Cross Culture Shock

Cross-‐Culture Shock Increasing Your Cross-‐Cultural Quo3ent (XCQ)

@BenjaminJoffe Blink-‐Blank | Singapore, 2011.9

About this PresentaDon

Understanding other cultures goes beyond speaking foreign languages.

Building more cross-‐cultural awareness is likely to make a difference in a world where many things

imply people from more than one naDonality.

I hope you will enjoy the ideas & quirks shared here. I am interested in any comment!

Reach me at [email protected]

Cultural DNA of @benjaminjoffe

I spent most of my working life (11 years) overseas, especially in Japan, China, South Korea and USA. My cultural DNA has become rather complex.

Diversity Quiz!

How about you?

Who has lived in more than 1 country?

I lived (= main home for 1+ months) in 7 countries on 3 conDnents.

Who can speak more than 1 language?

I speak more or less 6 languages.

Model

This is a model of possible reacDons to a foreign culture.

1. ALARM

2. RESISTANCE 3. EXHAUSTION

DEATH

4. RESTORATION OF HOMEOSTASIS

HOMEOSTASIS


HOMEOSTASIS

…it is actually comparable to the model of reacDon to a stress situaDon.

1. ALARM

2. RESISTANCE 3. EXHAUSTION

DEATH HOMEOSTASIS HOMEOSTASIS



Hopefully, culture shock would not lead to death ^_^;

Symptoms of Culture Shock

•  Utopian ideas on other culture •  Refusal to learn the language •  Concerns about water & food •  Concerns about being robbed/cheated •  Irritability & complaints •  Staying indoors •  Fear of touching local people

Those are symptoms of someone suffering from culture shock.

Source: Samuel P. HunDngton, The Clash of CivilizaDons and the Remaking of the World Order, 1996

The world as seen by the West in 1920. SDll a view shared by many.

Culture = Language?

Culture is oken seen first as “language”, but you can speak English (or Chinese) and know nothing about how people behave there.

Looking at languages, it is clear the dominant culture is NOT Western.

Source: Carroll Quigley, The EvoluDon of CivilizaDons: An IntroducDon to Historical Analysis, 1979

Some other civilizaDons disappeared over the centuries. Even today, the “Western” civilizaDon is one out of several.

Source: Samuel P. HunDngton, The Clash of CivilizaDons and the Remaking of the World Order, 1996 Another way to look at the world is through the lens of civilizaDons.

How many do you understand besides your own?

What do you mean?

Understanding civilizaDons and cultures is key: the same English word can imply different things according to your culture!

German Mid-‐Autumn FesDval?

In China, this could be a symbol of the mid-‐autumn fesDval

…but in Germany, people would think of Oktoberfest.

Czech Dumplings?

Talk about dumplings to a Chinese, this is what he thinks about.

To a Czech, “dumpling” means something quite different. Personally, I like both!

Chaulafan de Pollo (Ecuador)?

This is the name of a dish I encountered in Ecuador. I knew “pollo” means chicken, but I could not figure out “chaulafan”.

…unDl I saw a picture and realized it was the Spanish for “Chaofan” (Chinese fried rice). The avocado is a local variaDon.

Contract?

What do you envision when you hear “contract”? In the US it might mean “my lawyer will talk to your lawyer”; in China it could be a handshake!

•  USA “It works”

•  Japan “It’s perfect”

•  Korea “It’s new”

•  China “It gives me status”

•  Singapore “There is a queue for it” h/t Jean K. Min

“Quality” is another word that has different meanings according to the country. Send me the meaning of “Quality” in your country at [email protected] !

Other Important Cases

Appointment

Friendship Marriage

DaDng Fun

Imagine the implicaDons of the differences of meaning of those words! You’d beter figure it out before geung engaged!

For instance, in Japan…

“It is a bit difficult…”

…means no The meaning is 100% clear for a Japanese person, but if you take it literally you might end up frustrated. What are the things in your culture that no one should take literally?

PROBLEMS

1.  Learning languages takes ages

2.  We can’t trust words!

You can’t assume the words used by someone from another culture have the same meaning you give them. And learning languages is not a quick fix.

Luckily…

WARNING: ONLY FOR FEELINGS & ATTITUDE Source: Albert Mehrabian, "Decoding of Inconsistent CommunicaDons”, 1967

You might have heard before “communicaDon is only 7% words” (or another low number). This idea is valid ONLY for feelings & autudes!

Visual Cues?

TRUST DON’T TRUST

A recent research tried to find out the features that made a face more or less trusted. It would be really sad if it was true!

Source: htp://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/graphics/080817_face/

My Interests

Touch Silence Humor

Along the years, I developed an interest in cultural elements that generally go unnoDced.

Touch

Touch is among the most underrated. I now think that it is a very important aspect of human communicaDon.

The most common form of touch is when greeDng people. From handshake to high five, to bowing (no touch!) to the occasional fist bump (yo!).

Which Angle?

But even bowing is not so simple: angle, eye contact, speed and Dming depend on the relaDonship, age, rank and distance. Good luck!

Benefit of Being French

The first kiss is free!

French people can escalate physical contact on the first encounter! It is not only accepted, but refusing it is almost awkward.

For Everyone Else

…and if you’re not French and you try to pull that off, you are at risk! Add “I got into the habit while living in the France”. Now that is fancy!

Unfortunately…

FRANCE

JAPAN

KOREA

CHINA

My greeDngs got all messed up aker living abroad: I learned to bow in Japan, hold my right arm with my lek hand during handshake in Korea, and say “nihao” in China, and ended up doing all at once. My Western friends found me odd and my French friends found me distant (no kissing in

Asia!). I had to relearn how to shake hands and kiss for greeDng!

High Touch vs. Low Touch (Sidney Jourard, 1966)

Many cool sociology studies were done in the 60’s. This one looked into comparing cultures based on touch.

High Touch vs. Low Touch

•  USA 2x / 30 min.

•  France 110x / 30 min.

Source: Touch Study by Sidney Jourard, 1966

As part of this study, they looked at couples in cafes and counted the number of Dmes they touched each other in 30 minutes. France won.

Benefits(?)

•  High-‐touch > Low violence?

•  Low-‐touch > More violence?

•  (Birthrate?) Are fist bumps enough?

Low touch oken means lower empathy. Apparently a recent study found some correlaDon, though it’s hard to prove! Maybe we need more hugs…

Touch Zones (Mark Tomita, 2008)

Another study on touch, more recent, looked into “touch zones”: what areas can you touch other male or female on, and what do you allow others?

Touch Zones

Source: Touch Study by Mark Tomita, 2008

Males among Males Females with Males

Males generally don’t touch males outside hands or back. Females allow themselves to touch males almost anywhere!

US-‐Centric?

As it oken happens, this study was done in the US (among university students). It is relevant everywhere?

…probably not in China (right), Japan (top) or Korea (botom) where seeing same-‐sex people hold hands and arms is quite common.

Founder of gaming startup in China

Korea’s “Mark Zuckerberg”

“Ondol” water-‐heated Korean floor

In Korea, it is totally fine to sleep on the floor with a bunch of mates.

More Disturbing!

You might even be surprised to get a hand on your thigh that stays there or get your but grabbed by a good friend who wants to show he enjoys your company.

Silence

Silence is another amazing feature that differenDates cultures.

What can silence express?

SURVEY

What can silence means? Many, many things!

(Silence)

•  Generally uncomfortable

•  SomeDmes pregnant

•  Rarely meaningful

In the West, we don’t do too well with silence.

In Japan Silence Can Express…

1.  Surprise 2.  Agreement & Disagreement 3.  Embarrassment 4.  Defiance 5.  Femininity 6.  Deference 7.  EffecDve wordless communicaDon

In Japan, it can mean many things, and can be very hard to interpret and deal with for outsiders. Oken, you’d beter wait or ask for clarificaDon.

Analysis of silence in a tutoring lesson: htp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyjenhfSnFU

“A-‐Un” RelaDonship (阿吽の仲)

Some couples who know each other all too well are called “A-‐Un”: one just opens his/her mouth to say something (“A”) and the other understands instantly, without words (“Un”).

Mapping Cultural Values

1.   Money (Career, cash, possessions)

2.   Family (parents, children, grandparents, etc. are close to each other)

3.   Society (social link maters more than individual) 4.   “Culture” (arts, travels, literature, etc.)

5.   Spirituality (religious or not)

As I was exposed to different cultures, I idenDfied 5 elements that could help differenDate them. There might be others but those worked prety well for me.

0

1

2

3 MONEY

FAMILY

SOCIAL LINK CULTURE

SPIRITUALITY

TentaDve Mapping (France)

Note: This is a personal view – I am as biased as the next guy!

Being French, I gave a shot at French values. Send me your view on your country at [email protected] !

0: not important 1: maters a litle 2: maters quite a bit 3: maters a lot

CompaDbility & Culture Clashes

•  France / USA

•  Korea / Japan

•  USA / China

•  Score your country!

Due to those values, there are frequent “culture clashes” and cultural compaDbiliDes. I just indicated some of them. Can you guess what are the cultural values involved?

Other (potenDally) InteresDng Mapping Cultures’s comfort with, or importance of: 1.  Silence 2.  Touch

3. Eye Contact 4. Smile 5. Group 6. Nudity

I did not dive into all of those, but I am also interested in the levels of acceptance and frequency or the 4 other elements listed above.

Most Difficult

Humor

I try to collect jokes or understand the humor of countries in live in. I consider I got a good basis when I can invent a joke. If you know Japanese, I’ll tell you one.

Rakugo (Japan)

As an example: Rakugo in Japan is “sit-‐down comedy” by a storyteller. He/she summons imaginary characters and the ending is generally surprising and hilarious (as well as the build-‐up).

Humor can lead to culture shock: I met a BriDsh guy who could not stand the US-‐style humor in the Philippines and decided to move out! I am not sure what he meant. Can you explain?

Thanks!

Email: [email protected] Twiter: @benjaminjoffe

Cultural input? Complaints?

Jokes?

DROP ME A LINE

Business

Cross Culture Shock