week 7- cultural systems

The topic for this week's lecture was the most relevant to me in terms of what we first think of when someone says cross-cultural communication. When people mention culture, they are likely to bring to mind representations of culture, which include food, language, clothes, well-known personalities, transport and so on. SG culture: Singlish, Lee Kuan Yew, HDB flats, chicken rice and laksa, Kiasuism... and the list goes on. In doing business especially, in this age of globalisation, there is much emphasis on understanding your business partner's culture and his way of doing business. To me, here are some ways what cross-cultural communication is really about:

1.
Understanding how another's culture is significant to him/her

2.
Making others feel at home, even if they are in a foreign land

3.
Not judging, but accepting other people and their culture. If not possible, at least tolerate.

On another note, we've all heard hilarious examples of cross-cultural 'miscommunications' leading to devastating outcomes. One example of a cross-cultural blunder I've heard about was how a Chinese company tried to market its vacuum cleaners in USA by using the slogan "We Suck". Needless to say, they failed miserably. I found two other websites which have similar examples of such comical anecdotes. Worth a read and I hope you enjoy them! :)

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/12-17-2005-84236.asp
http://www.culturosity.com/articles/culturalblunders.htm