Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Effective Intercultural Communication


Culture not only constitutes language, food, clothes, and tradition, but it also includes common shared beliefs, ways of thinking, and worldview. With all the racial harmony programmes back in school, I know the food, clothes and traditions of other culture, but I dare not claim that I have understood them. To understand culture, we need to go deeper than what is on the surface.  
To complicate things further, sub-cultures may exist within communities, and even families.  For example, there is a touch-and-kiss culture within my family, so limited to my family that even my cousins rarely practise it. We have to touch-and kiss when we kicked someone, accidentally or not, by touching the person, and kissing our fingers. This shows that we respect the other person.  My sisters and I do this very naturally, while some of my cousins have not even heard of it!
It is important to respect other cultures, especially in a multicultural country like Singapore.  I remember how an aunt of mine kept criticizing our family’s culture (e.g. the food we eat, and the way we dressed) when she recently got married into the family. This was unexpected of her since we belong to the same culture. Perhaps, she behaved this way because she came from another country.  Nonetheless, her comments made some of us very upset, leading to conflicts within the family.
We managed to solve most of the conflicts by explaining to her how our family ‘operates’. We also tried to take care of her likes and dislikes especially when it came to the issue of food.
I then realised that everyone values their culture, and feel that it is better than that of others. However, we should try to fit into the culture of the family (or company) we just joined. Along the way, we can slowly make changes if we feel that the other culture has room for improvement. People have always been resistant to revolutionary changes, but mild improvements are always welcomed. Hence, if we feel a need to change certain things about other cultures, we should do it positively, focusing on the benefits of our ideas instead of the disadvantages of the other culture.  
Respect matters.
Shameem :)

4 comments:

  1. I totally agree with you that mutual respect is the foundation of intercultural understanding.

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  2. Hi! I agree with you that people might be from the same place community and religion,yet the cultures might be different.This is because culture is something that evolves over time and is more individual.Thus the community we are from just sets the basic attributes of culture and beyond that, it is shaped mainly in a family and individual scale.
    Thus, acknowledging these differences and having mutual respect for each other is very crucial for people of different cultures to co-exist.

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  3. Thank you for the replies. I think we all have a certain perception about other cultures, and when people from that culture do not fit into our perceptions, we get upset. Time to do away with the stereotypes, and accept individuals for who they are.

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  4. Hello!
    As you explained there will always be some form of clash between cultures. However the important fact is that people should be more open and respectful. It's natural to feel odd and differently about another persons cultural traditions or even simple things such as the food they eat, but keeping that in mind one should behave accordingly and also understand that the other party might be feeling the same way about one's own culture.

    So it all comes down to an open mind and the understanding you display.

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