The case for bettering one's cultural competence

And how to say "once upon a time" around the world

Dear Global Jigsaw,

I have been teaching a course at Madrid’s IE University on cross-cultural communication for the last couple of months. In it we try and make explicit, our implicit lenses: those ways of sense-making that are formed by our particular cultures and circumstances, but that we tend to think of as universal or “normal.” It is our lack of awareness of the particularity of our assumptions that lead to miscommunication, misinterpretation, and confusion across cultural boundaries.

To a Japanese person, being grabbed and kissed twice, as is the norm in Spain, could feel like an alarming infringement of private space.

For a Nigerian used to stray aunts and assorted other humans wafting about their house unannounced, the idea that one can lounge about at home naked, as some of my Danish students have shared, is about as unbelievable as the idea of pigs taking wing.  

Argentinians upon meeting an Indian who does not eat beef, often reason that this is only because said Indian has never had the privilege of tasting high-quality Argentinian beef.

The eyes of my Mexican students widen in disbelief when they find out that in the Netherlands there is an app which people use to send the friends they shared a meal with the previous evening a personalized bill for their food, which they must then pay via bank transfer.

Ask yourselves “what constitutes ‘normal’?” I urge the students.

Is it ‘normal’ to walk into the kitchen, open the tap and pour yourself a glass of water?

Is it ‘normal’ for a woman to go out for a walk alone in the evening?

Is it ‘normal’ for a child to be hungry most of the time?

Is it ‘normal’ not to know the majority of people attending your wedding?

Try and ban the use of the words, or better still, the categories, of ‘ethnic,’ ‘exotic,’ ‘civilized’ and so on.  

Pic: With my students at IE University

While all of this might be a lighthearted way into understanding diverse view points, the need for such understanding has never been more urgent. And that is the underlying intent of the course: to prime students to have open minds, rather than inhabiting thought silos.

xxxx

To conclude this post, let me point you to the delights of a new book, The Wheel is Spinning But the Hamster in Dead, by Adam Sharp which is, as it says on the cover, a journey around the world in idioms, proverbs and general nonsense. It’s a feast for any culture vulture, particularly one of a linguistic bent. Enjoy!

International versions of ‘once upon a time’

1. When animals talked and people kept quiet (Catalan)

2. When snakes wore vests (Iberian Spanish)* * Another Iberian Spanish one is cuando Franco era corneta, which means ‘when Franco played the bugle’ (a reference to his low rank in the Spanish army)

3. When tigers used to smoke pipes (Korean)

4. When camels were town criers and fleas were barbers (Turkish)

5. When potatoes were pale blue (Brusselian)

6. In the old times, when wishing still helped (German)

Things that are illegal around the world

1. Skinny jeans (North Korea)

2. Time travel (China)

3. Selling second-hand underpants (Ghana)

4. Jogging (Burundi)

5. Urinating in a canal, unless you’re pregnant (the Netherlands)

6. Lip-syncing at concerts (Turkmenistan)

7. Making or sharing memes (Australia)

8. Mullets (Iran)

International sycophants

1. A boot licker (English)

2. A sock sucker (Chilean Spanish)

3. A kisser of peed-upon aprons (Greek)

4. A lantern holder (Japanese)

5. A horse-arse slapper (Mandarin)

6. A man who walks behind his boss while holding up his balls (Malaysian Cantonese)

Meanings of the word ‘turkey’ in different languages

1. Western chicken (Vietnamese)

2. Indian chicken (Catalan)

3. Dutch chicken (Malay)

4. Ethiopian rooster (Syrian Arabic)

5. Bird from France (Greek)

6. Bird from Peru (Portuguese)

7. Seven-faced bird (Japanese)

8. Snot hen (Luxembourgish)

Ways to say ‘this makes no sense’ in various languages*

1. It’s Chinese to me (Greek)

2. It’s Greek to me (Spanish)†

3. This is a Spanish village to me (Czech)

4. This is a Czech movie (Polish)

5. This is Polish spoken backwards (German)

6. It sounds like pig’s German (Finnish)

NOTE* The Esperanto equivalent is ĝi estas laŭ mi Volapukaĵo,

which means ‘it’s all Volapük to me’. Volapük is another

constructed language which attempted (and failed) to become

the international language before Esperanto (and there are

multiple Esperanto phrases that mock it)

† Today in most Spanish-speaking countries you would say

‘that’s Chinese to me’ (está en chino) rather than ‘that’s Greek

to me’ (está en griego), which is outdated. The phrase from

German is also especially outdated. I still included the old

versions, though, mostly because I was determined to do a

list where each country/language connected to the next one

xxxx

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Sampai jumpa lagi,

Pallavi