Inter-cultural and interpersonal communication.
A search on Wikipedia suggested that the word, "inter", is a Latin prefix meaning between or within a group. Hence, interpersonal communication would suggest communication between people, while inter-cultural communication would refer specifically to communications between people with different cultures.
Interpersonal communication, is a simple , yet intricate topic to understand. Its focus, well, is just to ensure two or more people correctly interprets what the others are saying. However, a lot of people often misunderstood that interpersonal communication have various channels, and not just based on verbal language alone. Simple words and phrases such as "sorry", can cause various emotions to different people.
sorry(In a solemn, soft voice) would imply empathy, sorrow.
sorry...(as per normally said after a mistake) would imply regret
sorry!(stunned look with tears) would imply deep regret and unexpected incidents
sorry la!(loud and proud ) would imply unwillingness and as a jest to the to the person apologized to .
Note that in these few cases, "sorry" had varied meaning as it is now expressed with varied body gestures and tones, even though the word used are still the same.
Inter-cultural communication is similar to interpersonal communication, except that it is between two person or more people with different cultural backgrounds. Often, people do not understand the cultures and beliefs of the people they interact with, hence, a lot of quarrels or aggression often resulted due to misunderstanding of their actions or words.
In Singapore, we often address the middle aged women that we meet with as "aunties" However, in standard English context, "auntie" actually refers to the sister of our parents. Hence when a foreigner comes to Singapore and be greeted "auntie", she would most probably be thinking, that how, is she actually related to this person.
Another more prominent cultural communication is our very own hawker center culture. If you are ordering a Roti Prata and you told the seller that you want an egg prata and a plain prata, some of them will go "huh?", however, if you said" one kosong one egg!", the seller would understand immediately. Same to black tea and milk tea or black coffee, where " teh o, teh and kopi o" would make it more easily understood.
9 comments:
I believe the tone of voice do give some hints on how the speaker is feeling at that time. The various channels are also important and it could apply to people of different culture or character.
Some people would actually prefer getting direct calls rather than "SMSing' for important issues. Knowing the cultural behaviour of others may bridge the gap faster and even foster closer relationships. (In a business setting, better cooperations between local and overseas companies)
Hi Byron,
The use of examples in the Singaporean context has certainly allowed you to express your ideas more clearly about cultural difference in our lives!
Like Kevin had mentioned, tones and non-verbal cues affect interpersonal communication more profoundly than we think they do. In fact, as mentioned in class, our brains process and remember 55% of non-verbal cues rather than the actual dialogue itself!
However, your post can be further refined if you explained the Singlish words you used in your examples, allowing our foreign peers to understand the example better.
Overall, your blog gives me the feel that it was nicely thought out and written.
Yours faithfully,
Junhao Quek, C04e
JunHao: can i know specifically which word did i use and is not well explained?
@Byron.
Alas, Ive become a victim of assumptions and ended up not reading your post clearly enough! So sorry for spotting a mistake which wasnt there =(
Your blog has got me absorbed into the Singaporean Singlish culture!
~JH
I feel that "Singlish" should be embraced, since it brings out who we are and what we are.
Hey byron,
I like the way you gave examples from your day to day life. I have also encountered that a few times especially at hawker centres. I totally agree that along with the words the tone and the non verbal gestures also matter a lot. As you said a simple word like sorry could convey different emotions. As a piece of suggestion I think you could have even recorded your voice in the different tones mentioned and used it instead. That would have been really very effective. Since the topic was about observation of team behaviour you could tell us about your experience of working in a team with people from different cultures.
However, I think on the whole I enjoyed reading your post. You did a good job though there is always room for improvement!!!
Regards,
Nitika
Hi Byron, I agree with Nitika that adding in voice clips would be a good idea.
However, I would like to add that maybe you could find videos to show examples of body gestures too. After all, describing a scene in words is not as powerful as hearing/seeing it directly.
Just a small point to note too. Some of the sentences seem slightly weird. For example:
"a lot of quarrels or aggression often resulted due to misunderstanding of their actions or words."
It might be due to the usage of complicated words. Of course, I not an expert in English so I might be wrong here.
But all in all, I think your posts are quite descriptive and they do provide an interesting take on our daily lives. I didn't really notice the "Auntie" or the Hawker Center case before, but now that you have mentioned it, it becomes quite obvious that it occurs fairly often.
Hi Byron,
I like the examples that you have provided, they are able to clearly show the difference between many cultures in regards to communication, as well as how gestures and tones can give different impression in a conversation.
However, you are merely giving examples, without actually explaining them using your understanding of the culture, and the principal of intercultural communication.
Hi Byron,
Good picture to depict the various meanings of the common "okay" gesture. I did not know it is seen as an insult in Brazil. Well now I do.
I liked the example about how Singaporeans refer to middle aged women as "auntie". I remember reading an article about it in the newspaper quite a while ago. Not only will foreigners be puzzled about it but apparently some middle aged woman take offence to it. They feel "old" when someone addresses them that way. So I suppose the "auntie" culture is not received well by all.
I feel you could have shared some of your personal experiences regarding intercultural communication. Having lived in a multi-ethnic society since you were born, I am sure you have a few.
On a side note, I believe if you tell the people at the hawker center "egg prata" and "plain prata" they would perfectly understand it.
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