Self-reflection on Inter-cultural Knowledge and Competence
I may bear insights of my own cultural rules and biases but how much do I know of other cultures? Having a capstone for cultural self-awareness is insufficient. Communication requires both speaker and listener to participate, thus no one can be the center of conversation forever. As such, to be effective in inter-cultural communication, we need to have knowledge of cultural world view frameworks.
At the moment, I am only able to demonstrate partial understanding of the complexity of elements important to members of another culture in relation to its history, values, politics, communication styles, economy, or beliefs & practices. However, I am willing to learn and expand my limited inter-cultural knowledge.
Even though Singapore may be a multicultural country, there are still some people who grew up without much interaction with other cultural groups. I'm an instance. Being in a SAP school for 10 years, peers around me were mainly Chinese. I had my first non-Chinese classmate/friend when I entered Junior College. Two of my classmates were Malays and one Indian. I was very much conscious of how sensitive racial issues can be, thus I was cautious about how I interact with them. Then I realized despite the difference in ethnicity, being truthful is applicable in all types of communication. Being sensitive is not to avoid the issue, but to open up and ask about the unsure, admit mistakes and learn from them.
As I meet more friends of other ethnicity these years, I learnt a lot about other cultures by asking beforehand and refrain from making any assumptions. For more inter-cultural exposure, I volunteered in International Freshmen Orientation as OGL where I made friends of other nationalities like Malaysian, Burmese, South Korean, Vietnamese, etc. It was a fun and valuable experience nevertheless. Eventually, I feel that everyone should be humble in any inter-cultural context. No particular ethnic is superior over the other.
On my part, I need to improve on my inter-cultural competence by looking past all the ethnocentric stereotypes and put forth more effort in trying to understand the different cultures. When communicating with other people of different cultural background, always bear in mind that some cultures may be contrary to ours and never take offence on unintentional faults. Each culture's world view affects every aspect of their people's communication style. We grew up in different environment and it shaped us the way we are now. Hence, we should take the effort to learn about a culture before trying to communicate with people from that culture. To me, it means to always do your homework and be prepared.
At the moment, I am only able to demonstrate partial understanding of the complexity of elements important to members of another culture in relation to its history, values, politics, communication styles, economy, or beliefs & practices. However, I am willing to learn and expand my limited inter-cultural knowledge.
Even though Singapore may be a multicultural country, there are still some people who grew up without much interaction with other cultural groups. I'm an instance. Being in a SAP school for 10 years, peers around me were mainly Chinese. I had my first non-Chinese classmate/friend when I entered Junior College. Two of my classmates were Malays and one Indian. I was very much conscious of how sensitive racial issues can be, thus I was cautious about how I interact with them. Then I realized despite the difference in ethnicity, being truthful is applicable in all types of communication. Being sensitive is not to avoid the issue, but to open up and ask about the unsure, admit mistakes and learn from them.
As I meet more friends of other ethnicity these years, I learnt a lot about other cultures by asking beforehand and refrain from making any assumptions. For more inter-cultural exposure, I volunteered in International Freshmen Orientation as OGL where I made friends of other nationalities like Malaysian, Burmese, South Korean, Vietnamese, etc. It was a fun and valuable experience nevertheless. Eventually, I feel that everyone should be humble in any inter-cultural context. No particular ethnic is superior over the other.
On my part, I need to improve on my inter-cultural competence by looking past all the ethnocentric stereotypes and put forth more effort in trying to understand the different cultures. When communicating with other people of different cultural background, always bear in mind that some cultures may be contrary to ours and never take offence on unintentional faults. Each culture's world view affects every aspect of their people's communication style. We grew up in different environment and it shaped us the way we are now. Hence, we should take the effort to learn about a culture before trying to communicate with people from that culture. To me, it means to always do your homework and be prepared.
