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Title: The Silent Language by Edward T. Hall ISBN: 0-385-05549-8 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 03 July, 1973 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (5 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Out of date
Comment: This book may have been important in the 1950's, but it's rather quaint and dated now. It contains many interesting anecdotes about the differences between cultures, but very little of it is systematic or scientific. The idea that other cultures are not like us and that their communication systems are different as a result is not very revolutionary at a time when one can read the blogs of Iranian students on a daily basis.
The book lacks rigor. In the third chapter, for example, the author introduces us to a formal concept of "Primary Message Systems" (such as "learning", "play", "territorality", etc), but the concepts aren't carried forward into the rest of the book and the reader is left hanging. Besides, one has to be pretty suspicious of such concepts when it turns out that there are exactly ten - not nine or eleven - of these primary message systems.
Many of the anecdotes are interesting and illustrative, but they're mostly limited to the cultures that Hall has experience with; which turns out to be Americans, the Hopis, middle eastern Arabs, the Japanese and one or two others. It would be more interesting to see examples drawn from all over the world. Better would be a systematic comparison of, say, the concept of being on time for a meeting covering a dozen or more cultures. Instead we get only anecdotes about the fact that Arabs and Latin Americans don't find it rude to be an hour late for a meeting while being an hour late infuriates Americans. What about Russians? What about Japanese?
The book is dated and this shows one of its biggest flaws. It's hard to read about the American male greeting ritual of pounding each other on the back and exchanging cigars or the American female desire for dominance within her kitchen with a straight face these days. The very fact that culture is transient and changes over time is hardly addressed in the book, but it's one of the most obvious points the 21st century reader takes away from the book.
Lastly, Hall tries to keep value judgements out of his comparisons, but fails at the task. Over and again he slips and lets us see his disregard for American culture. Americans are too conscious of time compared to more laid-back cultures. Americans are too strict in their concept of personal space. And so on. Whenever he slips and lets his opinions show, he invariably finds American culture lacking, no matter what it is being compared to.
This book is an interesting trip into the mind of a 1950's academic, but it's not very informative on modern culture or modern thought about culture.
Rating: 4
Summary: Another winner from Hall, but maybe not his best
Comment: If you only read one Edward Hall book, I think that "Beyond Culture" is a better read, and more lucid. Although the two texts overlap somewhat, there are many concepts in this book that do not appear in the other (the idea of "High Context" vs "Low Context" cultures is only hinted at in this text).
The basic concept of "Silent Language" is that much of our communication is non-verbal, but that it consistently follows cultural and linguistic patterns, just as spoken and written communication does. The major difference in non-verbal communication is that it is mostly subconscious.
The book revolves around the idea that all cultural conventions can be classified as either formal, informal, or technical. Although he spends an entire chapter introducing this concept, I personally found the distinctions a bit confusing, although I do believe that the author has an important insight.
One of my favorite concepts was the idea of 'spacial accent,' which describes the size of and culturally-specific behaviors associated with that invisible zone we all carry around with us. This concept helps explain why Europeans (outside of the British) generally don't queue, and why this so aggravates Americans (and presumably Brits). The concept of 'order' also helps explain different behaviors in forming lines (American belief in 'first come, first serve, is culturally relative). Besides speaking about space, he also discusses the cultural aspects of time, which he also describes in terms of an 'accent'. (He deals with both space and time more fully in two of his other books.)
Hall makes quite a number of connections between cultural behavior, these three types of cultural convention, and specific forms of expression. Examples include: --Why scientists are terrible writers (one of several digressions away from non-verbal communications) --A very believable explanation of why art is art --Why long-range planning is rare in America
--A concept of sacred place that anticipates the recent idea that men retreat to personal 'caves'
All in all, I found this an enjoyable and enlightening book. I wish that it could have been more clear in spots, and I think it is fair to say that some of his ideas are more fully worked out in some of his other books. My only real complaint is about the quality of Anchor's reproduction, which uses a cheap paper that cannot withstand normal highlighters at all (try the wax Textliners from Faber-Castell).
Rating: 4
Summary: a critique of the silent language
Comment: The Silent Language was indeed an excellent book on the cultural influences on communication. Its definition of culture in the contexts of time and space were insightful. The most interesting thing was the breakdown of culture as communication into three categories. This is truly a breakthrough in defining theory for anthropology and related social sciences.
However, the book was limited in its focus, given that this phenomenon does not apply to North Americans only, but to anyone wishing to travel to a foreign country, whether on business, or recreation. One could say that in order to understand it, we may substitute our own experiences into those given by the author.
But culture can only be understood in social, economical, historical and political contexts. It is these contexts that shape or influence our perception, and the way we relate to others. Therefore, if Hall seeks to appeal to the intelligent , culturally diverse, non-technical audience, he should make the book more culturally relevant. In doing so, however, he must avoid generalisations that may make the text too simplistic and lose its focus.
An overall interesting book.
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Title: Beyond Culture by Edward T. Hall ISBN: 0385124740 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 October, 1971 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Hidden Dimension by Edward T. Hall ISBN: 0385084765 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 September, 1990 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Dance of Life : The Other Dimension of Time by Edward T. Hall ISBN: 0385192487 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 09 February, 1984 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Understanding Cultural Differences: Germans, French, and Americans by Edward Twitchell Hall, Mildred Reed Hall, Mildred R. Hall ISBN: 1877864072 Publisher: Intercultural Press Pub. Date: March, 1990 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Hidden Differences : Doing Business with the Japanese by Mildred Reed Hall, Edward T. Hall ISBN: 0385238843 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 18 May, 1990 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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