Verbal CommunicationIn The Mexican culture it is quite different to the Australian culture in how they show respect to one an other through the way they address each other;
In Mexico it is common to use your work colleagues sir name to address each other, after the relationship is very strongly established you can move onto addressing each other through their first name. It is consider rude to call some one by their first name early in the relationship, unlike in Australia where your identity lies in your first name. Titles are also starkly contrasted to Australia, examples of this include phrases such as Licienda which means a professional such as a lawyer or Ingeniera which means an engineer, these all frequently used terms that are respectable in their culture. There a many different elements the make Mexican conversations different to Australian conversations; Mexicans are very open about their families and private life, and regularly ask direct questions about peoples private lives in conversation, unlike western culture this is not considered rude, you are considered to be taking an interest in their life and showing respect. Mexicans also tend to ask foreigners what the prices are like in their country, this may be considered intrusive and offensive in western culture, but they are just interested in comparing your prices to their own. Mexican communication is high context, so they try to avoid confrontations and saying no at all costs so they give answers such as maybe or perhaps. To western cultures this may come across as fawning which is a disdained trait, but it is part of their culture. Non-Verbal CommunicationThe para language in Mexico is based on emotions so speed, tone and facial expressions will vary one the communicators emotions;
This largely being due to the fact that in the Mexican culture the respectful and polite way to convey that your are engaged in the conversation is to outwardly show your emotions to the person you're communication too. Despite the fact that Mexicans believe that you should be subtle about your emotions the do not like aggression in any form and the emotion should concealed if it is felt because it is greatly disparaged. Nonverbal communication in the Mexican culture is starkly juxtaposed to western cultures gestures; The western gesture for 'come here' has very different connotations in Mexico. It is used to convey you are extremely romantically interest in a person and is considered a request for sexual relations or to consider the future prospects of a relationship. The way to signal for someone to come over to you in Mexico is to extend your hand with your palm down and move all four fingers in and out together three or four times. Eye contact is a valued in western and Mexican culture, but is used in a very different way in Mexico. In Mexico the meaning of eye contact is affected by gender, if two people in the same gender make direct eye contact it is translated to be aggressive, however if the opposite sex make eye contact it is taken as flirtatious. Personal space is not a very prominent idea in Mexico and the way genders embrace is very opposite to how western cultures embrace; Mexican people tend to enjoy a close range of touch when they are partaking in a conversation. This again is the way they show attentiveness in the person they are talking too. An important aspect of Mexican non-verbal communication is they way men greet each other, this this shows equality amongst their society. Men embrace each other through kisses on both sides of the cheek and hug, this tradition is deeply engorged in Mexican customs. |