After I jumped on the bus, I remembered that there are different fares for different stops. I went to the bus driver and said "Amsterdam Centraal", making sure to pronounce the long "aa" as I had heard over the automated speaker system, just to avoid any misunderstanding.
"Yes Amsterdam Central, interesting." The driver responds in a terse English.
I paused and stood there in a daze. Partially because I had not slept in two days and partially because I did not know what this driver wanted from me. "I am going to Amsterdam Central" I say while standing in the front of the moving bus with my Euros out in my hand.
"What a coincidence, I am going there as well." The driver responds, keeping his eyes on the road while turning a corner
"May I buy a ticket for Amsterdam Central?" I ask, hoping that I explained in low enough context to satisfy the bus driver.
"Yes of course" the driver responds while tearing off the ticket and then giving the correct change.
The extent of the amount of context necessary is culturally determined. The bus driver and I could have done on further.
"I would like to engage in a commercial transaction in which I exchange these coins for an agreement, which will be documented in a ticket, to allow me to take this bus to central station"
Why was this bus driver doing this? I suspect, he understood from the context that I wanted to buy a ticket. He probably wanted me to use a lower amount of context communication as a show of respect. I could imagine him saying, "I am a human being, not a computer. The least you can do is use a full sentence to explain what you want." The interesting thing is that in a higher context culture, one could be equally offended, "You don't have the spell the entire thing out, do I look like an idiot to you. Clearly we are here on a bus heading in the direction of the central station."
Intercultural Tip: The amount of context you rely upon to convey a message has implications for the amount of respect you are showing in a culture.
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