Cultural Variables In Saudi Arabia

Geographical location

Saudi Arabia is the dry and densely populated kingdom of the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has most of the Arabian Peninsula, with the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba toward the west and the Persian Gulf toward the east. Neighboring countries are Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman, Yemen, and Bahrain, related with the Saudi region by a highway. Its oil area lies in the eastern region along the Persian Gulf.

High context culture

Saudi Arabia is known as an extremely high context society. For example, non-verbal communication and eye to eye contact poses meaning in their culture. In such manner, the vast majority make presumptions about what isn’t said. In Saudi Arabian culture specific spotlight is kept on manner of speaking, the utilization of quiet, facial signals and non-verbal communication. It is basic to be very much aware of these non-verbal parts of correspondence in any business condition so as to maintain strong customer relations.

Laws and regulations

Laws and regulations are highly effective in the communication process. Missionary activities are punished very bitterly which may involve execution. In Saudi Arabia, laws of Islam are entirely pursued. It is illicit in Saudi Arabia to straightforwardly pursue other religion accordingly; it isn’t permitted to wear any type of non-Muslim symbol. Missionary activities are punished very bitterly which may involve execution.

Politics

When it comes to Political hierarchy and system, Saudi Arabia is out and out based on Monarch system and based on beliefs of Islam. The Mighty king holds two vacations i.e.; The Head of Govt. and The Head of State. Sharia (The rules driven by Allah S.W.T Himself) is the source of guidance for the rulers. There is no national assembly but a consultative council known as the Majlis ash-Shura, with 90 members.

Economy

Saudi has world’s largest oil reserves. It employs people from all over the world. More than 11 million workers are employed in private sector only. Economically, Saudi Arabia is a developing country. A developing country is one which has not yet achieved its full potential. But Saudi is a widely developing economy. In recent years especially, Saudi has risen up on Human Development Index: In 2017, Saudi Arabia maintained a Human Development Index value of 0.853, in comparison to its 2015 value of 0.847. Between 1990 and 2017 its HDI rate has an increase of 0.156 and an increase of 22.4 percentage. Even older values show that it has made great improvement. Women are achieving more and more freedom. Saudi has well-constructed cities and societies.

It has GDP per capita of 683.8 billion US dollars and GNI per capita of 1.804 trillion PPP dollars (last recorded in 2017 by World Bank). Saudi employs lots of people from all over the world. Its oil industry is best source of employment for both indigenous and foreign people.

Language

Arabic is the official language of Saudi Arabia, and the native language for the most part of Saudi’s locals. The classical version of Arabic is hardly used in regular conversations and is essentially found in the Quran and other established works, verse, and is utilized by religious researchers. Classical Arabic is viewed as a selective composed language as opposed to an expressed one. Modern standard Arabic is the most broadly spoken adaptation which is utilized in media, schools as a second outside language, and distributed works. In Saudi Arabia, there are three standard dialects of communication in Arabic including Najdi Arabic, Hejazi, and Gulf or Khaliji Arabic.

Because Saudi Arabia houses foreigners from many countries, in addition to English being widely spoken, other minority languages are also common. Some of them are, Urdu, Rohingya, and Egyptian Arabic.

Social Norms

Social norms in Saudi Arabia are mostly derived from Quran Hadiths and other Islamic injunctions. Saudi Arabia is a rich culture. We discuss social norms in the following areas:

1. Dress: women’s clothing in the region is of two distinct types. When outside Arab women cover their body from head to toe. Arab women dress as per religious custom, which implies that they should cover the greater part of the body, from head to foot. The customary dark Abaya is lower leg length with long sleeves and a high neck area, and the hair is secured. While inside the home these Arab women adopt western culture and dress up like them if there is no other than a blood relative.
2. Meetings: In social contact and public meeting men shake hands and kiss on either cheek if close friends. In traditional Arabic culture, the younger kisses on the forehead of the older. Women do the same. Women and men do not greet one another publicly. This is especially true for local Saudi Arabians.
3. Dining: Saudi Arabians dine for three times as usual, but the lunch is the main meat meal. All varieties of international foods are available in cities, but pork and wine are strictly prohibited regardless of one’s religion. Eating together is common while conversations at the table are very rare. Washing up hands before and after food is considered necessary. Using left hand for picking up or eating food is prohibited for the left hand is considered to be unclean. Use of utensils is discouraged. Men and women cannot dine together unless they are intermediate relatives.
4. Communication Styles: Conversations tend to be friendly polite and relax (that’s the Sunnah way of talking). Rudeness is considered to be an evil yet someone lower in hierarchy may be treated rudely sometimes. Less eye contact, indirect, and impersonal conversation style prevails. Standing close or holding hands is considered positive and even affectionate, but, strictly speaking not with the opposite gender.
5. Names: Arabic names mostly tell about their family and origin. A name is composed of first name – son/daughter of father’s name – son/daughter of grandfather’s name – family/tribal/dynastic name. For example, Muhammad Ibn Abdullah ibn Abdullah Al-Saud.
6. Gifts: Gifting is a common trend a way to thank show grate. Dates, Itar, traditional dresses, and jewels are the most common gifts to be taken with from Saudi Arabia. While internally they gift each other dates, cakes and sweets are always well received.

Individual variables

Manners:

1) Meeting and greeting:

• Men shake hands. Great companions welcome each other by kissing each cheek.
• It is custom in Saudi Arabia to clasp hands for a more drawn out time than anticipated in the west.
• When Saudis meet each other they require some serious energy and discuss about general things.
• Men and ladies won’t welcome one another, if not from a similar family. This does not make a difference to outsiders.

2) Gift giving etiquette:

• It is a standard in Saudi Arabia to trade endowments in business or socially.
• Guests continually convey endowments at whatever point welcome to Saudi’s home as a token of bless your heart.
• Teachers dependably get various blessings from their understudies.
• Flowers are very generally welcomed. Different endowments incorporate; Dates, cakes, and desserts.
• In Corporate gatherings and practices, blessings like pen, petition dabs and USB sticks are viewed as standard endowments.

3) Communication styles:

Saudis are commonly extremely neighborly and kind. They have roundabout correspondence style. They constantly will in general conceal any hint of failure face and respect and stay loose in correspondence. Passionate upheavals are uncommon. Notwithstanding, it is regular for closest companions to have nearby contentions. What’s more, this is viewed as a flag that one is profoundly engaged with a discussion and is sufficiently energetic. Saudis for the most part say ‘YES’ and every so often ‘NO’ that particularly to outsiders in arrangements. Something else, among themselves and to those let down in the chain of command, they can go obtuse. Additionally, Saudis worship complimenting visitors. It demonstrates a sort and well-disposed motion from them.

4) Business Meetings:

• It is especially vital in Saudi’s way of life of conferences to take an arrangement ahead of time; weeks or a month prior to the gathering.
• It is important to be on time. Saudi’s accept it as their regard to keep outsiders anticipating their entry.
• Meetings are commonly planned for mornings.
• Before beginning plan of a gathering, there holds delayed request and discourses about wellbeing, life, and family. It is viewed as imperative to construct trustful connections.
• Meetings can go hit-or-miss as Saudi’s don’t go according to settled plan.
• Meetings are commonly not private until after solid connections are constructed. One can meander into a gathering room and can complete distinctive talk. Or on the other hand a few interferences can be experienced amid a gathering.

5) Dress:

The religion and custom of Saudi Arabia not just feature the preservationist conviction about clothing standard yet in addition shows a consistency in a dress wearing society of Saudi Arabia.

Ladies in Saudi Arabia wear an abaya. It is a long coat like a dress that covers ladies from make a beeline for toe, with the exception of hands and faces kept revealed. In any case, an ongoing pattern in Saudi’s ladies mold has changed as they likewise wear the niqab all over to cover it. These dresses are improved with coins, themes, metallic string, and appliques. Remote ladies the individuals who visit Saudi are coordinated to wear abaya no one but, they can give their hairs a chance to be revealed.

For men and young men, both for conferences or get-togethers, there is a special and one style dress that is lower leg length. It is called thobe or thwab. In either season winter or summers, men wear white thobe. In addition, thobe in other dull shading isn’t remarkable. What’s more, on exceptional events, men can wear bisht or mislah over their thobe. Mislah is white, dark or darker hued shawl type covering with sewed sleeves frequently cut in gold. Gutra is again a set out covering toward ladies. It is a scarf in white and red shading (for the most part) with an agal (a round molded string used to hold gutra in its place.

6) Food: In Saudi Arabia, sustenance is for the most part served at the floor on a plastic or a cotton material. Everybody needs to sit together with one another keeping legs crossed, or putting one knee over other. Eating with a privilege is considered as an indication of devotion. It is considered as a decent flag if visitor tastes a touch of everything that is served. Saudis feel it pride to serve beyond what visitors can eat. Presenting with wealth is a standard in Saudi Arabia. It is considered as a liberality and neighborliness. In addition, exceptional visitors are presented with the leader of the sheep, as it is most adored and costly dish in Saudi Arabia. There is ordinarily no or little talk amid a supper, so visitors can savor the dishes served.

7) Personal space:

Standing near one another is extremely basic in Saudi. Little separation is considered as to indicate similarity and a decent relationship. It is additionally exceptionally common for Saudi men to walk turns in hands of one another. It isn’t considered as a sexual meaning. In any case, separate in various genders is a lot more prominent than in men, keeping away from eye to eye connection with ladies who are not related.

8) Decision making: Saudis settle on choices very gradually; they don’t hurry to go to any point. Saudi Arabic culture is bureaucratic. Any straightforward assignment needs such a large number of visits to get cultivated. Choices can be toppled. Saudi’s are extremely shrewd in choosing oil costs. When they are to purchase oil, they tell bring down costs. In any case, when they are moving oil, they will in general tell more expensive rates. Saudi’s are intense, they request tolerance when choosing anything. The matter of Saudi’s is various leveled. The individual at most astounding position chooses anytime. Rehashing point and thoughts, over and over, make it for others to regard it as right and genuine. Individuals in Saudi Arabia disregard giving terrible news. They utilize ‘maybe’ to cover any terrible news that may go hostile to other people.

Verbal and non-verbal communication

a) Verbal communication

The Saudi’s usage of their dialect mirrors the estimations of their way of life. The significance of accurately and compassionately tending to seniors and standard welcome is found in their dialect as well.

There are a few events in Saudi Arabian culture when formal dialect is drilled. Right titles, for example, Mr., Mrs., Dr., are utilized vitally to address seniors. It speaks to abnormal state regard paid to older folks in Saudi Arabia. Hiding any hint of failure confront is another social pattern of Saudi’s. They will in general stay away from clashes amid discussions or any sort of contentions. Rather, they endeavor to make and keep up gathering’s amicability. Verbal assaults are controlled. In any case, they may go circuitous and unobtrusive as opposed to include in eye to eye contentions and verbal encounters.

b) Nonverbal communication: Saudi Arabia is extremely high setting society. As in any high setting society, nonverbal correspondence assumes a noteworthy job while conveying and sitting down to chat with others. Nonverbal signs; paralanguage, haptics, and dress are put to incredible accentuation. To the extent paralanguage is worried, for Saudi’s pitch and tone is of extraordinary intrigue. Saudi Arabian’s esteem quiet excessively, and use this time for examination. Saudi’s consideration for rate, pitch, a tone of what is being addressed them cautiously.

Besides, haptics manages a feeling of touch. Saudi’s respect utilization of the correct hand as useful for drinking, eating and passing on things to other people. Utilization of left hand is viewed as unclean.

Saudi’s will in general esteem the thoughts of individuals who they find in their own customary clothing. For this situation, outward appearances, vocal tone, and eye to eye connection likewise assume a critical job in giving nonverbal signs to the gathering of people and understanding one’s inclination.

General conventions of Business Meetings

Islam is a main religion in the complete Arab world. Non-Saudi Arabian is not allowed to conduct business without the official permission from government. If westerns want to do business in Saudi, they prohibit alcohol abuse, drug abuse, pornography etc. Everything including the business culture and commercial environment is influenced by religion. Meetings, presentation and the news are opened in the name of ALLAH. Trust in business has been given very much importance by Saudi Arabians. They do business with people they know. Deviation from agenda is typical. Conservative business suits are suggested. Rather than saying “Hello” or “How are you?” Arabs meet partners by saying “As Salam-o-Alaikum” means “May peace be with you, May ALLAH’s blessing be with you.”

Comparative overview

Overall the biggest and the clear similarity in the culture of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is first of all the religion. Because of the Islam our culture also resembles a lot with the KSA because teachings of Quran and sunnah is followed. Names quite resembles, way of greeting, offering prayers and much is similar in both the cultures. On the other hand, difference exists because of the colonialization which has now become a part of Pakistani culture. But all in all both countries welcome each other as allies.