The country I would love to visit the most would be Italy. The reason why I chose this country is because of how beautiful it is, the fashion, art, food and especially how much they appreciate family. Since the rise of the Roman Empire, Italian art, architecture, and culture have had an influence around the world. Famed Italian painters include Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. The family is at the center of Italian society. Young people often live at home until they are in their 30s, even if they have a job. When parents retire, they often go to live with their children.
Italy has characteristics of both high-context and low-Context culture. According to the book, high-context culture “relies heavily on subtle, often nonverbal cues to maintain social harmony.” (Adler et al.), and by contrast, low-context culture “uses language primarily to express thoughts, feelings, and ideas as directly as possible.” (Adler et al.) Northern Italy and Southern Italy differ by region, as the south is more collectivist and the north is more individualistic. Italians in the north are more business oriented, fast paced, and technologically advanced. In the south, Italians are still rigid in tradition, as family continues to be the center of their lives, and they value their social relationships over business.
Italy is an individualist culture. It’s very “me” centered, especially in the big and rich north of the country. Italy is also very high in masculinity, meaning they’re driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the winner / best in field – a value system that starts in school and continues throughout organizational behavior. The Italians have a lot of Uncertainty Avoidance. Formality in Italian society is important and the Italian penal and civil code are complicated with clauses, codicils etc.
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Some other differences I expect would be eating habits and first impressions. Italians like to eat dinner later than Americans, and they also like to enjoy it more than we do as well. Dinner for them is a time to spend with each other and enjoy one another’s company, but for us, we just eat to get it over with.
Learning the Italian language would be a competent intercultural communicator quality that I would exhibit. It sounds like a lovely language and is considered one of the languages of love. There is a Portuguese friend of the family and she has said that there are many similarities in the Italian, Portuguese, and proper Spanish languages. If I were to become bilingual, it may also help me understand some pieces of these other languages. Another communicator quality would be open minded and adapt to some of the styles of communication. This same family friend mentioned it is difficult to have a conversation without using her hands in an expressive way as she communicates. I would have to understand that it is a cultural way of communicating and not to be viewed as anger or some other strong emotion.
It is easy to see how there can be challenges if people bring judgements and stereotypes when dealing with other cultures. Most countries teach bilingualism as a normal practice, where we do not in the United States. Every culture has their own way of communicating. Some cultures speak loud and expressively, where as others do not. Other cultures may use their hands while speaking but it does not mean any form of strong emotion as it usually does in our American culture.
Works Cited
- Gossmann, Horst, et al. “Italy.” Kids’ Games, Animals, Photos, Stories, and More, 21 Mar. 2014, kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/countries/italy/#italy-coliseum.jpg.
- ‘Italy – Hofstede Insights’. Hofstede Insights, 2019, https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country/italy/.
