Cross-cultural communication stories

I often visit the official WeChat account of China Daily, which is a main way for me to get in touch with English everyday. I recently read a column on cross-cultural communication. I think the content is very interesting, and it also triggered some thoughts for me to share with you.

The writer is an American and a self-editor of The China Journal. The article tells a short story about jumping the queue: an American who teaches in China (the author's friend) goes to a fast food restaurant to order food in line, holding a menu in his hand. Suddenly, a China man came and grabbed the menu and stood in front of him, which made him very angry. As a result, he grabbed the list back and carried the other side out of the team. According to this American, the phenomenon of jumping the queue will be staged at noon every day. The reason is that it seems that the memory of hunger in China in the past has been passed on to people in China now. When the author heard this friend's conversation, he had different attitudes and different angles of thinking, because he knew the principles of interpersonal communication and had cross-cultural life experience. He adheres to the principle of "seek understanding and then become ignorant" put forward by Steve Covey, the author of "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", that is, you should try to understand others before gaining their understanding. Therefore, according to his many years of life experience in China, he realized the kindness and friendliness of China people, and he paid attention to cultural differences. People queuing in Chinese and western cultures may have different understandings of the distance before and after. So at his suggestion, the American teacher did an experiment in class: let one classmate stand in front of the blackboard to simulate the situation of queuing to buy tickets, and let another classmate stand 2 meters away from the previous classmate. At this time, he asked his China students: "Are the students behind waiting in line?" Everyone shook their heads, and he stepped forward and stood among them, almost touching the classmate in front. Then he asked, "am I in line?" The students smiled and replied, "This is it!"

This short story involves the important principle of interpersonal communication: when encountering contradictions in interpersonal communication, don't jump to conclusions, try to think from the other side's point of view and consider the other side's situation. If cross-cultural communication is involved, we should consider cultural differences.

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This story reminds me of several previous experiences of contacting foreigners.

The first thing that comes to mind is the exchange experience with a German project manager.

About ten years ago, when I was a graduate student, I had the opportunity to go to Henan to be an English interpreter for a project. Wahaha on one side and German equipment supplier on the other. Germany sent a group of engineers to install and debug the equipment. My job is to help both sides communicate. One day at noon, the German project manager asked me to follow the car to Zhengzhou, a hundred miles away, to get a courier. Before I left, I asked for 1000 yuan as a reserve fund. When I got the parcel, it was nearly noon, and I invited the driver to have a meal. Of course, the money is 1000 yuan from Germany. When I came back to talk about money with the German project manager, I saw his incomprehension, as if to say that I shouldn't spend money to treat people. The scene is a bit awkward. I feel hurt by my self-esteem. Going back to the hotel at night, the more I think about it, the more humbled I am. I called the German project manager and told him how I felt, which made me feel much better. The next day, I felt that the attitude of the German project manager was much better. All along, when I think about it, my feeling is that communication is very important, and sometimes I have to dare to express myself. But now my reflection is that perhaps cultural factors have caused the misunderstanding between me and German personnel. In his view, business is business, and he should not be responsible for expenses such as eating. In my opinion, it is natural to eat out after missing the meal.

In addition, some small things I encountered when I went to Hanover, Germany in March of 15 also made me remember them vividly. We stayed in a local business hotel, similar to the four seasons in China. In the morning, the hotel provides breakfast. It was early spring, and Germany was not warm. We are all wearing down jackets. On the third day, I suddenly received a notice from the hotel that I should pay attention not to wear down jackets into the restaurant in the morning, but to put them on the coat rack outside the restaurant, because other guests thought that down jackets would produce flying debris and pollute the dining environment. I just heard it, but I feel a little contradictory. Is this foreigner too rude? But when you think about it, it still makes sense. After all, there is a rule in a place. They have no intention of targeting a certain group of people. We did it and soon got used to it. At the exhibition, my colleagues and I went to a nearby restaurant for dinner. I found that the local people are quiet and gentle, but the people in China are different. Everyone was so excited that the noise was so loud that they wanted to overturn the roof.

Finally, share the article link. There is also an audio version.

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