5/20/2021; Week 5: Response to "Culture Miscommunication"

 

While watching Professor Ivers' lecture and the HSBC Bank commercials on misunderstandings in communication due to cultural differences, I also recalled some anecdotes from the other people when they shared with other cultures.

I'll never forget the story a friend told me when she was in London. She had a boyfriend and for some reason, she got very upset with him. She was so angry that she told him she never wanted to see him again. As she expressed her anger her boyfriend cried a lot and then left. Days passed, and the boyfriend never came back. A year later, she happened to see him again and they talked about what had happened. She asked him why he never came back and he answered, surprised by the question: that's what you asked me. In Venezuela, when a couple gets angry, they can even tell each other how bad they are going to die, but many of the things they say they don't really mean. Usually, after the fight, it's typical that the man comes back, asks for forgiveness and they reconcile. But in other cultures like London, if you say goodbye you are really saying goodbye.

I had a good laugh watching Prof. Ivers' video because it also reminded me of an experience when my daughter visited the US for the first time with a US Embassy program. One of the first things she was warned about was not to refuse food if she really wanted to eat, because Venezuelans often say no at first and wait for you to insist a bit before they can say yes. This is typical so as not to appear rude or "starving". So, it was difficult for her because she didn't want to seem rude but she also didn't want to go without food.

When we see these anecdotes, we may laugh or find certain behaviors in the communication process illogical, but beyond laughter it’s a very serious matter where the people involved don’t conceive the world in the same way and don’t understand each other's vision. This observation is of utmost importance in an intercultural classroom and we must strive to maintain effective communication, to put ourselves in the other's shoes. To take off their borrowed glasses in order to see as they see. That ability to inquire, to know that our interlocutor also feels, fears, struggles, observes, and is a conscious mystery like us, is called empathy. And we teachers must be promoters of this important value.

 

 

References:

Culture Miscommunication https://video.byui.edu/media/04%20Cultural%20Miscommunication%20/0_3aaa6xxh/28027982

Series of HSBC Ads about Culture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALWwK7Vz4gY

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