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10/17/19; Week 5: Response to "Cultural Miscommunication"
In social-cultural life, communication is the engine that helps us interact between culture and culture. Globalization allows countries to develop more effectively using different language codes.

I found the video of Professor Ivers (BYUI) quite interesting. I learned how important it is in certain cultures, the way we gesture. What for one culture may seem normal, for another it can cause problems and even be considered disrespectful. Let me share an experience that I lived in my house a few years ago. My daughter Nicolle had a friend from China. She asked me permission to invite her home and go over some school assignments. I agreed. Then my daughter asked me to prepare "noodles" for that day since it was her friend Mei Ling's favorite food, btw, Mei means "beautiful" and ling "Jade pieces flashes"

I felt very excited to meet Mei Ling and to know something about her culture. When we were ready for dinner, we blessed the food and then started eating. To my great admiration and a little discomfort, I would say, Mei began to sip the noodles and made a lot of noise while eating. My first reaction was "wow, this girl does not know how to eat, that lack of manners" Then, realizing that we looked at her weird, she said "these noodles are delicious!" I discovered that making noise while eating was expressing gratitude. So as Professor Ivers said "Be aware of those potential misunderstandings, and realize that those people have good intentions."

"The nail that sticks out gets hammered down" As Professor Ivers mentions, it is something totally new to me. Now I can better understand the attitude of some of my ELD students from Japan. He is very intelligent, he learns everything very fast, he is orderly and disciplined. I told him that I was very happy with his progress and that I thanked him for his effort and dedication in delivering all the tasks on time. He immediately told me "No, I have to learn more English, it's a long process, but I'm not as good as it seems"  I thought, how humble is this boy! Now I can understand that excelling in Japanese culture is not something that favors the person, since their culture is based "In a group-oriented society"


Comments

  1. Jan TaylorOctober 18, 2019 at 5:27 AM

    Hi Sandy! I like the quote you used from Brother Ivers about being aware of potential misunderstandings and how you used your experience with Mei Ling as an example. Great post!
    Jan

    ReplyDelete
  2. Keithy RasolondraibeOctober 18, 2019 at 7:20 AM

    Hi!
    Thank you for sharing the real example in your home. I think that this friend also learned something from you. Is it polite to ask if there is something that we don't understand regarding other's culture?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Carine NogueiraOctober 19, 2019 at 2:57 PM

    Hi Sandy, thank you for sharing these two personal experiences. They illustrated the issue very well.

    ReplyDelete

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