Name: Darpan Choudhary

Section: B
Roll No.: PGPGC202100112
Cultural Differences

In 2020 during the initial stages of Covid-19, I was working as an intern for an independent news
agency. The project involved interacting with over 80 thought leaders across geographies for a
detailed discussion on prevailing issues and their amplification due to the onset of Covid-19. I
observed several differences in the appropriate approach needed for effective communication
with different personalities during the process. One of my interactions was with a Chinese Youth
representative working as a professor at Hong Kong University. Our interaction was centered
around Covid-19 and its impact on the young population in Asia.

In contrast to the previous conversation, I also interacted with a gentleman from France working
as a cooperation advisor for United Nations. We talked about climate justice and sustainable
development in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The conversations involved initial
negotiations for an appearance on the webinar and the discussions for articles. The reason for
picking only these two instances out of 80+ interactions was the stark contrast between the two
experiences and the level of complexity involved in communicating my idea effectively. In brief,
the negotiations and communication process were relatively slower with the Chinese
representative, whereas the interaction was straightforward with the French advisor.

Given that this was my first time, a few biases were plaguing my conversations, and by the end
of my internship, I obtained valuable insights into cross-cultural communication. I have often
observed that people tend to analyze foreign cultures as abnormal or weird. It particularly leads
to prejudices and malignment during communication and eventually relationship breakdown.

Initially, ethnocentrism clouded my assumptions as I was making the mistake of understanding

their culture through the lens of my community. However, through the course of discussions, I
improved my cross-cultural sensitivity to a great extent. As Giri(2006) discussed, I too observed
primarily four barriers while attempting effective communication, i.e., Semantics, Connotations,
Tone Differences and Perception Differences. Additionally, the mode of communication was
online, which further reduced the reception of non-verbal cues of the speakers.

During my interaction with the Lady from China, I observed many differences between my
culture (Indian) and the speaker I will discuss shortly in this essay. Punctuality was an integral
part of building rapport with her as she was generally 5 minutes before the stipulated time. In
contrast, in my culture, time is not considered an essential aspect of any discussion. Even the
French gentleman was late at times for our meeting. Given the above scenario, it's clear that there
was a clear difference in perception for time in discussions.

Talking about the tonal differences, I observed that I was repeatedly using falling intonation for
asking questions. Since I was expecting a longer answer generally, there was no friction in this
particular area. However, the other two speakers were typically using rising or sometimes even
flat intonations while asking questions. The Chinese lady was not showing any outward emotions
while the French gentleman was rather animated for most of the discussion. This often led me to
believe that she might not be interested as she appeared reserved, which was an error as I viewed
the silence as a sign of disagreement or awkwardness in the Indian context.
Name: Darpan Choudhary
Section: B
Roll No.: PGPGC202100112
There were issues with understanding certain words for Connotation and Semantics, and I had to
rephrase the sentence to suit the speaker frequently. In the case of a French gentleman, having
high school level proficiency in French assisted me in framing the questions coherently for the
native speaker. For, e.g. in French, achuellement or actually in French translates to "at this
moment", and while using the word, the gentleman was referring to the particular moment
instead of it meaning "contrary to what you believe". As for the Chinese lady, I was not aware of
any such differences, and it was difficult for me to analyze whether we were misunderstanding
during the translation.

From the experience mentioned above, I learned that I shouldn't generalize my culture to
understand foreign practices. It is imperative to question our assumptions regarding the person
we're communicating with to avoid static responses. I also believe it is essential to do some
research before a significant interaction or discussion with a person from a different cultural
background. Understanding cultural norms in isolation may not solve the problem as people's
behavior also includes their upbringing, family background, education and psychological
personalities.

Given the same situation, my course of action would be first to research the person beforehand to
understand their culture and life history if possible. Understanding cultural norms is
fundamental, along with empathetic listening, which involves putting yourself in their shoes.
During a breakdown in conversation, I would start to look for alternatives to revamp the
interaction instead of feeling defeated due to a lack of positive response. I will try to build online
awareness of power imbalances. In certain cultures, there might be importance attached to
seniority, and the concept of the flat hierarchy might not be welcomed. I understood that I might
tend to translate certain situations and people as "different than me". While this is a result of
institutionally ingrained tendencies, we can learn to be indifferent consciously. The idea to
collaborate across cultures is to understand the different opinions to achieve a common goal.
Recognizing differences can help us to reach any goal creatively and with ease.