Elżbieta Jaszczurowska
Wyższa Szkołą Ekonomiczno-Humanistyczna
ulica Sikorskiego 4
43-300 Bielsko-Biała
BUILDING INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS - BREAKING STEREOTYPES
The issues connected with intecultural communication are as old as mankind and the differences between tribes, nations, cultures. The intercation between cultures has always existed in the form of trade, religious journeys also wars, which can be perceived as triggered by the lack of intecultural awareness. Yet, those conflics were more of local character rather than global one. This has changed due to the development of technology enabling a constant flow of information, ideas and human mobility all over the world.Widespread migration has changed the demographics of many nations creating challenges for communication processes. Cultural diversity became the reality of both working and private life.
Building cultural awareness is thus important for an individual in order to live and function in multicultural environment effectively and meaningfully. Intercultural education has been introduced in many countries especially recently after European integration as a process began.
However, European integration is not an easy process as it requires willingness to teach and learn from each party. The lack of understanding of other cultures, their social background and rationale leads to intolerance and even xenophobia. Cultural awareness is the basis of communication and means the ability to stand back and become aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perception. It is crucial when we have to interact with people from other cultures and then the need is to interpret behaviour and react accordingly without unintentional offense or insult. As what is considered an appropriate behaviour in one culture is frequently considered bad manners in another.
Misunderstandings arise when I use my meanings to make sense of your reality. The reality is objective while the interpretation is subjective because it depends on our experience. If there is no connection with the real life experience and we base only on what other people believe then we build our picture on false experience and false assumptions, attitudes and associations. What does it mean? For an Italian it is almost automatic to perceive US Americans as people who always work, talk about business over lunch and drink their coffee running in their street instead of enjoying it in a bar. What does it mean? Italians are lazy and Americans hyperactive? No, it means that the meaning people endow on certain activities, like having lunch or dinner, could be different or the simple pauses for coffee have social connotation: people get together to talk and relax , and to get to know each other better. In the USA, where time is money, lunches can be part of closing a transaction .
Misunderstandings occur when we lack awareness of our own behavioural rules and project them on others. In the absence of better knowledge we tend to assume, instead of finding out,what a behaviour means to the person involved, like a straight look into somebody's face is regarded as disrespectful in Japan.
Becoming aware of our cultural dynamics is a difficult task because culture is not conscious to us. From the moment we are born we have learnt to see and do things in our unconscious minds. Sometimes we have to step outside of cultural boundaries in order to realise the impact that our culture has on our behaviour.[1] Projected similarities could lead to misinterpretation as well. When we assume that people are similar to us, we might incur the risk that they are not. If we project similarities where they are not, we might act in an inappropriate way. That is why it is better to assume that we are not similar. It is very important in the process of communication to be aware of the diversities because in communication everything is based on interpretive processing.
Language is the transmission of both particular information and values, beliefs, rules as well as principles characteristic for a particular culture, ethnic group or nation. Obviously there are some universal values transmitted by all languages and existing in all cultures which are the foundation of intercultural communication. Yet, there are even more fundamental differences which, once learnt , help understand the logic of the culture in question, which in turn facilitates communication between cultures. Language functions in the realm of lexis and syntax which in combination serve the verbalisation of thoughts, opinions and information.
Building cultural awareness serves to develop the sense of observation, teach tolerance and break cultural stereotypes. All these aims go beyond simple teaching of the language as they create the ground for better knowledge of the culture, but also help deepen the knowledge of one's own culture and better appreciation of both, which results in broadening one's comprehension of different ways of behaviour. According to Ned Seelye there are seven aims for building cultural awareness: and so we should teach culture for the students to:
· understand the fact that all behaviours are determined by culture,
· understand that such variables as age, gender, social class or place influence the way people speak and behave,
· realise that there are generally accepted manners in various countries,
· comprehend cultural connotation of words and phrases in languages.
· Develop the ability of evaluation and verification of generally observed image of a culture
· acquire the ability of identification and organisation of information in a given culture
· show their own individual curiosity to learn about the culture in order to better understand people using the language in question[2]
In classical-humanist models of language education, culture ( which usually meant high culture) traditionally occupied a prominent position. But recent approach tends to stress the behavioural aspects of culture ( low culture) and in particular their role in communication or communication breakdown. Low culture has become fashionable in language teaching nowadays. There are many books or tasks incorporated in the process of language teaching, which were designed to develop the awareness of one's own culturally induced behaviour, awarenes of culturally induced behaviours of others and ability to explain one's own cultural standpoint. Although cross-cultural interaction is one of the fastest growing areas of language study, the systematic study of cross-cultural
interaction may be new for many teachers. For this reason it is important to explore a number of background questions which learners may ask. Teachers of English as a second language in the UK have long recognised the need to teach the way of life of the host country to immigrants.
Linguistic studies in the field of pragmatics have heightened awareness of the degree to which cross-cultural communication is affected by culturally-related factors. Such factors include people's expectations regarding the appropriate level of formality and degree of politeness in discourse.
Obviously the study of the culture should become integral part of language courses. One of the most difficult aspects of building cultural awareness is teaching language instruments, means of expression, also metaphors. It is very important to be able to interpret metaphors and similes and to join them with their cultural connotations. American linguist George Lakoff and a philosopher Mark Johnson made an attempt to prove this hypothesis. They gave the example of connotation connected with the word ARGUMENT( conflict) as the majority of expressions are taken from the realm of WAR:
Ex.: We couldn't DEFEND our claims.
Why do you always have to SHOOT DOWN all my arguments?
Similarly – life is associated with hazard.
Ex.: He's holding ALL THE ACES.
The ODDS ARE AGAINST me.[3]
Another example to prove the necessity of cultural awareness is the experience of Christian Missionaries working among the Eskimo tribes. As they were teaching the Eskimos the prayer „ Our Father...” they had to change the phrase „... give us today our daily BREAD...” into „...Give us today our daily FISH...”. As the primary member of the category for common food for the Eskimos is not bread, which is obviously not daily, but fish, which is one. Also cultural connotation relating to the family hierarchy is quite significant for the differences between cultures. Expressions connected with the country are in English associated with mother : mother tongue, mother country, while in German they are associated with father: Vaterland but Muttersprache which gives us a hint of what roles in the family each of the parents played.
Ignorance of the varieties of cultures and social background may lead and in many cases d6es lead to intolerance and building negative stereotypes.
A stereotype is a fixed general image or set of characteristics that a lot of people believe represents a particular type of person or thing. If someone is stereotyped as something, people form a fixed general idea or image of them, so that it is assumed that they will behave in a particular way.
In some other sources we can find another definition: stereotypes are ideas held by some individuals about members of particular groups, based on memberships in that group. They are often used in negative or prejudicial sense and are frequently used to justify certain discriminatory behaviours. More benignly, they may sometimes express accurate folk wisdom about social reality. Stereotype production is based on
· simplification
· exaggeration or distortion
· generalison
· presentation of cultural attributes as being natural
· unshakeable belief in the stability of stereotypes
· racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination
· historical factors
Stereotypes are seen by many as undesirable beliefs imposed to justify the acts of discrimination and oppression. They are an explanation for:
· justification of ill-founded prejudices,
· unwillingness to rethink one's attitudes and behaviour towards stereotyped groups
· self-fulfilling prophecy for both stereotyping and stereotyped groups- white people treat black people as threat
Yet, stereotypes are the result of our need to perceive our environment selectively. They help us understand the complex world around us because they are a useful simplification. Stereotypes can be negative or positive, even for the same group.
Often the terms stereotype and prejudice are confused. Stereotypes are generalisations of characteristics while predjudices are either abstract preconceptions or an attitude towards individuals.
A variety of stereotypes exist within major social groups and are directed towards the variety of individuals that exist within our own groups.
Although stereotypes are handy and make us feel better, they are dangerous as well. Stereotypes abate our minds, which allows us to misunderstand the world we live in as their usage and spreading kill what makes us human. As a result the habit and agreement to use stereotypes make us defenseless against life and changing world. Stereotypes can exist in our consciousness but we cannot allow them to be the criterion for judging other people.
Generalisation and categories are necessary, but when are too rigid they can be barrier to the effective interpretation of the situation. In cross-cultural communication in particular, it is vital to distinguish between what is part of a person's cultural background and what is part of their personality. Within a culture there will be a range of attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviour. It is now possible to generalise about culture but care should be taken in applying those generalisations to individuals. When we meet an individual we cannot tell which of their behavioural actions stem from their cultural background and which are part of their personality.
A famous anectode clearly shows what can stereotypical thinking lead to:
„ Heaven is the place where the police are British, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and it's all organised by the Swiss.
Hell is the place where the police are German, the cooks are English, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss and it's all organised by the Italians”
We can easily jump into conclusions that all the British are gentle and trustworthy while the Italians are badly organised. We all know that this does not have to be true. That is why building intercultural communication not only helps avoid misunderstanding but prevents unintentional or intentional insult, like thinking of whole nations that some are fat, others are rude , still others are womanizers .
That is why it is so important to learn about some cultural implications to avoid some serious misunderstading especially in business where misunderstandings can lead to the loss of transaction.
Let us analyse some cases,.
Example 1
Sao Paolo 2 am. A jet lagged British businessman and his better -dressed Brazilian client wait outside the elegant restaurant at which they have hardly talked business all night. Their car is driven right up to the door. This is a good part of the town, but you don't want to be walking to ther parking lot in a smart suit and an expensive watch. The Brazilian suggests a night-club, but tomorrow's meeting is scheduled for 9am , and maybe the salesman has already had one too many.
By 9.35 the following morning the meeting is about to begin. The salesman is introduced to everyone round the table in turn. A large number of them seem to be related. The conversation ranges from footbal to families and back to football. The atmosphere is relaxed, but the salesman's barely started his technical presentation before someone cuts in. Soon everybody's joining in the discussion with widely creative ideas of their own. If this is a negotiation, it's hard to see how the Brazilians manage to work as a team. The salesman is surprised to find his hosts so enthusiastic about his product . Did he really win them over? But when he presses for a decision all eyes turn to the boss, who thinks it is too early to think of a contract. He says: „ I'm sure we can work something out. Let's think about future.”
Case study:
Here is the encounter clash of two different business cultures; pro-partner- Brazilian and a pro-transactional- British. With no background knowledge it is obvious that those two found it hard to find a common ground for discussion or negotiation.
Example 2
Brilliant white walls, luxurious carpets and the soft hum of air conditioning. A British salesman sits a little uncomfortably in the office of a Saudi manager. An hour passes on small talk like recent news, horse-racing, the Royal Family. The salesman casually complements his host on his taste in art and, after several futile attempts to refuse, ends up accepting a valuable-looking vase as a gift ( sic!).
When the meeting finally gets underway there are almost constant interruptions and it is difficult to stick to one topic. People enter and leave the room making noise and discussing different topics loudly.
Five days later a second meeting is in progress. This time the questions are more direct. A senior Arab manager is present on this occasion, but says very little. The arrival of even more visitors interrupts the conversation for another 40 minutes.
The salesman tries hard to hide his frustration.
Meeting three. Terms are negotiated during a lively haggling session. The salesman finds the Saudis more easily persuaded by rhetoric than by facts. They clearly do want to do business. Their initial demands seem unrealistic, but slowly they begin to make concessions. As Arabs say,” When God made time, he made plenty of it.”
Case study:
Different approach to time as Arabs are more polychronic and the British are more monochronic in business culture. So the British salesman was quite frustrated as the time passed. Also, he failed to learn before the meeting that haggling is an important part of Arab culture.
Example 3
A Japanese businessman is negotiating with a Norwegian partner. The Japanese says that the deal will be very difficult. The Norwegian asks how the company can help to solve the problems. The Japanese is puzzled by the question.
Case study:
For the Japanese, the message was clear. For him , the statement that it would be difficult meant there would be no deal. He expressed this INDIRECTLY, to be polite and to avoid „ loss of face”. The Norwegian not being aware of this, thought there were really some problems that could be solved.
This is a case of misinterpretation, in which two people misinterpreted the same statement completely not knowing their cultural background[4].
In business it is not only about the interpretation of behaviour or gestures, but also symbolism of colours which is especially important in marketing and advertising. Various cultures perceive colour differently. In India for example, blue is associated with Krishna which is a positive association and red is associated with fertility and is used as wedding colour. In most Asian cultures, yellow is the imperial colour, the equivalent to purple in Western cultures. In China red is symbolic of celebration, luck and prosperity, while white is associated with mourning and death. In the UK colour symbolic can be seen in localised religious division : e.g. Green is associated with Catholic religion, while orange with the Protestants , and these are seen as almost taboo by opposing socioreligious groups. Most studies suggest the lack of single universal psychological reaction to a particular colour according to cultural background. These are the factors to be taken into consideration while designing commercials, advertising spots and even everyday contacts with the members of different culture groups.
The next factor influencing intercultural understaning is non-verbal communication. And in this realm we may talk about culturally formed attitude towards proximity, haptics or gestures.
In southern cultures people have smaller personal space, consequently they tend to narrow the distance between people in everyday contacts. On the other hand, in northern cultures personal space is quite large which means that the members of these cultures will tend to keep distance. The meeting of these two might lead to various misunderstandings , not necessariluy funny. The same can be observed in the area of touching or looking straight in the eyes.
As for gestures we can assume that there are no truly international gestures which can lead to many conflicts as for example an OK gesture means „null” for the French, „money” for the Japanese and „ all right” for the Americans. This is just the tip of the iceberg as there are various differences including obscenity in various cultures and pretty innocent gestures to others.
That is why teaching intercultural communication together with foreign language is a necessity rather than just an additional, trivial component of foreign language lessons. In present reality when the world is becoming smaller due to transport development, the internet and globalisation, cultural awareness is a MUST, as it helps avoid conflicts on cultural and religious background. Important though it may be, it is by no means easy or ludicrious. It is the process of forming a new way of thinking, changing mentality which cannot be done in a fortnight.
We, the teachers, are responsible for what the future is going to be like, as those whom we teach today will govern the world tomorrow. Let us hope it will be a better world with no predjudice , no negative stereotype and thus with fewer conflicts.
Bibliography:
Adler, Nancy,J. „ International Dimensions; Organisational Behaviour „ South-Western Pub, 2001
Gibson Robert,” Intercultural Business Communication”, OUP, 2002
Hofstede, Geert,” Cultures and Organisations: Software of the Mind” McGraw-Hill, 2004
Lakoff George,Johnson M., „ Metaphors we live by”, 1980
Samovar Larry, Porter M. „ Communication Between Cultures”, 2009
Seelye Ned, „ Teaching Culture. Strategies for Intercultural Communication”,McGraw-Hill,1993
Elżbieta Jaszczurowska
Notka o autorze:
Elżbieta Jaszczurowska- pracownik naukowo-dydaktyczny Wyższej Szkoły Ekonomiczno- Humanistycznej w Bielsku-Białej, pełni funkcję dyrektora do spraw kształcen ia, jest kierownikiem zespołu do spraw studiów międzynarodowych oraz zastępcą koordymatora projektu „ Czas nowych możliwości” współfinansowanym ze środków Unii Europejskiej. Anglistka, absolwentak Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, doktoranta Instytutu Badań Edukacyjnych w Warszawie, pracę naukową prowadzi pod kierunkiem Profesora Doktora Habilitowanego Tadeusza Lewowickiego. Dziedzina badawcza to kody socjolingwistyczne oraz komunikacja międzykulturowa.
Międzynarodowa Konferencja Naukowa „ W dialogu języków i kultur”.
Lingwistyczna Szkoła Wyższa, Warszawa 25/26 listopad 2009
[1] Adler, Organisational Behaviour, 1991
[2] Seelye, Ned, Teaching Culture, 1988
[3] Lakoff George,Johnson M., Metaphors we live by, 1980
[4] Gibson, Robert, Intercultural Business Communication, 2002
Wyższa Szkołą Ekonomiczno-Humanistyczna
ulica Sikorskiego 4
43-300 Bielsko-Biała
BUILDING INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS - BREAKING STEREOTYPES
The issues connected with intecultural communication are as old as mankind and the differences between tribes, nations, cultures. The intercation between cultures has always existed in the form of trade, religious journeys also wars, which can be perceived as triggered by the lack of intecultural awareness. Yet, those conflics were more of local character rather than global one. This has changed due to the development of technology enabling a constant flow of information, ideas and human mobility all over the world.Widespread migration has changed the demographics of many nations creating challenges for communication processes. Cultural diversity became the reality of both working and private life.
Building cultural awareness is thus important for an individual in order to live and function in multicultural environment effectively and meaningfully. Intercultural education has been introduced in many countries especially recently after European integration as a process began.
However, European integration is not an easy process as it requires willingness to teach and learn from each party. The lack of understanding of other cultures, their social background and rationale leads to intolerance and even xenophobia. Cultural awareness is the basis of communication and means the ability to stand back and become aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perception. It is crucial when we have to interact with people from other cultures and then the need is to interpret behaviour and react accordingly without unintentional offense or insult. As what is considered an appropriate behaviour in one culture is frequently considered bad manners in another.
Misunderstandings arise when I use my meanings to make sense of your reality. The reality is objective while the interpretation is subjective because it depends on our experience. If there is no connection with the real life experience and we base only on what other people believe then we build our picture on false experience and false assumptions, attitudes and associations. What does it mean? For an Italian it is almost automatic to perceive US Americans as people who always work, talk about business over lunch and drink their coffee running in their street instead of enjoying it in a bar. What does it mean? Italians are lazy and Americans hyperactive? No, it means that the meaning people endow on certain activities, like having lunch or dinner, could be different or the simple pauses for coffee have social connotation: people get together to talk and relax , and to get to know each other better. In the USA, where time is money, lunches can be part of closing a transaction .
Misunderstandings occur when we lack awareness of our own behavioural rules and project them on others. In the absence of better knowledge we tend to assume, instead of finding out,what a behaviour means to the person involved, like a straight look into somebody's face is regarded as disrespectful in Japan.
Becoming aware of our cultural dynamics is a difficult task because culture is not conscious to us. From the moment we are born we have learnt to see and do things in our unconscious minds. Sometimes we have to step outside of cultural boundaries in order to realise the impact that our culture has on our behaviour.[1] Projected similarities could lead to misinterpretation as well. When we assume that people are similar to us, we might incur the risk that they are not. If we project similarities where they are not, we might act in an inappropriate way. That is why it is better to assume that we are not similar. It is very important in the process of communication to be aware of the diversities because in communication everything is based on interpretive processing.
Language is the transmission of both particular information and values, beliefs, rules as well as principles characteristic for a particular culture, ethnic group or nation. Obviously there are some universal values transmitted by all languages and existing in all cultures which are the foundation of intercultural communication. Yet, there are even more fundamental differences which, once learnt , help understand the logic of the culture in question, which in turn facilitates communication between cultures. Language functions in the realm of lexis and syntax which in combination serve the verbalisation of thoughts, opinions and information.
Building cultural awareness serves to develop the sense of observation, teach tolerance and break cultural stereotypes. All these aims go beyond simple teaching of the language as they create the ground for better knowledge of the culture, but also help deepen the knowledge of one's own culture and better appreciation of both, which results in broadening one's comprehension of different ways of behaviour. According to Ned Seelye there are seven aims for building cultural awareness: and so we should teach culture for the students to:
· understand the fact that all behaviours are determined by culture,
· understand that such variables as age, gender, social class or place influence the way people speak and behave,
· realise that there are generally accepted manners in various countries,
· comprehend cultural connotation of words and phrases in languages.
· Develop the ability of evaluation and verification of generally observed image of a culture
· acquire the ability of identification and organisation of information in a given culture
· show their own individual curiosity to learn about the culture in order to better understand people using the language in question[2]
In classical-humanist models of language education, culture ( which usually meant high culture) traditionally occupied a prominent position. But recent approach tends to stress the behavioural aspects of culture ( low culture) and in particular their role in communication or communication breakdown. Low culture has become fashionable in language teaching nowadays. There are many books or tasks incorporated in the process of language teaching, which were designed to develop the awareness of one's own culturally induced behaviour, awarenes of culturally induced behaviours of others and ability to explain one's own cultural standpoint. Although cross-cultural interaction is one of the fastest growing areas of language study, the systematic study of cross-cultural
interaction may be new for many teachers. For this reason it is important to explore a number of background questions which learners may ask. Teachers of English as a second language in the UK have long recognised the need to teach the way of life of the host country to immigrants.
Linguistic studies in the field of pragmatics have heightened awareness of the degree to which cross-cultural communication is affected by culturally-related factors. Such factors include people's expectations regarding the appropriate level of formality and degree of politeness in discourse.
Obviously the study of the culture should become integral part of language courses. One of the most difficult aspects of building cultural awareness is teaching language instruments, means of expression, also metaphors. It is very important to be able to interpret metaphors and similes and to join them with their cultural connotations. American linguist George Lakoff and a philosopher Mark Johnson made an attempt to prove this hypothesis. They gave the example of connotation connected with the word ARGUMENT( conflict) as the majority of expressions are taken from the realm of WAR:
Ex.: We couldn't DEFEND our claims.
Why do you always have to SHOOT DOWN all my arguments?
Similarly – life is associated with hazard.
Ex.: He's holding ALL THE ACES.
The ODDS ARE AGAINST me.[3]
Another example to prove the necessity of cultural awareness is the experience of Christian Missionaries working among the Eskimo tribes. As they were teaching the Eskimos the prayer „ Our Father...” they had to change the phrase „... give us today our daily BREAD...” into „...Give us today our daily FISH...”. As the primary member of the category for common food for the Eskimos is not bread, which is obviously not daily, but fish, which is one. Also cultural connotation relating to the family hierarchy is quite significant for the differences between cultures. Expressions connected with the country are in English associated with mother : mother tongue, mother country, while in German they are associated with father: Vaterland but Muttersprache which gives us a hint of what roles in the family each of the parents played.
Ignorance of the varieties of cultures and social background may lead and in many cases d6es lead to intolerance and building negative stereotypes.
A stereotype is a fixed general image or set of characteristics that a lot of people believe represents a particular type of person or thing. If someone is stereotyped as something, people form a fixed general idea or image of them, so that it is assumed that they will behave in a particular way.
In some other sources we can find another definition: stereotypes are ideas held by some individuals about members of particular groups, based on memberships in that group. They are often used in negative or prejudicial sense and are frequently used to justify certain discriminatory behaviours. More benignly, they may sometimes express accurate folk wisdom about social reality. Stereotype production is based on
· simplification
· exaggeration or distortion
· generalison
· presentation of cultural attributes as being natural
· unshakeable belief in the stability of stereotypes
· racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination
· historical factors
Stereotypes are seen by many as undesirable beliefs imposed to justify the acts of discrimination and oppression. They are an explanation for:
· justification of ill-founded prejudices,
· unwillingness to rethink one's attitudes and behaviour towards stereotyped groups
· self-fulfilling prophecy for both stereotyping and stereotyped groups- white people treat black people as threat
Yet, stereotypes are the result of our need to perceive our environment selectively. They help us understand the complex world around us because they are a useful simplification. Stereotypes can be negative or positive, even for the same group.
Often the terms stereotype and prejudice are confused. Stereotypes are generalisations of characteristics while predjudices are either abstract preconceptions or an attitude towards individuals.
A variety of stereotypes exist within major social groups and are directed towards the variety of individuals that exist within our own groups.
Although stereotypes are handy and make us feel better, they are dangerous as well. Stereotypes abate our minds, which allows us to misunderstand the world we live in as their usage and spreading kill what makes us human. As a result the habit and agreement to use stereotypes make us defenseless against life and changing world. Stereotypes can exist in our consciousness but we cannot allow them to be the criterion for judging other people.
Generalisation and categories are necessary, but when are too rigid they can be barrier to the effective interpretation of the situation. In cross-cultural communication in particular, it is vital to distinguish between what is part of a person's cultural background and what is part of their personality. Within a culture there will be a range of attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviour. It is now possible to generalise about culture but care should be taken in applying those generalisations to individuals. When we meet an individual we cannot tell which of their behavioural actions stem from their cultural background and which are part of their personality.
A famous anectode clearly shows what can stereotypical thinking lead to:
„ Heaven is the place where the police are British, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and it's all organised by the Swiss.
Hell is the place where the police are German, the cooks are English, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss and it's all organised by the Italians”
We can easily jump into conclusions that all the British are gentle and trustworthy while the Italians are badly organised. We all know that this does not have to be true. That is why building intercultural communication not only helps avoid misunderstanding but prevents unintentional or intentional insult, like thinking of whole nations that some are fat, others are rude , still others are womanizers .
That is why it is so important to learn about some cultural implications to avoid some serious misunderstading especially in business where misunderstandings can lead to the loss of transaction.
Let us analyse some cases,.
Example 1
Sao Paolo 2 am. A jet lagged British businessman and his better -dressed Brazilian client wait outside the elegant restaurant at which they have hardly talked business all night. Their car is driven right up to the door. This is a good part of the town, but you don't want to be walking to ther parking lot in a smart suit and an expensive watch. The Brazilian suggests a night-club, but tomorrow's meeting is scheduled for 9am , and maybe the salesman has already had one too many.
By 9.35 the following morning the meeting is about to begin. The salesman is introduced to everyone round the table in turn. A large number of them seem to be related. The conversation ranges from footbal to families and back to football. The atmosphere is relaxed, but the salesman's barely started his technical presentation before someone cuts in. Soon everybody's joining in the discussion with widely creative ideas of their own. If this is a negotiation, it's hard to see how the Brazilians manage to work as a team. The salesman is surprised to find his hosts so enthusiastic about his product . Did he really win them over? But when he presses for a decision all eyes turn to the boss, who thinks it is too early to think of a contract. He says: „ I'm sure we can work something out. Let's think about future.”
Case study:
Here is the encounter clash of two different business cultures; pro-partner- Brazilian and a pro-transactional- British. With no background knowledge it is obvious that those two found it hard to find a common ground for discussion or negotiation.
Example 2
Brilliant white walls, luxurious carpets and the soft hum of air conditioning. A British salesman sits a little uncomfortably in the office of a Saudi manager. An hour passes on small talk like recent news, horse-racing, the Royal Family. The salesman casually complements his host on his taste in art and, after several futile attempts to refuse, ends up accepting a valuable-looking vase as a gift ( sic!).
When the meeting finally gets underway there are almost constant interruptions and it is difficult to stick to one topic. People enter and leave the room making noise and discussing different topics loudly.
Five days later a second meeting is in progress. This time the questions are more direct. A senior Arab manager is present on this occasion, but says very little. The arrival of even more visitors interrupts the conversation for another 40 minutes.
The salesman tries hard to hide his frustration.
Meeting three. Terms are negotiated during a lively haggling session. The salesman finds the Saudis more easily persuaded by rhetoric than by facts. They clearly do want to do business. Their initial demands seem unrealistic, but slowly they begin to make concessions. As Arabs say,” When God made time, he made plenty of it.”
Case study:
Different approach to time as Arabs are more polychronic and the British are more monochronic in business culture. So the British salesman was quite frustrated as the time passed. Also, he failed to learn before the meeting that haggling is an important part of Arab culture.
Example 3
A Japanese businessman is negotiating with a Norwegian partner. The Japanese says that the deal will be very difficult. The Norwegian asks how the company can help to solve the problems. The Japanese is puzzled by the question.
Case study:
For the Japanese, the message was clear. For him , the statement that it would be difficult meant there would be no deal. He expressed this INDIRECTLY, to be polite and to avoid „ loss of face”. The Norwegian not being aware of this, thought there were really some problems that could be solved.
This is a case of misinterpretation, in which two people misinterpreted the same statement completely not knowing their cultural background[4].
In business it is not only about the interpretation of behaviour or gestures, but also symbolism of colours which is especially important in marketing and advertising. Various cultures perceive colour differently. In India for example, blue is associated with Krishna which is a positive association and red is associated with fertility and is used as wedding colour. In most Asian cultures, yellow is the imperial colour, the equivalent to purple in Western cultures. In China red is symbolic of celebration, luck and prosperity, while white is associated with mourning and death. In the UK colour symbolic can be seen in localised religious division : e.g. Green is associated with Catholic religion, while orange with the Protestants , and these are seen as almost taboo by opposing socioreligious groups. Most studies suggest the lack of single universal psychological reaction to a particular colour according to cultural background. These are the factors to be taken into consideration while designing commercials, advertising spots and even everyday contacts with the members of different culture groups.
The next factor influencing intercultural understaning is non-verbal communication. And in this realm we may talk about culturally formed attitude towards proximity, haptics or gestures.
In southern cultures people have smaller personal space, consequently they tend to narrow the distance between people in everyday contacts. On the other hand, in northern cultures personal space is quite large which means that the members of these cultures will tend to keep distance. The meeting of these two might lead to various misunderstandings , not necessariluy funny. The same can be observed in the area of touching or looking straight in the eyes.
As for gestures we can assume that there are no truly international gestures which can lead to many conflicts as for example an OK gesture means „null” for the French, „money” for the Japanese and „ all right” for the Americans. This is just the tip of the iceberg as there are various differences including obscenity in various cultures and pretty innocent gestures to others.
That is why teaching intercultural communication together with foreign language is a necessity rather than just an additional, trivial component of foreign language lessons. In present reality when the world is becoming smaller due to transport development, the internet and globalisation, cultural awareness is a MUST, as it helps avoid conflicts on cultural and religious background. Important though it may be, it is by no means easy or ludicrious. It is the process of forming a new way of thinking, changing mentality which cannot be done in a fortnight.
We, the teachers, are responsible for what the future is going to be like, as those whom we teach today will govern the world tomorrow. Let us hope it will be a better world with no predjudice , no negative stereotype and thus with fewer conflicts.
Bibliography:
Adler, Nancy,J. „ International Dimensions; Organisational Behaviour „ South-Western Pub, 2001
Gibson Robert,” Intercultural Business Communication”, OUP, 2002
Hofstede, Geert,” Cultures and Organisations: Software of the Mind” McGraw-Hill, 2004
Lakoff George,Johnson M., „ Metaphors we live by”, 1980
Samovar Larry, Porter M. „ Communication Between Cultures”, 2009
Seelye Ned, „ Teaching Culture. Strategies for Intercultural Communication”,McGraw-Hill,1993
Elżbieta Jaszczurowska
Notka o autorze:
Elżbieta Jaszczurowska- pracownik naukowo-dydaktyczny Wyższej Szkoły Ekonomiczno- Humanistycznej w Bielsku-Białej, pełni funkcję dyrektora do spraw kształcen ia, jest kierownikiem zespołu do spraw studiów międzynarodowych oraz zastępcą koordymatora projektu „ Czas nowych możliwości” współfinansowanym ze środków Unii Europejskiej. Anglistka, absolwentak Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, doktoranta Instytutu Badań Edukacyjnych w Warszawie, pracę naukową prowadzi pod kierunkiem Profesora Doktora Habilitowanego Tadeusza Lewowickiego. Dziedzina badawcza to kody socjolingwistyczne oraz komunikacja międzykulturowa.
Międzynarodowa Konferencja Naukowa „ W dialogu języków i kultur”.
Lingwistyczna Szkoła Wyższa, Warszawa 25/26 listopad 2009
[1] Adler, Organisational Behaviour, 1991
[2] Seelye, Ned, Teaching Culture, 1988
[3] Lakoff George,Johnson M., Metaphors we live by, 1980
[4] Gibson, Robert, Intercultural Business Communication, 2002