Transcriber: Cassie Molina
Reviewer: Emma Gon Let me ask you guys, a question. When you see this gesture,
what does it mean to you? This isn’t a rhetorical question. To how many of you
does this mean great, keep going or something
positive to that effect? To how many of you
does it mean up yours? To how many of you does it
represent the number one? So many options. But what then does
this gesture really mean? Well, here's the thing. Like Schrödinger’s cat,
it can mean all of those things and none of those things
at the same time. It all depends on
the world view of the observer. In our Western society,
the thumbs up gesture generally means something positive, I like it, great, keep going or
something along those lines. But several other cultures, especially
in West Africa and the Middle East, the same gesture has
extremely rude connotations. It’s used the same way
the middle finger is here. It basically means up yours. And Germany, Hungary and several
other European countries, the gesture represents
the number one. While in Japan it represents
the number five. In ancient Rome
where the gesture originates, it was used to decide whether the
gladiator in the arena should live or die. What we can say is that
even such a seemingly simple and unambiguous hand gesture
is highly context dependent. And the same is true
for words and phrases which often have
vastly different meanings in different languages and cultures. This is something we need to be
acutely aware of as global citizens because it can lead to serious
miscommunication. Let me tell you a little story
to show you what I mean. When I was 18 years old,
after finishing college here in Nelson, I set off on my OE
[Overseas Experience], like so many of us do. I headed straight to Europe
and I traveled around France, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Germany. And what struck me was how easy
it was to get by with English. Seemingly, everywhere
I went, people spoke and understood English,
even if just a little. But it made it so much easier
to get by as a clueless teenager in foreign lands and foreign cultures. Or so I thought, until one day I had a very awkward encounter
which got me thinking. I just got a job at
a restaurant in Germany, after months and months
of hunting for work and I desperately wanted to make
a good impression on my colleagues. As we sat together over
a few drinks after work one day, a senior colleague told me
that she’d just scored a promotion. She was visibly excited and
I was genuinely happy for her. I said to her, “Good for you!” But instead of a smile and
a thank you, she turned away and proceeded to give me
the cold shoulder for the next week. I was so confused! “Why was she sharing
joyous news with me one moment and completely ignored me the next? As I vented my frustration
to a German friend of mine, she laughed and she told me that the German translation
of ‘Good for You’, ‘Schön für dich’ is
a snarky and sarcastic remark, implying jealousy and begrudging
of another's success. Clearly that’s not what I meant,
but those are the connotations my colleague associated
with my remark. So what was the problem? Well, it wasn’t until many years later
that I studied geography, linguistics and translation at university
that I started to grasp the real issue. I realized that meaning gets
lost in translation because of cultural differences. This is the surprising paradox of
intercultural communication. We must communicate, even though we may be
speaking the same language. Even if two people are
both speaking English like my colleague
and I at the restaurant, the different cultural backgrounds
can lead to severe miscommunication. Think of it this way, language allows
us to encode and decode meaning. But to crack the code, we need
a shared set of pre-existing concepts. Now, many of these concepts
are passed down to us from our culture and
ultimately shape our worldview. And the lack of a shared worldview is what makes intercultural
communication so difficult. Let me illustrate what I mean. Here we have person A and person B. Their worldviews
have each been shaped by their cultural influences
on a broad societal level and by their personal lived
experiences on an individual level. And together,
these things give them each a distinct lens through
which they view life and through which they felt
to their communication. So when person A communicates, they encode their message into
verbal and nonverbal signals, which are then sent to person
B and filtered through the lens of person B where they are
recoded to reconstruct the message. But because of the filtering process, the message that arrives
can be highly distorted. And as this process
goes back and forth, the likelihood of invisible
misunderstandings mounts. And I call them invisible
because in many cases, one or both communication partners are unaware
that it’s even happening. Like in the following example. An American company
selling high-end tech products was looking to break into
the Chinese market. Talks and negotiations had been
going well with a potential buyer, and the Americans
considered it a done deal. To celebrate, they invited
the Chinese delegation out for dinner at a fine local restaurant. Now, as the Chinese delegation arrived, the head of the delegation was greeted
by a junior member of the US team. The Chinese delegate asked
the American where he should sit, to which he was told,
sit where you like. Now, the next day,
the Chinese delegation left the US without
signing the contract. And days later,
the American team received word that the Chinese had felt humiliated and were reconsidering
the business relationship. What had happened? Well, it was another cultural
misunderstanding. You see, in Chinese culture,
hierarchy is really important, whereas in American culture, displays of hierarchy aren’t
really culturally comfortable. So when the head of the Chinese
delegation was only greeted by a junior member of the US team
rather than the most senior, he immediately felt a loss of face. Then, to add insult to injury, he was told to sit anywhere, when ideally he should have been given
a seat at the head of the table next to the most senior
member of the US team. This cultural misunderstanding
led to an eight months delay in the signing of the contract and almost cost
them the business deal. So how can we prevent these kinds
of invisible misunderstandings and intercultural communication? Well, it all starts with our ability
to see the world through different eyes, to shift our perspectives,
to overcome our bias, and to recognize that we need
a shared basis of understanding to crack the code of
meaningful communication. With this in mind, let’s take a look at what person A and person B
could do to better communicate. What we can see here is
their communication toolbox, and that they each have two
main communication tools, the verbal and the nonverbal. These are the two ways
in which we can encode and decode or send and receive messages
and communication. And we can adapt these to suit the needs of our conversation partner. These are our controllables. Verbal communication is
our language, It’s what we say. And it works its magic
only to the extent that it is shared by
the speaker and the listener. Have you ever read
something highly technical and had no idea
what it was on about? Or try to understand the terms
and conditions of a contract? Or had someone tell you a story where you found yourself
with a myriad of questions, because you obviously lack some kind of vital background
information to make sense of it all? That’s the power of language. It can be used to confuse or to connect. And it’s up to each of us
to adapt our language to suit the needs of our conversation partner. But we also need to consider
our nonverbal communication. A lot more falls into this category
than first meets the eye, and the potential for
misunderstandings is huge. Let’s take body language
as an example. Is it acceptable to point at someone? What are the implications
of bad posture? How much eye or body
contact is appropriate? Do certain gestures mean the same
thing in your culture as in theirs? Or are you being
unintentionally rude, dismissive, or even suggestive
without realizing it? What about personal space? How close should you stand
to the other person? Public, social and personal spaces vary
considerably in different cultures. Well, let’s think again about
the different attitudes towards power and hierarchy. Remember the story of the Chinese
and the American business people and how their different attitudes
towards displays of superiority almost cost them
a good working relationship. Emphasizing someone's superiority
can be a sign of respect or make them feel
deeply uncomfortable. It all depends on their worldview. The list goes on and on. Basically, anything that
you consider normal behavior is likely to be anything but normal
in a different country or culture. Because what makes up
a person’s normal boils down to the unique combination of the social norms
and values of their society, their personal lived experiences
and their entire cultural background. So I invite you to consider
how each of these things differ and how the combination
of them differs to each and every person you talk to. I encourage you
to adapt your language, to suit the context and to suit the needs of your conversation partner. This could mean
using simpler language. It could mean avoiding jargon and steering clear of
potentially confusing idioms they may not understand. You could also paraphrase,
repeat or tell a story. After all, the power
of stories is universal. And you can always ask
clarifying questions, too. Often if we approach a situation
with curiosity and an open mind, we find ourselves blown away
by the multifaceted diversity that makes up the human race. It’s up to each of us to recognize our own often subconscious
lens of cultural norms and biases, to realise that we all have them, and to understand how they affect our personal preconceptions
and our communication. If we all learn to make better use
of our communication toolkit, we can avoid misunderstandings. We can avoid making
people feel left out or even offended by
our unintentional ignorance. That way, we can all take
responsibility for positive change. Ultimately,
more effective communication leads to more productive collaboration
and better relationships between countries,
organizations and individuals. And It is not just
talking to or at each other, we can actually end up
on the same page. If we can all learn to see the world
through each other's eyes, we will be less likely
to discriminate and marginalize, less likely to focus on
what sets us apart and more interested in
what we can learn from each other. In a nutshell, we can be
better global citizens. Thank you.
