Intercultural awareness is an important asset to have in today’s society. Due to globalization, people of different nationalities and background have more opportunities to work together. Hence, only by understanding each other’s culture, one can then be able to reduce the number of misunderstandings cases from occurring.
I’m going to share with you all one of my experiences in which not knowing each other’s culture can place one in an uncomfortable situation, resulting in misunderstandings and conflicts.
I still remembered a visit with my parents two years ago to JiuZhaiGou, a scenic nature reserve in China. As part of the nature reserve’s effort to protect the site, outside cars and tour buses are not allowed to drive within the reserve itself. Instead, shuttle buses provided by the nature reserve are used to ferry visitors to different attractions within the scenic area.
During one of the short duration at the scenic area, I recalled my mum helping my dad and I take a picture with the beautiful scenery as the background. After the shot, my dad and I lingered at the spot, chit-chatting about what to do next. In the meanwhile, another group of tourists from China, standing beside me, was trying to take a picture as well.
Noticing the weird look on the tourist’s face when he looked at me, I realized I may have accidentally included myself in his photos. As such, I moved one step away from him (as there were too many people, I couldn’t move too many steps away from him), so as to enable them to have a nice photo of themselves with the beautiful scenery as the backdrop. I resumed my conversation with my dad and before I realized it, the china tourist used his hand to shove me away. I almost wanted to confront him as I felt that it wasn’t necessary for him to do that. He could have politely asked me to move further away and I will. The more I thought to myself, the angrier I became as I wondered why people from China is so rude.
Luckily my dad saw this incident and explained to me that in China, people tend to push and talk loudly. It is part of their culture. My dad clarified that the pushing and shoving was not directed at me, rather, it could be the Chinese’s intention to inform me to move further away. He carried on explaining that the young population in China, however, is getting more and more polite and considerate by the year.
It was, then, that I realized the importance of cultural awareness. If I had known this earlier on, I will not have been offended and the misunderstanding will have been avoided.
People from different cultures and background may interpret messages differently, increasing the chances of misunderstanding. Therefore, I believe it is important to research on the culture of the person you are talking to, so as to eliminate or minimize the risk of making such elementary mistake.
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Hey Weixi
ReplyDeleteI think your father may be right about Chinese being loud and physical. However i do like to add that China is HUGE and i do think that being loud and physical is not a trait of the Chinese society. I think people often stereotype a certain group of people in general if they encountered some bad experience with that group before. This can lead to a false accusation of that group of people though not all are like that. I can bet with you that if you did the same thing to another person in China( push someone away), you might end up with a fierce confrontation, likewise if its anywhere else for that matter.. haha
What do you think?
Hey Weixi,
ReplyDeleteHaha I never knew the Chinese were supposed to be loud since I always thought South Asians were much much more louder ;p I guess different people have different perceptions on other cultures and their behaviors. However, I think the best way to prevent any misunderstandings is to actually go and discuss about how the different cultures differ, with people who have a proper knowledge about them, such as what you did with talking to your father.
Madhu
Hey Weixi,
ReplyDeleteYes it is true that the Chinese can be loud and rough. Nothing against them, but yes it could be in their nature that they are that way. I'm am definitely certain that we Singaporean's can be annoying in our own little ways, such as at the hawker centres or using the washroom. You can probably second guess what they might be! =)
Indeed, apart from just knowing and understanding one another's culture, it is also very essential for us to be able to accept one another for who we are and what our differences may be. This will be particularly important in the Singapore context, given that there are more and more Chinese Nationals who are coming to Singapore to work and to study. (We see lots of them in our universities don't we?) We will eventually have to grow and accept who these people are, as they will be the very people who are pushing and propelling our economy to greater heights in the future.
As such, learning to accept one another's culture will create a peaceful, vibrant and tolerant society. =)
Cheers,
Bryan
Weixi, appreciate your sharing. Certainly, how we perceive certain actions may differ from culture to culture, and what's acceptable in some culture may not be so in others. Therefore, it is definitely important to learn to be more tolerant towards another's culture, just as your father explained.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to the incident you shared, I am not sure whether the shove was intentional, part of culture, or just pure rudeness. Nevertheless, you could not have prepared yourself for this situation no matter how much you read up / talk to people. In tricky situations like the one above, perhaps observing what the others are doing by looking around and following their lead will help? Did the locals push and shove for a better location to take photos? Did the locals make way at the scenic points for other tourists to take their photos?
Your father has followed very good EQ principles, observing and understanding the locals' behaviours. What do you think?
That being said, I agree with the comment one of your classmates shared, that being loud and physical may not necessarily be a cultural trait. What you've encountered may very well be just an unpleasant action that's not typical of the Chinese culture. Did you observe the rest of the group of local tourists?
Thanks for sharing this simulating reflection.