As a Singaporean born Australian revisiting Singapore as an exchange student, I've had the opportunity to both experience and observe countless scenarios involving intercultural communication. Specifically, I remember a situation from week two of semester which really illustrated the multidimensional nature of intercultural communication.
In the dining hall of my residential college, there was a large group of exchange students of various nationalities sitting and eating together. During conversation, a European exchange student commented about the lack of variety of food available on campus and how he was continually having to eat western food. He did not like rice or noodles and found that where ever he went, rice or noodle dishes were the only choices. I found his view rather skewed but kept these thoughts to myself as each individual has their own subjective viewpoint and tastes. However, there was an American student who strongly disagreed and responded bluntly with “I do not see how food is a problem at all. Singapore is such a culturally diverse place, there is so much great food everywhere and I find that I’ve been able to assimilate completely.”
Intercultural communication is becoming much more present and commonplace in our daily lives and society today. There are many aspects to culture and communication which can be similar, very different or even conflicting to our own! Several categorised differences can especially be noted between low vs. high context cultures, with non-verbal cues (proxemics, haptics, oculesics, kinesics), values (collectivist vs. individualistic, masculine vs feminine), time management (polychronic vs monochronic) and verbal communication styles (direct vs indirect, instrumental vs affective).
In this scenario the American student was very direct and instrumental in communicating her ideas, the European student did show slight offense however he didn’t extend the argument or take it personally. Different people communicate differently and although personally we may see their approaches as right or wrong, we need to understand that each individual’s own background teaches different norms, values and ways of communication. It is important not to have prejudice, stereotype or categorise people based on culture as each individual is unique.
Situations like this are probably familiar to many and to effectively communicate, we must be open, knowledgeable, understanding and instead embrace the differences between cultures.
It's a very safe post Jacinta. I wish you had developed the case of the American student a little bit more and then woven in your own brushes with intercultural miscommunications. Nonetheless, it's a good post.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I took this blog objective a little too literally, I took some time trying to recall an incident that I witnessed specifically, not necessarily one that I was directly involved in! - Maybe another example of intercultural miscommunication?
DeleteHowever on that note, just today I experienced a rather affronting intercultural conflict.
I was having dinner with a group of exchange students from the UK and Europe and one of them had brought along a group member who turned out to be an exchange student from Japan. She went around the table and asked for the names of each of the other students, excluding me. Feeling slightly alienated but wanting to dispel the awkwardness, I introduced myself to her, asking her more about herself as I wasn't sure if she was a local or exchange student. She eventually found out I was an exchange student, she dropped the cold shoulder and her whole demeanour towards me changed. She conveyed that she had just assumed I was a local student, because I was Asian and looked like one, accounting for her actions. I was quite taken aback at this, although I could understand where she was coming from, I would never have jumped to conclusions or behaved a certain way towards someone based on my assumptions.
There is some separation between exchange and local students and it is situations like this which exacerbate the distinctions, rather than reconcile them. It's quite disappointing that these prejudices do exist, especially herself being an Asian exchange student and then choosing to act differently towards local and exchange students.
Due to my current state of being in between - both a Singaporean and an exchange student - I encounter situations like these all the time and always take them in stride. Many people aren't aware how different some cultures may be, especially during communication and interaction with others. However, we've all been granted the opportunity of this knowledge and therefore at least it is up to us to understand, embrace, remain open, non judgemental and perhaps raise some awareness through our character and behaviour in intercultural conflicts.