| According to past experience, many people think that intercultural communication and misunderstandings could only happen between people from different cultures. The truth is that misunderstandings and conflict not only occur in situations involving strangers from diverse backgrounds, but also within immigrant families. This study investigated how cultural value and language differences could have an impact on communication styles within the Chinese-American family. This study also investigated the relationship between communication styles and family communication patterns. This research examined how cultural value and language differences have an impact on communication style within the framework of the four dimensions of cross-cultural styles: direct & indirect, succinct & elaborate, personal & contextual, and instrumental & affective, together with Hall's dimension of low and high context, Hofstede's individualism and collectivism and four types of families (consensual, pluralistic, protective, and laissez-faire). A qualitative research approach including in-depth interviews produced primary data for a qualitative analysis that compares the communication features of parents and children in Chinese-American families in Hawaii. This study shows why it is meaningful and significant to examine how children in Chinese-American families communicate with their parents, how they handle their relationships, their conflicts and resolutions, how they survive between those value differences and finally how they choose their future lives. |
