was not following the conversation.

Even the way we write our narratives and the things we focus on(in the narratives) differ across cultures. It makes me think that the way we are brought and the environment we live in can have such a profound impact on the way we think and perceive the world. For example, Western narratives tend to focus heavily on their characters, making me think that their culture is perhaps more focused on the individual. In another case, Chinese narratives also tend to be more "philosophical" then Western ones, always attaching a "moral" to their stories.

All in all, studying these differences makes me realise that even in the mundane things, we, the People of the Earth can be so different!