Received on Sept.1,2005 Different Interpretations of Pauses in Natural Conversation---Japanese, Chinese and Americans

The purpose of this study is to clarify different interpretations of pauses by Japanese, Chinese and Americans and to see their different responses and reactions to pauses during natural conversations. Also this study is to see who pauses most during the conversation, how differently each person from different socio-cultural background responds and reacts to each other's pauses, and how differently they interpret each other's pauses. The data is taken from the three groups (Group A, B, and C). Each group consisted of two Americans and two Japanese, two Americans and two Japanese, two Chinese and two Japanese, respectively. In all data, the participants spoke in English. The general findings are: 1) Americans and Chinese/Japanese have different perspective on pauses. 2) Americans try to fill the gaps during the conversation and while only Americans are talking, few pauses are found. 3) Chinese and Japanese do not mind long pauses. These different perspectives of pauses caused uneasiness and discomfort during the conversation. Consequently, different perception of pauses will generally develop unsuccessful management of communication. The result will contribute to prevent this kind of misperception.