Sinposis

WE CAN LEARN TO SPEAK OTHER LANGUAGES, BUT DO WE TRULY UNDERSTAND WHAT WE ARE SAYING? HOW MUCH DETAIL SHOULD WE OFFER WHEN SOMEONE ASKS HOW WE ARE? HOW CLOSE SHOULD WE STAND TO OUR CONVERSATIONAL PARTNERS? IS AN INVITATION GENUINE OR JUST PRO FORMA? SO MUCH OF COMMUNICATION DEPENDS ON CULTURE AND CONTEXT. IN GETTING THROUGH, ROGER KREUZ AND RICHARD ROBERTS OFFER A GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING AND BEING UNDERSTOOD IN DIFFERENT CULTURES. DRAWING ON RESEARCH FROM PSYCHOLOGY, LINGUISTICS, SOCIOLOGY, AND OTHER FIELDS, AS WELL AS PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, ANECDOTES, AND POPULAR CULTURE, KREUZ AND ROBERTS DESCRIBE CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN TERMS OF PRAGMATICS_EXPLORING HOW LANGUAGE IS USED AND NOT JUST WHAT WORDS MEAN.