COMMUNICATION BETWEEN CULTURES By A. Dandy Ahuruonye Dip. © 2005 - 2006

COMMUNICATION BETWEEN CULTURES

Communication, in its general form is a process; in fact, it is more a difficult process than many people realize.

The reason is that communication obtains everywhere, yes wherever there is life, there is at least one activity involving communication. To give an example, some plants communicate with each other and with humans. Micro-organisms communicate, and inanimate things communicate - for example computers.

However, some of the most complex forms of communication take place among humans; some individuals even communicate with themselves.

Among the many forms of human communication that exist, is “communication between cultures”,

it is probably the most difficult, and the most important.

I chose this theme and think it is an interesting one because of my background. I was born in Nigeria, West Africa.

I have a Diploma in arts and Designing. I travelled to 15 countries, and actually lived for a while in six of them, and worked in five of the six.

I tried learning three different languages in the process, but could not master any of them. I married into an English family in England.

I studied in Nigeria, South Africa, Norway, and England, and I am currently studying in Ireland.

What is Culture?

“Culture” in this context refers to the kind of communication that takes place between different persons, and communities. Culture is often at the root of communication challenges that many of us face daily.

To understand a person very well, you need to try to find out his or her first language, where the person grew up, and where he or she has spent most of his or her life.

Why? Because “if the world is our back garden, culture is the window through which we see it!” - In search of greener pastures

In 1990, I went out with a group of acquaintances comprising a German, an American, two Nigerians, and a British person. We went to a restaurant for a meal. The German man kept looking at one of the Nigerians because he was chewing chicken bones. At a point he asked the Nigerian; ‘what do the dogs eat in your community’? The Nigerian explained that people in his area chew bones because it toughens their teeth, and is a good source of calcium.

This true-life experience illustrates that we often do not know where the other person is coming from. Hence we need to make some effort to develop interest in other cultures, this will help us understand those around us better.

Problems of Cultural Communication

Many people over the years have rubbished culture, dismissing it as impertinent. This attitude sometimes leads to intolerance toward those of other cultures. An example of cultural intolerance is reflected in the following quotation often attributed to Nazi leader Hermann Göring, from Awake! July 8, 1996: “When I hear the word culture, I reach for my revolver.” Therefore, intolerance is a major obstacle in a cross-cultural situation.

Another serious problem that so often hinders cross-cultural communication, is that people all over the world, naturally tend to assume that their own culture is better.

For example, I broke up with the first girl I went out with in England because of tooth picking after meals in a restaurant. In her English culture, you do not pick your teeth in the public. However, my parents taught me to pick my teeth always after each meal for the sake of oral hygiene. Every time we met, all she could see was a man who picks his teeth after meals. For her, there was only one way to behave at mealtimes!

The Bible’s advice is worth consideration in this subject.

‘Do nothing out of contentiousness or out of egotism, but with lowliness of mind consider that the others are superior to you.’ (Philippians 2:3) NW.

This is not to say that we should consider others superior to us in every aspect of life. Rather, we should realize that in some areas of life, others are superior to us. We should never think that either our culture is best or we have a monopoly on all that is good.

Mixed cultures at the workplace

When we find ourselves in an interactive situation that we do not clearly understand, we often conclude that the other person is strange, daft, or even unintelligent.

This is usually the case at the workplace. A good example is a retail company I worked for in the past. In that shop, we had over three hundred employees, from about 14 different countries, and four front-line managers from different lands.

One of them was very loud but cheerful. The second one would wear a turban from day to day, and had facial hair. The third was reserved, said little, and regularly had a stiff-upper lip. The last dressed poorly, with unkempt hair, looked ten years older than her real age, but knew the job well, and was very thoughtful. If you find yourself in this kind of environment, then you have to make an effort get to know these managers individually. I found that Mangers seldom change their style or personality; therefore, you may have to “manage your manager” at times. Study the manager, find out his or her culture, and then fashion out a way to work with him or her. The same principle applies when dealing with colleagues at work.

The Language we speak

Language is probably the nucleus on which most cultures are developed. This makes language one of the most formidable difficulties to contend with, in any kind of communication. The fact is that we definitely need to communicate with others, and often, with those of a different background to our own.

At times people of the same culture and language do have problems communicating; the reason for this is that most languages are complex to master and to speak.

Signs and Gestures

Some languages contain gestures, which can help foreigners to understand the points more clearly. On the other hand, gestures can pose the biggest barrier in inter-cultural communication, especially if you do not understand those signs.

Typical examples:

• In the U.S., two students emerged from the examination hall. One of them, a foreign student from Brazil, asked the American what he thought about the questions. The American raised one of his hands and gave him an “O” sign as he pressed the tip of his index finger on top of his thumb. The Brazilian, thinking he was being “insulted”, became upset and gave the other student a shove.

• A surgeon in England emerged from a theatre to meet the family of the patient on whom he had just carried out a triple heart by-pass. Seeing him, they all rose and anxiously asked him how the patient was doing. As he was still wearing his mask, he gave them the “O” sign. They embraced each other happily because they understood the “O” sign to mean that all had gone well.

• A woman in Moscow waited in the car as her husband checked their bank balance at a nearby cash machine. He looked across the pavement at his anxious wife and showed her the “O” sign, which meant no money, “zero” balance.

What do the three fictitious examples have in common? The “O” sign between the index finger and the thumb mean different things in different lands. A big communication gap indeed!

To close that gap, we need to first develop interest in the language and culture of others. One does not have to learn a language before understanding the speakers of that language. All we need at times is to ask the other person what ‘that gesture’ or ‘sign’ means.

Body language

Humans communicate information with each other in many different ways. One of those ways is body language.

The Encarta Concise English Dictionary defines ‘body language’ as - “bodily mannerisms, postures, and facial expressions that can be interpreted as unconsciously communicating a person’s feelings or psychological state.”

With the above definition, one can see that body language is very important in human interaction. Truly, a person’s body language says far more than verbal language, and in some situations, sends out all the information needed without even a word being spoken.

The strongest form of body language, and the most used, is facial expression.

Facial expressions

The face says so much, from a smile, to a frown. Some smiles are fake, wry, and stiff-lipped.

For instance, a typical Englishman’s smile does not reveal the teeth.

Facial expressions also include frowns, a frown says a lot, like when one is upset, disappointed, curious, thoughtful, or worried. Then there are raised eyebrows, which may indicate shock, disbelief, surprise, and fear. Some Africans signal yes to a question by raising their eyebrows two or three times in quick succession. In addition, the Igbo’s of Eastern Nigeria use the same facial expression to greet another person from a short distance.

Eye contact

In some cultures, looking people in the eye is assumed to indicate honesty and straightforwardness; in others, it is seen as challenging and rude.

Verbal Language

The spoken form of a language referred to as verbal language, is as old as man, and the spoken language is the most used form of communication. Some individuals, depending on the kind of work they do, could speak thousands of words a day. Imagine a person involved in customer services at the workplace, he or she may speak to tens, or hundreds of customers in a typical workday, which would involve thousands of words.

However, there are problems associated with this kind of communication. One major difficulty is learning, and mastering a language. As I mentioned in the introduction, I have tried learning a different language on three different occasions, and yet failed to master any, so some people would find it hard or impossible to learn a foreign tongue. This point is thought provoking, since we have established that it is almost impossible to understand others from a different culture fully if we cannot speak their language. Hence, we ask; is all hope lost?

Overcoming Difficulties in Cultural Communication

Good communication contributes to the lifeblood of any organisation, or community. To make the necessary effort, we need.

Awareness.

“As we come to know people of other cultures, not only do we improve our understanding of others but we also understand ourselves better”. An anthropologist wrote: “The last thing which a dweller in the deep sea would discover would be water. He would become conscious of its existence only if some accident brought him to the surface and introduced him to air. . . . The ability to see the culture of one’s own society as a whole . . . calls for a degree of objectivity which is rarely if ever achieved.” Nevertheless, by exposing ourselves to other cultures, we are like the sea dweller who is introduced to air; we become aware of the cultural “waters” in which we live”- Awake! July 8, 1996 pg. 7-8

The question of CHOICE

It worries me to think about how and why we were born into the cultures we find ourselves; none of us had the chance to make a choice.

Researcher Carolyn Luesing wrote, “We are all subject to time and circumstance. But we can control how we view others, how we act toward them, and how we deal with their culture from the standpoint of our own culture”.

Yes, we can choose whether and how to communicate with others. Every human being has a responsibility to try to deal with cultural and ethnic diversity in a constructive manner, so as not to contribute to a polarized society.

To be effective communicators, we should encode our messages in a way that strangers can understand and we need to try to interpret strangers' messages in the way they are intended.

In order to know how to improve our communication with strangers, we have to understand our normal tendencies when we communicate with them.

Be alert to discern the feelings and issues that lie beneath a person’s surface behaviour. To illustrate let me quote from the experience of a traveller:

“A group of Totis stopped me one day along EDITH GAVEL Street in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. They demanded money from me. As I hesitated, one of them began to search me and found some money in my pocket. I explained to them that I was ill and was going to buy some pills at a nearby Chemist shop with the money. Therefore, they took fifteen Rand out of the money and gave me back the rest as they walked away. Yes, they had robbed me, but at the same time, they had been kind!

Some people would run upon seeing Totis approaching. The Totis would then shoot the person, quickly frisk him or her for any valuables, and then run off. Therefore, the best thing to do is face your assailant, talk to him.

Sometimes I would sit quietly and try to figure out why they were doing these things”. In Search of Better Pastures.

Later I realized that Totis mug people just to get money for food and shelter!

Conclusion

As we have seen, mutual understanding of each other’s cultural background can do much to remove social prejudice. Yes, all a person really needs at the workplace, or in any cultural situation is awareness of the differences between his culture and that of others around him.

Hence, it is important to recognize cultural differences. It could be the first step toward understanding each other and establishing a positive and effective working environment.

Cultural diversity also gives us a chance to learn new or different ways to solve problems.

It is always advisable to look for the things we have in common with others: people of all cultures love music and art; telling jokes; believe in doing good to one another; and every culture values friendship and happiness.

Truly, cultures differ, but by making effort, we can co-exist and integrate in an atmosphere of friendship and happiness.

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Bibliography:

· Long Search For Greener Pastures is a published book currently on sale, and written by: Author Dandy Ahuruonye Dip. © 2005 - 2006

· Encarta Concise English Dictionary by Bloomsbury, 2001

· (Destroying Walls to Build Bridges), an article in Awake! Issue of July 8, 1996 pg. 7-8. Awake! Is a semi monthly magazine published by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

· “Managing your Manager”- quote taken from a lecture on Management by Paul Gilmer, DIT, Kevin Street.

· The “O” sign, and not the fictitious examples, appears in an artistic drawing displayed on the website- 1000ventures.com, run by ©Vadim Kotelnikov

· Bible quotation is from New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures NW, published by Jehovah’s Witnesses © 1984

· “Totis” is a Zulu term that refers to some local armed young men who roam the streets of central Johannesburg, mugging and robbing people. I estimate they were responsible for up to half of the criminal activities that once made Johannesburg the ‘crime capital of the world’.

· Editor/Proof reader Mrs Rachel. K. Ahuruonye BA (HONS) Portsmouth University.