3. Preferred verbal style differs from culture to culture, particularly in terms of how direct or indirect a person ought to be (Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2005). A direct verbal style is characterized by language that openly states the speaker’s intention in a straightforward and unambiguous way. An indirect verbal style is characterized by language that masks the speaker’s true intentions in a roundabout and ambiguous way. Consider the following example of how these different styles can create communication challenges.