Multicultural interview reflection paper

While living, sometimes we think there are only us and the ones around us existing. We forget that the world is huge and that humans living on the planet are billions. And even if we’re aware of that fact, we sometimes consider that others see things from the same perspective as ours. A lot of people get culture shocked when traveling to a country or the other way when you think of a person’s behavior as inappropriate instead of understanding the cultural differences that can be part of people’s behaviors.

For me it wasn’t a first time to interact with someone from another culture and talk about multicultural aspects, however I was still surprised by the different perspectives each one of us had. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on my behavior and share ways of how to be more culture understanding.

To start with, the interview started quite smoothly, I had noticed that one of anthropology classmates to whom I never talked to was a foreigner. I decided to ask him to do the interview to help in my assignment as well as to get to know him. We decided on a time slot and met at the cafeteria. We started talking casually before starting the interview to loosen up the tension. I gave Chang the list of questions I prepared and we started discussing each of them. It was fun discovering the Hong Kong culture and its people’s habits. There weren’t many differences in our answers. Our definitions of culture and family as concepts were similar. He described success as being happy in life. Of course happiness is important in our culture but it’s more important to have a stable salary job and have a family. What was a bit surprising is that in his culture it is considered rude to call your older friends or siblings with their names only. Goh-go is used to refer to older brother and Jeh-je to older sister. While talking I called him Chinese but he didn’t like it and said that is the biggest misconception people has on them and the one they hate earing the most. China is a different country than Hong Kong and they even speak different languages Mandarin/ Cantonese. I also used to think that most Asians are Buddhist but that wasn’t the case. Chang’s mom is Christian where as he’s atheist. As for the food habits, their quite similar except for the fact that they eat with chopsticks and we use bread or spoons.

As a start of analyzing my finding and the interview, first of all, knowing the reason behind the importance of culture. First one is to build successful communities that can improve their conditions and resolve their problems. The power of each culture in its unique way and perspective that others can benefit from is another reason. Using different cultural backgrounds in making decision to have effective policies and programs. However, to be able to do all this we need to understand each others culture and have a good multicultural communication and be able to create a diverse environment (Marya Axner). But the biggest issues in cross-culture interaction is that we don’t have the cross-culture skills where we tend to judge people without trying to understand them from their culture’s perspective, as an example, Chang found it weird how Moroccans like to kiss and hug when saying hi and though we’re too touchy since for him a simple bow is enough, he didn’t think from our perspective but judged us depending on what he saw. This is called being in cultural cruise control. His own values and attitudes about how to live life dominated his judgments of Moroccans. After asking about the issues I explained to him how Moroccans are generally warm and that is our way of expressing our love and affection toward the other. This shows that cultural differences are actually a part of people’s behavior. Where we act according to our culture norms everyday without realizing it. The term culture cruise thus means running your life on the basis of your assumptions automatically (Thomas, David- C.Inkson, Kerr).

In addition, psychologists who look into culture find it often frustrating to achieve closure, which usually caused by the influence culture has on social processes.it is also stated in the handbook of culture and psychology that it difficult to get all the the factors that cause that influence. The sweep of culture is wide, complex and varied (Matsumoto, David Ricky).

After all what’s said above, it’s time find solutions and the changes we have to make to be able to achieve a good cross-culture communication and a better understanding of one an other. But how does this communication work? In communication, the communicator transmits messages to other receivers. As Thomas, David and C., Inkson, Kerr explain: “When the receiver in turn becomes the communicator, the process is reversed. The channel may be spoken words, written words, or nonverbal behavior such as gestures or facial expressions. Face-to-face conversations, meetings, telephone calls, documents, or e-mails may all be used. Successful communication occurs when the message is accurately perceived and understood. Skills of communicating and listening, selection of an appropriate channel, and the absence of “interference” from external factors are all important. Cultural differences threaten communication because they reduce the available codes and conventions that are shared by sender and receiver.”

In order to do that, first, the other person needs to feel welcomed and important and that their cultural perspective matters so being as welcoming as possible is important. Second, try to not be oppressive. Ignoring historical differences may lead to the failure of understanding an individual. So recognizing the differences is actually better at bringing people together. Third, building a bond among other people in a workplace or classroom and work together instead of alone to develop stronger relationships (Marya Axner). A professor from the university of California has also stated in his article some effective ways of developing multicultural communication: “As we interact with others of different cultures, there is no good substitute for receptiveness to interpersonal feedback, good observation skills, effective questions, and some horse sense. There is much to be gained by observing how people of the same culture interact with each other. Don't be afraid to ask questions as most people respond very positively to inquiries about their culture. Ask a variety of people so you can get a balanced view. Making a genuine effort to find the positive historical, literary, and cultural contributions of a society; learning a few polite expressions in another person's language; and showing appreciation for the food and music of another culture can have especially positive effects. These differences between cultures and peoples are real and can add richness (and humor) to the fabric of life. My assertion is that people everywhere have much in common, such as a need for affiliation and love, participation, and contribution. When the exterior is peeled off, there are not so many differences after all.” (Gregorio Billikopf). In addition, having culture intelligence can also help developing cross-culture communication as Thomas and Inkson state in their book. “Culturally intelligent people have a cognitively complex perception of their environment. They are able to make connections between seemingly disparate pieces of information. They describe people and events in terms of many different characteristics and are able to see the many links among these characteristics. They can see a coherent pattern in a cultural situation.” (Thomas, David C., Inkson, Kerr). Thus mindfulness, knowledge, and skill are all important in the process of understanding others and their culture.

After analyzing my findings and the interview I had with Chang Lao, I think I got a better understanding of culture and know now how to better understand the other without judging them from my own cultural perspective. Now I know the importance of culture and that it isn’t a weakness that we’re different but that it can actually become our strength. Gathering and creating diverse groups with different people from around the world can benefit the members and also the society as a whole.

Work cited:

Axner, Marya. "Section 1. Understanding Culture and Diversity in Building Communities." Community Tool Box, ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/culture/cultural-competence/culture-and-diversity main. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.

Billikopf, Gregorio. "Cultural Differences? Or, Are We Really That Different?" The Regents of the University of California, 1 June 2009, nature.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7article/article01.htm. Accessed 23 Sept. 2017.

David, Thomas, and Inkson Kerr. Cultural Intelligence : Living and Working Globally. SAN Fransisco, CA : Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2009.

Ricky, Matsumoto David. Title:The Handbook of Culture and Psychology. NY, Oxford UP, 2001.