Misunderstandings in Intercultural Communication : Different Strategies in Making the Point in a Story Between Japanese and Americans

Abstract

This paper examines misunderstandings triggered by communication style differencesbetween Japanese and Americans. Specifically, this paper explores how a Japanese wifemakes the point of her story to her American husband and examines how she reaches toher point and why he has difficulty understanding it. The way people express the mainpoint of their conversation can differ dramatically depending on cultural backgrounds.Japanese prefer the main point being understood within the context instead of the speakerexplicitly stating it, which often makes the main point of Japanese speakers’story unclearand difficult to understand for non-Japanese. Careful analysis of the data in this studyshows that the Japanese wife states the point of her story at the end and her Americanhusband has difficulty following to her story and misunderstands her point a couple oftimes through the interaction. This evidence supports the previous research findings.