Sunday, March 3, 2013

Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour


We live in a highly globalised world where the flow of human traffic is no longer as obstructed as it was a few hundred years ago. Now, with air travel being so advanced, people can go almost anywhere they want, with the only real restriction being time and money. This is why we are finding ourselves in an increasingly cosmopolitan environment. We no longer have to go Germany to see Germans, or Korea to see Koreans. Instead, we find people of different nationalities and cultures all around us. In fact, U-town, which houses the exchange students in its different residences, is a prime example. Hence we don’t have to set our sights too far to look for examples of intercultural behaviour.
My blog post today, concerns two intercultural examples, the first of which I experienced while I was on exchange.

#1: Level 1 vs. Level 0

This incident occurred between my Singaporean friend and I when we were in London. We were supposed to meet outside the Nike store at Oxford Street but when I arrived he’d already gone inside. He did send me a message stating that he was on level 2 of the store and so I proceeded to take the escalator up. However despite walking around the whole of the second storey, I didn’t see my friend anywhere. Thinking he was in the changing room, I sat down to wait. It was only later, when I called him that I realised the fundamental error in our communication. Basically in the UK, the culture is to refer to the first floor of a building as the ground floor, or level 0. However in Singapore, the first floor is simply referred to as the first floor, or Level 1. Hence when my friend texted ‘Level 2’, he’d been adhering to the norms of English culture and was actually on Level 3, if interpreted from a Singaporean standpoint, which was why neither of us could find each other despite both of us being in the exact same store. I think this is a good example of adapting to another culture when you have to. As the saying goes: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. In order to be able to fit in and comprehend the customs of another country, we must make the effort to accept and adopt their practices into our own behaviour, even if it is just for awhile.

The second event concerns my family. This is because I come from a family that is somewhat like a mini United Nations: many of my aunts and uncles have a spouse of a different nationality. For example my aunt is Thai, and I have an Uncle each from Malaysia, Ireland and France. And to complicate matters, my family is Peranakan too.  Hence no post about intercultural behaviour would be complete without mentioning my family.

#2: Hello vs. Bonjour

This doesn’t relate to any specific incident, but my French uncle and his children have the habit of breaking into French when speaking to one another, even in group contexts where no one else but themselves can understand what they are saying. This happens especially when they get excited over something and my aunt frequently admonishes them for such behaviour. And while this doesn’t detract from our closeness as a family, it does, as mentioned in the peer teaching session, induce a temporary sense of exclusion whereby you get other family members smiling sheepishly at each other as if to reassure one another that they aren’t alone in not understanding this confusing babble. If such behaviour were prolonged in a different setting such as at work, it might cause other members of the group to feel neglected or to lose interest in the conversation and would definitely affect the effectiveness of any communication taking place. By conversing in a different language understood only by certain individuals, it erects a barrier that English as a lingua franca has helped to break down.

Hence with the increase in flow of human traffic from one country to another, intercultural communication and behaviour is becoming increasingly crucial to our survival. It isn’t enough to strive for effective interpersonal communication, we must also aim towards achieving successful intercultural communication as well!

8 comments:

  1. Hi Gail

    It is a interesting blog post that you have there!

    For your first issue on the numbering of the floors, I have a similar experience in Singapore, though not related to culture. Most schools have their canteen and parade square on the first floor. That was what most of us as freshmen assumed in Nanyang Junior College (NYJC), until tutorial began and we realised that there was a fifth floor when the building was suppose to be only 4 storeys higher from the canteen. We then found out that the 'basement' where the lecture theatres are is called the first floor.

    For the second issue on lapsing into one's own language, I do agree with you that it is frustrating if you are the one that gets left out. So what you could do is to "take responsibility" for the communication by either asking them what they were talking about or reminding them in a polite manner that you do not understand French. However I do believe that your uncle and cousins would have to do their part in trying not to lapse into French, though I know it is very hard to do it if you are not concious of this.

    Overall, I enjoyed reading your blog post.

    Regards
    Hannah

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Hannah, I think your advice makes sense! I'll remember it for the next time:)

      Delete
  2. Hi Gail,

    I do agree with you that it is important to adapt to another culture when we need to. I recalled that when I was in Europe, I had to register the fact that their washrooms are usually located at the basement of the building. There were a few occasions where I headed upwards instead of downwards when I was trying to look for their washrooms. It was also a norm for the male washrooms to be of a different level as the female washrooms. So it was a hassle sometimes to locate their toilets especially when you are in need of one urgently. Also, at their convenience stalls, it usually cost around one euro to visit their toilets. Thereafter, we can get our one euro reimbursed by purchasing any item from their shop at a “discounted” price. I felt that it’s a totally different culture from what we have in Singapore. In most public places in Singapore, we don’t have to pay for our toilet visits and they are usually very easy to locate. For some public toilets that charge, the toilet entries usually cost at most twenty cents.

    For your second event, I thought that it was really interesting that your family is like a mini United States. In this way, you get to communicate with people of different cultures and get an enhanced insight of their culture. Like what Hannah mentioned, I agree with her that it would be good if you could include yourself in their conversations and take the initiative to communicate with each other. If you continually do this, they will be constantly reminded not to break into French when conversing within their family unit. It will thus be beneficial for everybody in your family. :)

    Sharlene.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sharlene,
      I totally agree Europe really has a different culture from Singapore! And one euro is really exorbitant. I didn't encounter such a situation when I was abroad but since you mentioned toilets, I realised another thing is it's really difficult to find toilets in Europe because they don't have shopping malls, just street level shops, and most of their washrooms are in the restaurants or hotels! (: Here in Singapore it's never really a struggle to find a washroom when we need one because there are buildings everywhere haha.

      Thanks for commenting!

      Delete
  3. Thank you, Gail, for this clear, comprehensive, two-pronged response to the assignment. In it you clearly present two different scenarios that demonstrate the varying norms that appear in different cultures (although in the second, it seems to me that the behavior is prevalent in many cultures, as many people demonstrate such actions). The first example is one that resonates with me as that has often baffled me, depending on where I am. (In the US the 1st floor is also the ground floor.) And indeed, your family does sound like a mini UN. How interesting!

    All in all, this is a fine post. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Brad,
      Yes it was very disorienting for awhile!

      And I was just thinking how this sort of culture gets integrated into the language as well? Like for example in french you have rez de chaussée which is ground floor, and premiere etage which is first floor. If the French referred to the ground floor as the first floor, then they wouldn't have to have the phrase 'rez de chaussée' at all. I'm not sure if this thought of mine makes sense, but I think what I'm trying to get at is that culture can shape the development of the vocabulary in a language.

      Delete
  4. Dear Gail,
    I totally agree with Brad that your writing is clear and comprehensive, as always!

    I need to tell you about my surprise when I read your first sentence of the blogpost. I though you were going to write about human trafficking. When I continued to read "Now, with air travel..." I realized you were talking about transportation of human and nothing else. This is a example of how the language can bring misunderstandings.

    I think both of your scenarios is very interesting. I agree that it can be really confusing with the levels sometimes. I would say that the misunderstanding about it can occur within the same language as well, depending on the building and its design.

    Thank you for making so well-done blogposts with photos!

    Sofie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sofie!

      I scrolled up to look at the beginning of the blog post and I actually can see why I would cause that misconception HAHA. It would be kind of ambiguous without the context. (:

      Thanks for commenting!

      Delete