It is the adventure of being far away and still feeling at home....

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domingo, 7 de febrero de 2010

Does "Sí" mean "Yes" in Argentina?

When I deliver intercultural trainings, my audience (travelers, expats and international students living in Buenos Aires) usually show a special interest in sharing their experiences on first interactions with Argentinos. A few of them are funny tales and stories of success, but many are chronicles of frustrating encounters, where communicating effectively with Porteños feels like trying to complete a 1000-piece puzzle and always missing the last piece. Expats claim that there is a kind of magic force preventing them from connecting with their Porteños collegues, flatmates or partners.

So why is that?

Sometimes it is the lack of motivation to mix with Porteños that leads to failed interactions. In other cases, Spanish still sounds like Mandarin Chinese to many NewComers who struggle with the local accent and the fast-speaking style of Porteños.

But when the motivation is there, and they have learnt to say more than “Si, gracias” in Spanish and “Qué Buena onda” in Lunfardo´s Buenos Aires slang, there is one more box to consider in BA expats´ checklist: communication style.

A frequent complaint is that locals "just don’t know how to answer a question straight to the point". Is it because all Porteños have suddenly lost their train of thought? Well, some of them possibly, but ... everyone?

Others moan that Porteños usually don´t say what they really mean. Does "Sí" mean "Yes" in Argentina? Or Spanish rules changed and “Sí” now means “Maybe not, but I won´t tell you that”?



The challenge is a bit more profound, and way more interesting to explore!



Cultures differ significantly on many dimensions, being one of the most important ones the level of directness and indirectness. Differences between these two poles account for a large number of cross-cultural misunderstandings.

According to Edward Hall, one of the most respected US Anthropologists and Cross-Cultural Researchers, cultures can have high-context and low context communication patterns.

In a low context culture (such as USA or Germany), communication tends to be direct. Most of the information is in the words and there is no need to read between lines. People say what they mean and they mean what they say.

On the other hand, in high-context cultures (such as Japan, Southeast Asia or China) most information is transmitted indirectly. It is usually implicit in the physical context (such as body language), while very little is contained in the verbal, explicit message. If telling the truth threatens harmony, then the truth should be adjusted or disguised. Preserving relationships and avoiding loss of face are main concerns. So if you forget to read between lines, you will be missing the largest portion of the message of your indirect counterpart.


Having said this – are you now ready to go one step farther in your appreciation of Argentinos´ communication style? Where do you think that Argentina stands between the low-context/ high context cultural orientation?

And last but not least - what kind of communication patterns do YOU have?

I look forward to your thoughts!

_______________________________________



2 comentarios:

Nora dijo...

Cuando digo algo a un argentino, la primera palabra que sale de su boca es "NO." Despues sigue diciendo por que la idea es buena....
Me desconcierta, pues espero que si esta de acuerdo, la primera palabra sea "SI" (por esta razon u otra...)
Con argentinos en America es facil llamarles la atencion y alli se corrijen: "Por que dijiste que NO al principio, si era que estas de acuerdo?"
He acabado por concluir que hay una necesidad de competir con el interlocutor, de "tirarlo abajo" primero y despues dialogar, asi que ya no me dejo confundir por la contradiccion, pero al principio, es un palo en la rueda de mis pensamientos....

Alejandro Tornato dijo...

Hello Natalia, and once again I am confronted with a great topic of conversation.
In Argentina, do we mean what we say and do we say what we mean?? or is our style of communication completely upside down?
This question, I believe is quite valid, because as Nora mentioned in her comment that she used to get a bit concern and worried about the answers that come out of the mouths of "Argentinos". Now, what is the real story about this? Well, I think that in general Argentinians, and especially Porteños in Buenos Aires, have the tendency to go around the bush and not speak in a straightforward manner, clearly and to the point. Perhaps, this tendency is not exclusive to us Argentinians, but more a Latin American characteristic. Another possibility is the fact that when we compare languages, for example English and Spanish, we can see that the former is much more of a technical language, used to communicate and express very specific instructions, down to the point (saying what you mean and meaning what you say). However, let us consider the Spanish language, which in my particular opinion is a very much richer conversational language, extremely expressive with an extensive vocabulary and very descriptive words, used far more for literature than as a technical language. I strongly think that when a person is immersed in a language that gives you so many wonderful opportunities to expand your verbal descriptions to a higher level, the temptation is so great not to go for it.
Having said all this, I do still believe that we, true born Argentinians tend to be quite verbose in how we speak, or even write. I know this for personal experience, and trying to remedy the situation does not happen overnight, it takes a bit longer than that......
Now, in my particular case, I was born in Buenos Aires, and for the past 20+ years I have been living in the United States, and on top of being a Chemical Engineer, I am a motivational/inspirational speaker which I thoroughly love and enjoy doing as much as I can.
For any person considering going to Buenos Aires, and engaging in communication, please pay serious attention to the messages in between the lines, just in case.....

Have a great weekend