|
||||
  
 
 |
Don't pat an Asian's head or order a burger in an Indian restaurant; learn the customs to avoid offending By
Sandra Reategui
Are you communicating well? Cultural misunderstandings can be avoided if we learn that what means one thing in our own culture doesnt necessarily mean the same in another. We have to learn how to communicate abroad, analyzing the culture we are going to, especially when doing business or politics. Travelers find opportunities for misunderstanding situations when going to another culture or place with unfamiliar customs, values, norms and beliefs. It is easy to offend others even with innocent or normal behavior. For instance, a North American asking for a cheeseburger in an Indian restaurant can offend Hindus, who consider cows sacred and never to be eaten. Each culture has its own value system. For example, in the United States because of the value of self-reliance, many elderly people decide to go to retirement homes. In Latin America, having someone's parents going to a retirement house is unacceptable because they believe it is the adult children's responsibility to take care of their old parents. A man in Vietnam can't touch a woman -- put an arm around her shoulder, hold her arm, or kiss her cheek -- as a sign of affection or friendliness because in that culture it is insulting to a woman. Some cultures don't accept food the first time it is offered. Some people don't smile in pictures because they don't want to look as if they are not taking the situation seriously, but others can interpret that act as unfriendly. Members of the same culture recognize some symbols that others don't. Also, they can attach a different meaning to the same symbol used abroad. Glenda Cole, assistant director and professor at the International English Language Institute at Utah State University (IELI), said that President Richard Nixon created a social-political scandal because of a cultural misunderstanding when he went to Brazil in the 1960s. "He flashed to the masses the OK sign, which in the United States and some other countries means that everything is good," Cole said. "Unfortunately, in Brazil that sign is an equivalent of the 'F' word. In consequence, Brazilian people felt offended as they took that act as rude." We have to be prepared for some things we don't know about another culture, Cole said, and find a point where we can respect each other and avoid misunderstandings. A good way to do it is asking, reading, and having contact with someone in the Internet so we avoid knowing some things after making the mistake, she said. Norine Dresser, the author of the book Multicultural Manners, said that people from Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean avoid eye contact as a sign of respect to authority figures, while Americans believe exactly the opposite, that avoiding eye contact is disrespectful. Cultures have different notions about social space, what is polite and what is not, what is considered good and wrong, what is legal and what is illegal, or what is success or happiness. Krysten Deshamps, assistant professor at IELI, says that success when doing business depends on cultural values, norms, language and symbols. That's why different strategies are needed to sell and promote the same product abroad. "General Motors learned that issue when in the 1970s couldn't sell their model Nova in Spanish-speaking countries as they did in others, just because Nova means 'don't go' in Spanish, so after realizing that, they had to rename that model," Deshamps explained. What is good in one culture could be considered bad or negative in another, she said. In Pakistan and other Muslim countries the popular Barbie doll was banned because the traditional Muslim culture found that doll a bad example for girls. Barbie is considered an example of immorality in these countries because she carries a message of too much freedom and indecent behavior, since she can be whatever she wants -- a doctor, a secretary, a rocker, a dancer, an athlete, etc., and she dresses in a provocative way, Deshamps said. But in America she is considered a modern woman with American values. In another example, Jacques Chevron explained that a successful ad campaign for a brand of toothpaste for children, which had boosted sales in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia was not well received by the folks in the Bangkok office. "Too American" they kept repeating. They were uneasy and telling Chevron that the campaign would not work in their country because of the gesture in the ad when a dad gives a pat on the head to his kid. This scene, which closed all commercials in the campaign, was designed to express the parent's appreciation for the good brushing the child had done with the toothpaste. "But one does not touch the head of another person in many Asian countries," Chevron said. The "pat on the head" is not part of the Asian culture. That gesture is not understood in Asian culture, although in America it is understood as approving a good action and in this case corresponds to a set of values such as helping kids to be more self-reliant in taking care of their hygiene and the concern parents have for their children's hygiene. Author Mirja Iivonen says new communications technology (e.g., e-mail and the World Wide Web) have made it easier to cross previous boundaries and communicate across time and space. But this technology does not necessarily make it easier to communicate interculturally because to effectively communicate we have to share meanings. This requires that we understand cultural differences and share cultural information. Social customs are different in different parts of the world. That's why it is impossible to give patterns of behavior applicable in every culture. It is important to analyze the cultural differences in order to communicate well abroad and be understood when doing business, public relations, marketing, publicity and politics. There'll be things we won't immediately understand or feel comfortable with. We have to respect each other and try to do our best being friendly, courteous, and dignified. And keep in mind that when traveling, we are guests in someone else's country.
|
Archived Months:
January
1999 January
2000 January
2001 |
||