An analysis of letter writing style in Japanese and English and its relation to cultural differences
Year: 2006
Type: article
Abstract: In this study, the form and content of two letters in English and Japanese are analysed in order to see to what extent cultural differences affect the way a text is organised.These two letters have the same specific communicative purpose of requesting payment.The English letter is sent by the TV Licence Company in the UK, which requests payment for a TV licence.The Japanese letter is from a telephone company in Japan, KDD, which also requests payment for KDD's telecommunication charges.Of special interest is to investigate how meaning is created in different cultures in order to achieve the same communicative purposes by the letters.These two letters are compared from three points of view: organisation, politeness, and reader or writer-orientation.This analysis of the two letters has yielded interesting differences.Hofstede's (1980) dimensions, which are 'Individualism' and 'Uncertainty avoidance', can be used in order to explain these differences.
Author: Namiko Sakoda
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W385033532