Coursera课程笔记----Write Professional Emails in English----Week 5

Culture Matters(Week 5)

High/Low Context Communication

High Context Communication

• The Middle East, Asia, Africa, South America
  • Non-explicit
  • Descriptive
  • Longer Emails

Low Context Communication

• North America, Western Europe
  • Straight forward
  • Concise
  • Efficient
  • Logic
  • Facts
  • Directness

Low Context Writer + High Context Reader

• Status & identity need acknowledgement
• Building a relationship is important

High Context Writer + Low Context Reader

• Efficiency & effectiveness through tasks
• Direct questions are used for clarity

Age & Gender Considerations

DO:

• Use RESPECTFUL words(Mr., Ms., Mrs.)
• Use official TITLES

DON'T:

• Don't use SLANG words
• Limit references to POP culture

Gender

• Keep Gender NEUTRAL
• NO BIAS

Assignment: Write an Email to Yourself

Subject:

Learning Impressions from English Courses

Message:

Dear Me,

I come from China and my mother language is Chinese, and it's a high-context communication culture. So if you would like to write a letter to one Chinese person, you'd better build a good relationship with that person. If you want to write a professional email, I recommend you to remenber keep your subject line clean and specific, keep your message concise and humble and do not forget to review before send it out. The best advice I received through this course is the inportance of efficient and logic. I hope you will enjoy the next course.

Regards,

Xinzhe Wang