5/25/19, W05 'Cultural Miscommunication'

I enjoyed the video by Brother Ivers at BYUI as well as the seven short video commercials on cross-cultural communication; https://video.byui.edu/media/04%20Cultural%20Miscommunication%20/0_3aaa6xxh/28027982

and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALWwK7Vz4gY because I learned a lot about the differences in communication rules cross culturally and how those cultural differences can cause misunderstandings.

I was amazed at all the differences in communication styles; including words, eye contact, intensity, gestures and space, between cultures and hence the possibilities of miscommunication or misinterpretation. Brother Ivers gave many examples of the way various cultures; including China, Germany, India, Bulgaria, Latin America and the USA communicate differently and therefore the difficulty it can cause. For example, if a Latin American sees interpersonal encounters as sacred, special time, how would he feel talking to an American who just sees the encounter as a way of exchanging information or as only a means to an end? Would he perhaps feel like the American is cold and unfriendly? And what about the Japanese dismissing any praise his ELL child is given in the USA? Since Americans view praise as positive, a way to climb to the top, and as a way to receive all the rewards, would the TESOL teacher understand that the rejection of praise is due to humility and not wanting to stand out, or in other words, believing that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down? Would she understand that some cultures are group oriented and not individual oriented? I liked Brother Ivers example of how we can even misinterpret the communication of a culture within our own culture. We had wonderful neighbors growing up in Western Washington in the 1970’s in a predominantly white neighborhood; the lady was white, and her husband was African American. We remember the husband having a lot of friends and family over, and because their conversations were intense and loud, it could have easily been misinterpreted as scary, dangerous or threatening, when they were all just enjoying the conversations and their time together.

It’s important to remember that not everyone follows their cultural rules as there isn’t a ‘one rule covers the whole culture’, but it’s important to be aware of the different cultural paradigms of those you interact with, do business with and teach, so that there is less opportunity for miscommunication. For example, although I am an American, periods of silence don’t make me as uncomfortable as they used to. I like what Brother Ivers said, it’s good to remember that people ‘have good intentions, they’re good people, they’re just working off of different cultural paradigms.’