More Rice.... anyone?

In one of the Communications Seminar I attended, we discussed on Direct and Indirect Communication. The Asian society,  generally communicate indirectly and the concept of “Saving Face” is very much observed.

This brings to mind on how I was brought up. To be careful in my speech – lest I offend someone. We are learn to read body language, nuances and read between the lines.

And unless you are adept at this communication style, you might just be lost in the whole conversation, which can be exasperating.

My mother told me a story once, which illustrate the point;

In the olden days, there were 2 friends having lunch together. At one point the conversation goes like this:

Guest : This is a beautiful plate, where did you get it from?

Host  : (Went to the kitchen and bring out the rice pot) I got it at the same shop I bought this rice pot.

S, what’s the moral of the story? It seems a simple enough conversation to me. But my mother then explained; when the guest talked about her plate, she’s actually pointing out that her plate is empty; but too polite to ask for more rice.

And the host, who is understands the underlying message, quickly got up to get the rice pot and showed it to the guest, indirectly telling her, look, there’s no more rice left to offer!!

So in this case, the 2 friends were actually communicating about having a second helping of rice, without the embarrassment of having to ask for it and to be informed that there’s none left!

So…More Rice Anyone?