Every time I think about the intercultural communication, I always treat it as the translation between two languages. Indeed, it is often the case that you need to be able to understand the language first before the communication, however, you may talk about rather different things even if you share the same language.
I will use two example to illustrate that. When I was working in the last summer vocation, my colleagues and I was we complaining the long working hours, and I said how I wish I could have a “lan jiao” (the pronunciation is in Chinese, which means to sleep late in the morning) while she took that as unacceptable and she told me I was rather rude! I got confused, so I explained as I was saying that I wish I could sleep until the noon. She laughed and told me that, the pronunciation of “lan jiao” is a rude word as it refers to the penis. I was shocked since we were chatting in Chinese and I never thought about the same words in the same languages have two totally unrelated meaning. After that, I started to study the culture differences and I never mentioned about any rude words to her again.
One the other day, I saw a lovely baby and I just said what a smart baby. my colleague and the baby’s mother said “no, no, no.” three time together and she told me never praise a baby as he or she would grow to the opposite, and she said directly to the baby, “you are stupid and ugly.” and then both of the mother and my colleague laughed, leaving me confused again.
After those experience, I learnt that whatever I am going to do, I’d better check out the cultural differences and ask first. It is hard to learn a second language and the same as learn all those cultural difference, yet it is of the same fun to do that as well.
9 条评论:
Hi Wen Lue,
I guess I totally understand how you feel living in different culture which uses mix of languages like Singapore. I came here in secondary 3. I heard my friend uses the word "lan jiao." I thought it means shit as the context of the usage fits in nicely. One day, my geography teacher gave us a lot of homework. I wanted to say "shit." Wanting to be more like Singaporean, I said "lan jiao". The teacher reprimanded me really badly for using such a word. Few examples of Thai words would be "f***" which means winter melon and "porn" means merit. This could be misunderstood in English. It is good that you bring this point up. I guess you ought to have a close friend who is local to guide you on the use of language, so that your uses aren't offensive to anyone.
Next, I would like to comment on your language. Firstly, the structure of your essay is well written. A clear introduction with two examples, each at each paragraph and a well-concluded summary. Your language is clearly used and concisely explained. The example shows clearly what your argument is based on. Nevertheless, there are some grammatical errors.
1. "the communication, however, you may" should be "the communication. However, you may"
2. "two example" at the beginning of paragraph2 should be "two examples"
3. "my colleagues and I was we complaining" should be "my colleagues and I were complaining"
4. "how I wish I could" should be "how I wished"
5. "to sleep late in the morning" should be "wake up late in the morning"
6."I never mentioned" should be "I have never mentioned"
7. "I never thought" should be " I had never thought"
8. "same words in the same languages" should be "same word in the same language"
These mistakes could hinder understanding sometimes. However, these are not very serious errors. If you could eliminate those, this essay would be well-written.
Cheer,
Billet
Hi Wen Lue,
Oh, that was quite a serious misunderstanding.
I believe your collegue is also partly responsible for this incident. If she works with you, she should know your personalities. However, upon hearing that word, she immediately jumped to conclusion that you are speaking a rude word.
Assuming you have pronounced the Chinese word "lan jiao" correctly, it could be due to her small base of vocabulary. In this case, I would recommend you to speak to her in English, if her command of Chinese is relatively weak.
This makes me think about one question. Who to blame in times of miscommunications? Your fault? Not entirely. Her fault? Maybe partly. :P
Thanks, Wenlue, for posting these two examples of communication breakdown due to cultural/linguistic differences. I assume that the colleague you were communicating with in the first example and the people in the second were Singaporean Chinese. Is that true? As I read through these posts for this assignment that seems to be a resounding theme, the differences in culture, and language, between Chinese from the mainland like yourself and those in Singapore. As XiXi mentions in her comment, for communication to be ineffective, it's really everyone who is involved who is at fault to some degree. Of course, what is vital for each of us in intercultural situations is to reflect on our differences (and similarities), to recognize the potential that exists for breakdowns and to adapt quickly so as to reduce the fall out when and if the breakdown occurs.
For your first scenario, you say that you never mentioned any rude words to your colleague again, but the biggest threat in intercultural encounters is when we break a norm without even realizing it.
Hey Wen Lue,
As I was already telling you the other day, this post simply cracked me up. And I still can't stop smiling after reading through it a couple more times. I don't really understand who's at wrong though. Personally I never knew of the alternate sleeping meaning. Maybe it was the difference in pronunciation that caused this misunderstanding. I like the fact that you went to explain to her immediately. But maybe asking someone else's opinion would have been better? In any case it was a honest mistake so no love lost. Its also remarkable that even within the Chinese culture, the effect that pronunciation of certain words has on communication between essentially the people of same race.
As for the baby story, I've heard of many traditions but this is new to me as well. The most interesting one I know of is in Greece where people literally spit 3 times on the baby to wish luck and the mother stands there watching. How weird is that right? The one you've pointed out here makes me confused. You mention they laughed so were they being sarcastic?
Hi Wenlue!
Great post you have here (: It's so entertaining and engaging! Personally, I've never heard of that Chinese phrase (the one which means sleeping in till late in the day). Haha! Just goes to show how completely horrendous the standard of my Chinese is :P
As for the baby superstition. This is the first time I'm hearing it too! Among my relatives and all my friends...it's generally a POSITIVE thing to compliment someone's baby. Haha! I've never ever heard that one should say the direct opposite of whatever one means! In fact, I do believe this may (accidentally) offend the baby's parents! And then you may be getting yourself into a whole different sort of 'inter-personal conflict' altogether :P
Hi Wenlue,
In your post, there're a few grammatical and spelling errors; in your second paragraph, "I will use two examples to...", "When I worked during the last summer vacation,...", "...in the same languages have two totally unrelated meanings."
One of the reasons I avoid speaking Mandarin is that I have horrible pronunciation, which I fear could lead to different interpretations of a word.
Wyhow
Hi Wen Lue,
First and foremost, I would like to comment that this post that you had put up was really interesting.
To be frank, if you were to mention that word to me, it will naturally come across to me interpreting the word as a male reproductive organ. As a Singaporean bred Chinese, I could fully understand her interpretation. In my opinion, the Mandarin that Singaporean use to converse with others is not regarded as perfect mandarin. Like Singlish, due to the extensive influence from other dialects like Hokkien, the Mandarin that we speak today contains elements of other dialects. The word that you spoke to your colleague had its origins from Hokkien and is termed as a swear word or to put in simple terms, vulgarities. So it is understandable that she interprets as you swearing at her. Thus, I cannot agree more with you that one has to actually do some homework in understanding the cultural background of others so as to avoid any form of misunderstanding that may arise.
Regarding the second example on the baby, I think this case of you getting lectured for complimenting a baby for being smart is seriously one of a kind. I have not known of any case where people are lectured for commenting the baby for having such high intellectual skills. Rather such cases probably happen when the child has grown up and knows how to interpret and give responses towards comments like being able to express complacency when people keeps praising the kid for being exceptionally smart. Other than that, I do not see the reason as to how babies are able to interpret such comments as they are still in the early stages of developing their cognitive skills.
Cheers,
Sylvester
Hi WenLue,
Your post really cracked me up, so did Yuen May's comment, "In fact, I do believe this may (accidentally) offend the baby's parents! And then you may be getting yourself into a whole different sort of 'inter-personal conflict' altogether :P"
I think Sylvester may be right in the complacency theory. Many studies on self esteem link to the parenting styles, which may also culturally linked. They suggest that in the conservative Asian sense of humility, one should refrain from speaking of their achievements.
In a common case to illustrate this,
Neighbour:"Mrs Tan, your child is soooooo smart. FIRST CLASS HONOURS!"
Mrs Tan may retort, "No lah, he is so stupid, could have aced everything if he was that brilliant." Yet deep inside, she may be secretly bursting with pride.
:)
Hi Wen Lue,
"Lan jiao" is indeed a hokkien profanity. This profanity is widely used in Taiwan as well!
As what Sylvester mentioned, mandarin in the context of singapore is rather mixed, akin to "rojak". Perhaps being a multi-racial country could have resulted in the dilution of proper mandarin here.
Hence, as indicated by others, taking time to understand other cultures is important to avoid such ugly and embarrasing moments. I remembered heading to Australia where they would use express gratitude using the word "cheers" instead of "thank you". It took me a while before I understand their meaning of "cheers". For sure, I wasn't holding any beer! Haha. Just when we thought English was the universal language. hmmm.
CHEERS,
alvin
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