Embracing Cultural Differences

Hello guysss ;) how are u feeling? I guess everyone is doing well just like me. Hehe

Anyway, I just wondering hmm… How would u feel if someone being rude to you? Is it okay to assume that he/she is unconsciously doing something that he/she used to do?

I bet everyone has their own opinion and perception that people should respect.

Watch this enlightening video on intercultural communication! :)

Being inspired by Pallegrino Ricardi who shared his experiences in three different cultures such as Italian, British and Norwegian, he had described the perceptions of others towards the way he speaks, if he had spoken in Italian accent, people might perceive that he is Italian. And sometimes people from different backgrounds interprets our culture differently. The uniqueness of the culture somehow shows the values in it. The way people perceive culture can either be positive or negative and hence;

I, (Aqilah) would like to share my story today! Let's start :p (negative aspects)

One thing that I realize when I study here is that my hometown which is northern area is a bit “harsh” in terms of its words and action (maybe). Sometimes, I’m worried if my words and action can be offensive to my friends. And my assumption was true. It happen to me when I was in CFS L 

I realize it when my friend acted differently after the incident. Luckily, someone told me that she is being offended. And I was shocked because I wasn't really sure of what I have done to her :( huhu

I guess I was wrong but I'm not sure which part is wrong to her. So, I try to be friendly like usual and explain my background whenever we talk. The differences that we have are being accepted to each other and familiar as it has united us throughout our friendship :) yeayyy!

Lesson learned! Now I know how to respect others culture. And I believe that, being in misunderstanding situation is actually helps us with our maturity because the maturity comes with the experience and not the age :3

As for me, (Shairah) when I came back to Malaysia after staying five years in Japan, I got used to bowing to people every time I see an elderly. The form of culture there is to respect elderly by bowing.

In Malaysia , we would respect people by giving salam to say 'peace be upon you'. My friend used  to ask me," why do you have to bow?"(when I was a kid) because she wasn't exposed to Japanese culture and she thought it was unusual, whereas another friend thought that I was polite (she is exposed to Japanese culture).

Perceptions can be different based on different people having different cultural backgrounds. How people perceive things determine what they think, either it is positive or negative. Having said that, every country has their own way of showing respect regardless of the country. Communication that we carry in our culture could be either verbal or non-verbal.

To add on , the culture in Japan is to respect the teachers in class, there were no noises in class when the teacher was teaching, except on recess time. Even though we were just in standard three, everyone had the same idea of respecting teachers without being told.

Tolerance is important in order to understand and accept other's cultures respectively.