In the U.S., where communication is more on the low-context end of the scale, my work in part-time roles usually involves more step by step instructions. Personally, I find direct instructions helpful, but I don’t exactly need them as I enjoy problem solving and taking initiative to get ahead on tasks. However, with how many customer service and retail jobs back home have standard operating procedures for common problems and interactions, I had to quickly learn how to slow down and wait for guidance instead of trying to fix the problem on my own. My forward nature was appreciated, but it was not always the best choice to go off on my own.
There are still situations at my internship where I cannot go off on my own, despite having much more freedom with my projects, but it is slightly harder to understand where I need to draw back and where I can be more forward. France is more on the high-context side of the communication scale, which for me has meant that body language and choice of language plays a big role in interactions. With my host family, this has looked like me having to remember or gently be reminded to show with my body language that I am listening when they are speaking. While facing someone and making eye contact with them while speaking isn’t a France-specific act, I feel that in the U.S. I have become slightly more used to people placing more of an importance on receiving responses than body language (especially in a more casual setting like a home). I am not sure if it is the types of people that I spend time with back home either, but I think it has become more common to encounter Americans who will explicitly state that they are listening even if they are turned away or doing a small task.
At work, I have had a slight miscommunication recently where I added to my project in a way that my boss hadn’t intended for me to do. I was operating on the understanding that all my projects did not need much review if they did not involve money or official edits. What I should have done was asked for more guidance and instructions because I did not clearly understand how my boss wanted to add to the project. Thankfully, nothing was permanently changed, so I was able to fix the error and get back on track with researching in the way that he intended.
All in all, I am working on learning how to scale back my initiative appropriately and learn when I need to be more direct with my language versus when I can make assumptions based on context. I can be better at verifying intentions as well while I continue to learn.
Oddly enough though, I feel as though people in France are more direct than Americans when they express disagreement and displeasure. One of my weakest traits is that I can sometimes struggle with separating criticism and feedback of my work from criticism of who I am as a person. I think it may come from the fact that in the U.S., displeasure and disagreement are sometimes expressed subtly and through contextual cues in a group setting. I am always working on growing through rejection and accepting the discomfort of criticism. Yet surprisingly, I feel that I have been facing criticism and rejection with more ease in France because any disagreements, corrections, or frustration is clearly directed at my actions or words.
In short, communication can be difficult, regardless of the language. I am simply grateful that I haven’t had any serious miscommunications and cultural missteps. Especially in this heat, where everyone is a bit tired and frustrated.
The best course of action for me would likely be to express myself more directly, especially when it comes to my internship tasks and communicating my thoughts and opinions on an issue. I think using more statements similar to ones like expressing that you are listening despite being turned away from the person but for specific situations, such as verifying intentions or stating my course of action at work would be more helpful at learning how communication is done here than continuing to play the guesswork game. The hard part is just remembering to practice this habit so that it can start to stick, but we’ll get there eventually! I will definitely continue to work on this past my internship to really add to my skills.
