Refusal/Negative Letters

In many high-context cultures, saving face is important. A refusal is a potential loss of face for both parties. Basically what loss of face is referring to is the dignity or prestige that one person has for the other. To save face, a person who has to refuse an invitation to dine out with a business associate might say, "You must be very tired and want to have a quiet evening."  This subtle refusal avoids putting it in words.

To understand what is actually being communicated, we have to look beyond the individual's actual words and look at how it's being communicated, the culture and most importantly the context.

A recent study has shown business letters portrayed with bad news in Latin America were actually quite short and didn't have buffers.  Usually business letters that have bad news in it get straight to the point and are concise as can be. One of the big mistakes that people do is prolong the problem which could make a business associate very uncomfortable.