Evaluating Intercultural Behavior
The key to effective intercultural communication is
knowledge. It is important that people understand the potential problems that
may arise from intercultural communication and make a conscious effort to
overcome these problems. In this post, I shall share about an intercultural
encounter I had to emphasize on how knowledge about the other culture is
essential.
Four years ago, I went to Thailand for a holiday trip with
my family. Shopping at Thailand was one of the highlights as the things there
were generally cheaper. Being all excited and ready to strike good bargains at
the street stalls, I began asking the stall owners politely with a smile for a
lower price. However, the replies I received from the stall owners were
frowning faces and phrases like “no, very cheap already” and “cannot discount”.
From the intonations and facial expressions the stall owners gave, I thought they
were very unhappy at me for haggling. As such, I got a little worried and upset
at my failed shopping attempts.
Soon, as I stayed on a few more days, I realized that the Thais
generally speak in this manner. They tend to sound whinier and the intonations
they used were slightly different from us due to the native language they speak
every day. As a result, I mistook them at the beginning of my trip for being disgruntled
at me.
Towards the end of my trip, I picked up some Thai phrases
and began speaking like them. This time round, the shop owners appeared
friendlier to me while I bargain with them for a cheaper deal.
After returning to Singapore, I got very fascinated by the Thai
language that I went to self-learn a little more on the language through the
net. As I researched more, I actually found a video on Youtube of a Thai
providing tips on how to bargain in Bangkok. He actually highlighted that our
intonations and facial expressions used are very important. Relating to my
first experience, the owners did not frown because she was angry, instead, it
was an expression of friendliness during haggling. In addition, the Thai on Youtube
also emphasized that we drag our words to sound whiny, because the whinier we
sound, the more appealing it is to the owner as they take it as a friendly
gesture.
I only found out after the trip that it is in the Thai
culture that they love to haggle, and so do the Thai shopkeepers. Hence, from
this post, I want to highlight that so long as we take the initiative to understand
the culture of the other person or country, we can actually get a lot of fun
out of immersing ourselves into their culture instead of receiving the wrong
message and get offended.
Having a knowledge of different cultures and traditions will
definitely help us go far in getting along with people from other cultures and
in preventing any problems that may arise through incorrect interpretations. One
should be patient and careful in intercultural exchanges, and not jumping to
the conclusion that you know what is being thought and said.
