Journal 6 :Summary of the Article on Page 166 in the Writing Textbook

John Smith, an American who can speak Spanish thinks he can communicate with people in Puerto Rico very well. When he came back to New York, he complained that Puerto Rico people are not organized according to his experience in the local department. He argued that the economic isn't well developed there because the local salesman didn't treat customers in the right way, which means customers are served one at a time in the order of their arrival. However, John's experience is simply an example of communication breakdown due to a misunderstanding of the cultural nonverbal cues. That is, John and the Puerto Rico salesman have different concept of time. The North American one is a monochronic concept, which means tasks are completed one at a time while the Puerto Rico culture reflects a polychronic concept of time where communication at several different levels happens at the same time. The communication breakdown mentioned above can be observed anywhere when these two different concepts meet and neither of them is inefficient or irritating. It is merely a different cultural understanding of time in communication.