So the other day, in my Chinese class, my teacher decided us to give us a worksheet where we analyze different cultural situations. Most of them dealt with different situations like an American teacher teaching in China, Americans having a dinner party with Chinese and Americans going on a tour in China. I can't copy them verbatim but they dealt with themes like how the memorization method of teaching Chinese are used to might conflict with how an American teacher wants to teach, how cultural differences can make socializing with Chinese people seem awkward (for instance, Chinese don't seem to view asking a person's income or age as rude at all), and how the collectivist and hierarchical nature of Chinese society could offend Westerners.
What all of this illustrates is that it's important to keep in mind cultural differences in mind when speaking to people of a different nationality than you. Not just in public speaking, but in normal socializing too. What you consider normal conversation may be viewed as extremely rude and vice versa.
It's of particular concern to me because I'm actually spending two months in Shanghai this summer learning Chinese, and will need to keep cultural differences in mind. I have Chinese friends, but I'm not sure that's going to fully prepare me for living in China. All I can hope for is that the culture shock that doesn't drive me completely insane.
That's really true, I always think of that with different cultures.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a lot of fun on your trip! That sounds like a blast.
ReplyDeleteMy summer softball coach owns some company in NYC and travels a lot during the week to broaden their company internationally. He always said in China that you have to approach the people in the boardroom differently and speak to them differently than you would if it were an American business meeting. The way their values are and their culture is is much different than ours and things we would find polite, they may find rude or vice-versa. He said it got some taking used to but he's been there four or five times by now and has gotten acquainted with the culture now and how to approach things.
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