Slag, what you have posted is both insightful AND true, imo. People need to be heard not just for their words but also for their intent. The society (or societies) in which I have seen that best illustrated is native North American--what I refer to as Indian (because when I asked a Cree chief what I should refer to the group of people as, whether it would be PC to say, Aboriginal Peoples, Native North Americans, First Nations, etc., he replied "Well, we call ourselves Indians").
In some Inuit cultures, when a guy smiles as he nods up and down, he means 'not a chance in hell'. If he ain't smiling, he means yes. One thing that does help is to restate what the other person said and ask if that's what the other means.