Do culture and the economy inform international dating?

International dating has some nuances that might be hard to fathom. These nuances may have something to do with cultural differences.

Simply Travel is an international travel agency whose office is in our organization. Thus, we have interviewed two travel consultants who have helped thousands of men to meet their Eastern European ladies.

How culture informs international dating:

Our travel team once made an interesting observation about corporate culture in some international hotels. These hotels which had high-context cultures as well as low-context cultures were often quite complex. I explain why below.

High context culture

In a high-context culture, what is not said could have more meaning than what is clearly said. This is also known as a writer-dependent culture (e.g. China, Japan, India, Mexico, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, etc.).

More specifically, a writer-dependent culture is about respecting the writer or the content producer, and the reader is supposed to try their best to understand what the writer is actually saying. This could explain why many hotels in writer-dependent cultures do not have very clear instructions about how to use certain equipment in the hotel. People should ideally just figure things out by themselves.

Consequently, managers and employees from high-context cultures probably expect others to figure out implied meanings and connotations while communicating with each other in the workplace.

Low context culture

In contrast, in a low-context culture, what is said is clearly more important than what is not being said. This is also known as a reader-dependent culture (e.g. the United States, Germany, Australia, etc.). That is why in a reader-dependent culture, some hotels even have very specific instructions such as ‘how to wash your hands’. Here, managers and employees from low-context cultures might not read between the lines and are likely to not guess the implied meaning of certain words when they communicate. That’s why tensions and conflicts may arise easily in international hotels with a mixture of both high-context culture and low-context cultures.

This issue is not only common among staff members. It’s also true when staff members are communicating with customers from different cultures. Fortunately, cultures are either high-context or low-context in general. So with the correct understanding of these subtle differences, international hotels can manage these tensions and conflicts successfully.

Clearly, although Eastern European countries aren’t really a writer-dependent culture, it’s definitely less reader-dependent compared to western culture. So, when you are dating an Eastern European woman, you should know this. ?

Eastern European culture isn’t really a low-context culture.

Besides, high-context culture and low-context culture have other different characteristics that cannot be neglected. For instance, in a high-context culture, time is flexible in the workplace. In this case, a staff member from a high-context culture might not be punctual every time, and meetings may not be highly efficient. Sometimes a business meeting can last for hours or even days in a high-context culture as business professionals tend to build relationships slowly before making important decisions in business. Yet once relationships are built, they usually become long-lasting business relationships which can benefit businesses in the long run. By contrast, in a low-context culture, time is highly organized, meaning punctuality is highly valued and meetings are usually shorter. Hence, negotiations are oftentimes very efficient in a low-context culture.

That being said, close relationships in a professional environment usually last for a short period of time rather than a long time. It is obvious that people from high-context cultures and those who are from low-context cultures may find it harder to build relationships fast as they might not understand others’ expectations in this respect. That also means if you are looking to date an Eastern European lady, you should build the connection slowly. Be patient!

Western men come from a low-context culture.

Another key issue is how knowledge is handled in international hotels. It is said that in a high-context culture, knowledge is usually confidential with closer relationships in which trust has already been built, whereas, in a low-context culture, knowledge is often transferable and open. This might look like a culture shock when international hotels enter new markets overseas where the culture is so different. Our travel advisors point out that sharing information between the management team and employees is a good practice in a low-context culture, whilst in a high-context culture such as Cuba, maintaining confidentiality instead of sharing information is the key to doing any business, not just at the individual level, but also amongst all management levels.

An example from China

In a high-context culture like China, achieving confidentiality is an obligation. This means if someone shares information, they might even violate moral standards in China. Consider an example where an employee knows how to do a particular task, but another employee does not. The more capable employee is not expected to teach the other employee how to do it properly in China, because they do not want to offend anyone by showing them who is more intelligent.

Some concluding thoughts…

So, if you are from a low-context culture, do think about how you can adjust what you say when pursuing international dating! Keep our words in mind when you are dating a Slavic woman who is from a high-context culture! Context always matters.

International dating requires keeping an open mind and bridging communication gaps as much as possible for a healthy relationship. So always keep cultural contexts in mind when you’re dating someone!

We hope this offered you some helpful insight. Be sure to register on Simply Dating and stop by our other blogs on how to date internationally.