Give an example from your own life, either personal or professional, where you interacted with someone from another culture. Was the interaction effective, i.e. did the message result in appropriate action or response? If no, how could the communication have been improved? If yes, what made the communication work?
Note that this week’s assignment as well as those to follow will be worth a maximum of ten points: up to five points for appropriate and respectful responses that fully address the issue and up to five for grammatical and error-free writing.
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For me it would be more personal then professional, but a friend of mine, who has a mixture of accents and was born in South Africa had asked me a question. We were talking about how each of us was raised growing up. He was telling me how it was to him where he grew up and about the infighting that was going on at the time, when he said something that I wasn't able to understand. I asked him to please repeat what he said, and give an example. He was more then happy to as he knew I was having some trouble understanding him. He went on after the example to present day infighting there as he is a freelance reporter and was there to get a story again. This is the time he got hurt and ended up in the hospital with a bullet wound to his arm. He called me again when he was better and let me know he was well and that he was in London again. I have found that it is better to ask the person to either repeat what was said or ask for clarification of what they mean.
One of the reasons America is such a great place is because of the diversity. People from all over the world have made it their home. Even though I strongly believe I should not have to press 1 for English, I am glad to see my kids having friends from different backgrounds. I haven't had as much exposure as they have. My son worked with several Hispanic men at a summer job and became friends with one that spoke English and Spanish. He wishes now that he would've taken Spanish in school, but he had to have his friend, Juan, translate for him. It was pretty effective, but he felt like they were always talking bad about him.
As for my experiences, they are few. After my family doctor left, I asked the staff at the clinic to assign one to me. I'm not sure where he is from, but I had a hard time understanding him. I had to ask him to repeat himself a couple of times and he would repeat it the exact same way. I had to say, "I'm sorry, I still don't understand what you are asking." One time he had to write it down for me. I felt bad because he was a really nice doctor, but I was also afraid I would misunderstand something important. When he moved to another clinic, I decided to ask my mother about the doctors and I chose one that was a lot easier to understand.
I have one aunt, Gielvanna (Gina), that is Italian and one aunt, Gisele, that is French Canadian. They are hard to understand sometimes, but I can always figure out what they're saying. As long as I listened carefully and made eye contact. For some reason, making eye contact seems to help.
I am looking forward to suggestions in handling such language barriers because of the field I have chosen to go into.
Medical assistants associate with people from all over the world.
I have had very little experience in which I have had to interact with someone from another culture. Here is an example of one experience I did have. I went out and bought a new computer. I was having a lot of difficulty getting all of the programs set. I had to call the help line to have someone help me get through the process. The man on the other end of the phone didn't speak English very well. He would ask me to do something and I had to ask him many times to repeat himself. This process went on for over an hour. I was getting very frustrated with not understanding what he was saying. I also think he could hear the frustration in the tone of my voice. This process lasted for a little while longer. Then, all of a sudden, he hung up on me. I knew my patience had run out and was showing through my voice. I think my first response when he answered the phone was a negative one because of his English speaking skills. I could have listened a little harder and paid more attention to what he was telling me. I also should have had more patience. On a positive note, I had to call the help line back, and again got someone on the phone that couldn't speak English very well, but I had more patience and she helped me through the process of setting up my computer.
As most of you know from my comments in class, I was on a missions trip in the Philippines this last summer. As you can imagine, I had a multitude of interactions with people from a different culture than my own. At my church, Jesus Fellowship of Believers in Menomonie, our Pastor has a heart for missions work. We do missions in India as well as the Philippines.
Pastor Tim does extensive preparation for these trips. The teams are chosen about a year in advance and we have monthly meetings until we depart. Much of this preparation involves attempting to learn the native language of Cebuano. All that being said, it was still very hard for me to communicate while there. It seemed that as soon as I got off the plane, I forgot most of the Cebuano I had learned! I was back to relying on speaking very simply and very slowly in English to get my point accross. Universal sign language was also in play at times and when using that, you must be very careful. Signs that are perfectly acceptable here in Wisconsin are rude and sometimes even considered vulgar in other parts of the world.
Would I call the interactions I had successful? Yes, definitely. I attribute that success to the months of preparation we went through. The fact that we took the time to learn the language was a huge plus. Though none of us were experts, we managed to communicate the message we went there to deliver.
I don't have all that much personal experience with people from other cultures.
One thing is at Kobe's in the mall. All of the employees are Japanese, I believe, and only one or two of them seem to speak any English, and then it is heavily accented. There are sometimes that it is difficult to understand them, but they will repeat themselves if you ask, and they also use a bit of "sign language", pointing and such.
Another experience I just had last quarter was with Carlos Cruz, the Computer Information Systems teacher. Though he speaks English pretty well, he has a fairly thick accent that can sometimes make him hard to understand. But he knows that very well, and he told us so the first day of class and told us that if we ever had trouble understanding him, all we had to do was to ask him to repeat what he'd said.
I interacted with a lot of people of different cultures when I was a supervisor with a customer service company. Since I was in a supervisory position, the calls that I would receive were ones that customer service agents sent to me since the customer had become escalated and requested a supervisor. Some of the escalated customers that I would receive became escalated due to language barriers. One thing when speaking to someone face to face or even over the phone when dealing with people of other culture is to be polite and ensure that you are listening mindfully. You want to provide feedback to them and speak in a fashion without slang and jargon that they may not be able to understand. I had many customers screaming and talking rapidly over the phone. I had to do my best to politely let them know that in order to assist them they were going to have to go over their problem slowly and I would be more than happy to listen to them. I would always reiterate when they had said to me to let them know I was listening and understanding what they were saying. Being able to stay calm, talk clearly and listen carefully, I was better able to understand what they were communicating. At times it was a bit frustrating, but in the end it was a wonderful learning experience. When dealing with people from other cultures you learn a lot about their culture, as well as your own. You also understand how effective listening and communication can assist you in being able to understand someone of a different culture.
I used to work at Kwik Trip in Altoona. On one cold, winter day we were really busy and ran out of cream in our creamer machine. With all the demand of coffee during this time I ran over to fill it between customers. I pulled out the jugs of cream I needed from the cooler and set them on the counter next to the creamer machine. After filling one I went to grab the next jug and there was an African-American woman standing in front of it. I said excuse me and reached in front of her to grab it. The other cashier had a line of people that was starting to back up and I needed to hurry. This woman proceeded to scold me in front of other customers about how if she was a white woman I wouldn’t have invaded her space as I did, and was it so hard for me to wait until she was finished to get the creamer. I apologized and headed back up to wait on customers. Wouldn’t you know it but a few customers into my line was the lady from the creamer incident. I waited on her as graciously as I possibly could, trying to forget what had happened. When I finished her transaction I said “Thanks hun, have a good day!” I said that with almost all of our female customers if I didn’t know their name as we had a lot of regulars. After hearing the word hun she started bombarding me with accusations of demeaning her by calling her hun and saying I was racist for how I treated her. At that point I froze and didn’t know how to respond. I apologized and finished waiting on our line of customers before I excused myself to the back to handle my emotions from the incident. I always thought of myself as a very open minded person and have never been called a racist before in my life. I don’t feel that our cultures were necessarily that different except for the history of race. To this day I don’t know if the lady really felt wronged by me or if I brought up painful memories from her past that she was finally speaking up for now, but I never did see her in that gas station again.
My personal experiences tend to grow by the day, working in the restaurant industry. We have several Hispanics that work in the kitchen and communication is frequently difficult. Generally, I try to make a point of listening to the words they are saying as well as paying close attention to the gestures that tend to follow those words. I have realized that the more I pay attention, the easier it will be for both of us the next time they try to ask me something. I have also had the pleasure of working with a few Hispanics that spoke a decent amount of English and those people taught me some of the basic things I should know when conversing with them in the kitchen. I am very grateful to have had the extra help.
Is this working?
I have interacted with a student in a different class that was from Africa. The class was Sociology the subject was hand gestures. Our hand gestures are totally different than the ones in Africa. Giving someone the "bird" in our culture is rude. In Africa it means "ok" and is not a rude gesture. Yes, I do feel it was an appropriate action in his culture and a learning response for my entire class.
I have had a couple of experiences interacting with someone from a different culture. I have been to both Spain and Peru and even though I had 4 years of Spanish I still found it very difficult to speak to the people that live there. One experience I remember when I was in Spain we had to stay with a host family, well my family only consisted of a mom. I had another girl from my school that was with me and she was on her third year of spanish so she knew a little more than I did. Well we all had to talk to our families and introduce ourselves and talk about our family and what our interests are. So I thought I was doing a good job and then the mom started to ask me questions and I was clueless on what she was saying. She did not speak any English so it made it ten times harder for me and even the other girl that I was with couldn't understand her that much because she talked so fast.
Another time was in Spain again me and my friends were walking around looking at stuff because we had free time to do what we wanted, well we ended up getting lost and we had to ask for directions about ten times. We couldn't find anyone who spoke English or anyone from our group of people. It was actually very scary because we didn't know where we were and we didn't know how to speak Spanish that well or I should say well enough to ask for directions or understand what they were saying. It was a very good experience though. We did finally find our way back to where we were supposed to be.
I think the communication could of been improved if I knew more Spanish because I obviously would of known what exactly they were saying and then we might of not gotten lost.
I can cay that I deal with the views of many different cultures every day in my professional career. Since I work with young adolescents from all over the country, their views can differ from mine, and let me assure you that they do!
The ideas of family and even personal values are widely varied depending on the race, and area that particular child was raised in. Some actions that I personally believe to be taboo, is often quit normal for the other person, and they don’t know anything different. At that point it is a cultural difference. And I have learned not to judge that person, but show and explain my ideas, and cultural views which might be more socially acceptable. It amazes me that just in our country alone the views on one simple idea can vary so much. I guess both sides have to compromise if we want a happy ending.
Growing up in the Chicago metro area, I was in a position to interact with many individuals from diverse cultures. My personal life as a child, as a student, and being raised in my Grandmother's geriatric nursing home for the terminally ill, is the best example of the way life was in the 50's and 60's. Every day, emphasis was put on communication skills being used,effectively. People from Irish ethnicity, Italians, Native American heritage, Hispanics, Jewish and Negro populations; and also, Chinese, Orientals and the Philippines were only some of the many nationalities.
That's the reason I always heard the expression that "Chicago is the melting pot of cultures." We as children were taught to hone our verbal skills. Always look at your teachers and all adults, as well as,each other with respect, dignity and professionalism.
Throughout my adult life, I always looked to my formative years as a practice run for my future. I was fortunate to have my education in Catholic grade school and Madonna High School. Do your best and you will be your best! The golden rule will always apply!!
For the purpose of this assignment, my personal and professional lifestyle blended together as one.
55-years in the medical field taught me effective communications with patients, co-workers and supervisors. For example, patients with limited language skills, and my job was to assess their level of care, medications, behaviors and special treatments, using a holistic approach.
We, historically, were in a tumultuous time of racial tension. As a teenager, I remember riding the city buses with Negroes going to the back of the bus. They were not allowed to eat in certain restaurants; and whites were frowned on for even talking with Negroes. Police barriers were set-up around the city limits in Elgin, Illinois. And cars were stopped; people had to explain the reason for their business. My answer was simple. " I am going to a night class at ECC, and I am not biased by prejudice towards others."
In summary, I feel that good eye contact, complimented with good listening skills, and a respectful, genuine approach will always get the best results.
My life has been very rewarding thanks to the individuals who communicated the real meaning of life, to me.
I had the privilege of working as concierge at the Courtyard in La Crosse, WI this past summer. There were many instances where I needed to communicate with guests from another culture, and it was quite common to encounter language barriers. In order to get around these obstacles and ensure our guests were treated exceptionally well, I spent additional time with these clients. I made sure to make good eye contact and maintain appropriate body posture. Most of my communication was through my body, eyes, and facial expressions. In one such case I was attempting to hold luggage behind the front desk for two female guests that were in town from Moscow, Russia. When listening, I asked them to repeat themselves several times. I spoke very deliberately and ensured they understood what I was saying before moving on to my next point. Ultimately, the two women were satisfied with the arrangement, and I accomplished my job. I loved encountering different cultures at work, because it challenged me to see things as other cultures see them. It put me out of my comfort zone. I love that feeling.
Just the other night my aunt came over and was trying to get onto my internet connection. But my network was security enabled and I could not remember what my password was. So I called Charter and spoke with this man that immediately you could tell he was from another country. He was asking me questions on what I was trying to figure out. I told him that I forgot my password for my secure network and asked him to help me out. The first thing he said to that was “don’t you write this down”. I said yes I might have not sure where I put it. My aunt asked me a question in the background and I simply answered her and he yelled almost” are you listening to me” I was like well ok. He said he couldn’t get me my password and I would have to call another department. He gave me the number and hung up. Among all of this I had a hard time understanding what he was saying and asked him to repeat a couple things. The second lady that I called was also very rude and had an extremely hard time understanding her. She was getting mad that I was asking her to repeat things. I did end up getting my password but almost 30 minutes later. If I would have had more patience along with the customer service representatives we all might not have gotten so frustrated.
The summer before my senior year we had a foreign exchange student from Spain with us for a month. We also had a foreign exchange student from Hong Kong with us for a year when I was in 7th or 8th grade. The girl from Hong Kong was very rude to my mom and I but very nice to my dad. I think that in there culture they are suppost to have more respect to the males. We didn't really learn much about her because she was always by herself and never really talked to us. The girl from Spain, Marta, was a better experience. I learned a lot about the spainish culture and where she came from. One of these summers I will be going to Barcelona to visit her for a month or else she will be coming here. I would do this again because it is fun to learn about the different cultures and where they come from.
The most recent communication i had with a differn't culture was when i called in to microsoft for a problem regarding my zune mp3 player. At first i had a hard time understanding him as he spoke english well but had a heavy accent and i would ask him to repeat himself or speak a little slower and he was more than happy to help me understand.
The most important factor to me in cross culture communication is patience and understanding that the other person is most likely having the same problems understanding where your coming from. If you can realize and master that aspect you will become more efficent communicating with other cultures
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