You might be wondering, "How does this relate to intercultural communication?" Well, let's review what culture means. After reading from CARLA and WSU, I believe culture can be simplified to mean "A set of shared beliefs and values that influences an individual." Hence, within a country, there can be many multiple groups of people with different cultures.
Usually people think of different races/religions when talking about intercultural communication since language also plays a part in understanding communication. However, I think this is also a valid example of how different cultures can be misunderstood, even when both are speaking the same language. My belief of what is cheap clearly won't be the same as everyone else.
A separate example of cultural differences between countries
Thinking back, I wasn't affected by his statement, since I've known him for some time and am able to understand him. However, what if it was someone who was sensitive to financial issues? They might be hurt upon hearing this statement or, in extreme cases, get upset and verbally or physically assault him.
In situations like this, the listener will have to practise tolerance and active listening. Is he being genuinely surprised? Maybe he was trying to be sarcastic? We must first not be affected by his statement emotionally, since that can cloud your judgment. With a calm state of mind, we can then start analyzing his tone and non-verbal actions to see what he is trying to express.
The speaker also has to practise discretion. If they do notice that the listener is obviously uncomfortable with the topic, it would be better to clarify, apologise if necessary and change the topic to something more suitable.
In closing, intercultural communication is always in our lives and we must always take note that the meaning of a word or phrase differs between individuals.
You got me thinking; cheap here actually acted as a financial reference here? Or does it signify a cultural difference? Is financial differences then, a form of cultural differences?
ReplyDeleteAnyways, the video was great! Though somehow it made me think whether the people in Czech Republic are really that serious. In fact, i think it would be interesting, if, we have a visual contrast.
Thanks!
The video is interesting, especially the part about the smiling. We always assume that smiling is a great way to start when meeting up with a stranger. (First impression is very important) It gives a friendly image and a good impression. But it is not the case for the citizens of Czech Republic.
ReplyDeleteThus, we could learn something from this incident. Always try to understand the culture of the people that you are meeting with beforehand, or we might just get a culture shock. This could prove useful when embarking on overseas programmes such as SEP.
Hey Rayner,
ReplyDeleteYou pointed out a new perspective of looking at intercultural and interpersonal communication. It is not just confined to language and cultural differences. Everyone has been brought up in different situations. Again, cheap is a comparative term which might be different for everyone. The video you posted was quite enlightening showing the difference in greeting styles in different parts of the world. We must make sure that we don’t offend other people because of our ignorance about the differences in our culture.
I feel that your post is quite well written. However, there is always a room for improvement so you must keep working hard.:)
Regards,
Nitika
Hi Rayner,
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you looked at the picture from a whole new angle. Different from most of us. Culture is not limited to races and religions only. It can be culture at a workplace(Corporate culture), culture in a school, in a state and so on. How the word "cheap" can be interpreted differently by two people goes to show the different background and culture the two come from. One could be from a humble background and the other slighty privileged. Hence, the different interpretations.
Good video clip. Learned something that I did not know about the Czech culture. However, I feel that having posted the video, you could have written something about it or chosen a video that illustrated the idea of your post.
Anyway, it was an interesting post. Very different in a good way :).
Hey Rayner,
ReplyDeleteYour video is certainly interesting, it makes me think again about the whole cultural difference issue. I mean, things like the way you greet someone, or the way you express your gratitude to someone, you could guess that they are different from culture to culture. But who would have thought that the people of Czech Republic would have thought this way about strangers smiling at them? I could have ignore this, because a smile is just a friendly expression on most parts of the world.
The experience you had is also a good example of the difference in subculture level. However, the video posted and the content of your post are not really connected. Perhaps you could rearrange your post structure, so that the video illustrates your point better.