CHAPTER 3

Communication in the Gulf

The strength of a person is in his intelligence and his tongue.

—Arabic Proverb

People who travel to different parts of the world often notice that the way they do things is very different from the behavior of people in the country they are visiting. A simple illustration of such differences can be seen when North Americans visiting Greece are surprised by the fact that it is “culturally allowed” to slightly push others out of the way in crowded situations. In the United States, this would be considered offensive. Differences such as these are embedded in what is referred to as the distinction between high context and low context cultures. Greece is a high context culture in which a gentle push would be an ...

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