Crossing Bridges,

Touching Bases
Sam Berner (B.Ed & Sc., M. Inf. Mgmt.)
President, Australian Institute of Interpreters and
Translators (AUSIT)
 A Guessing Game
• Sam Berner
– Where do you think I am from?
– What language do I speak?
– What did we just learn?
• The world is a small place
• People are complex stories
• Globalisation is bringing us together
• Most of us do eat McDonalds
• It takes two to tango
 Culture
• Abstract - the underlying values and
assumptions of a society
• In reality - the specific behaviors that
derive from those values
• What are our Aussie values?
• Is that what the non-Aussies believe?
• What do we know about their values?
 Why try?
1. As citizens of the world, we have
obligations to others
2. We take seriously the value not just of
human life, but of particular human
lives
3. This means we take interest in what
makes them click
4. and we learn a lot from our
differences
 Three that make us click
• Our belief system – religion or lack
thereof, ethical and value systems
• Our culture – politics, media,
education, etc.
• Our upbringing – social influences

All three feed into each other. You can’t

separate them
 Communication (1)
• Communication is a two-way activity
between two or more people.
• Communication is the method by which
people share their ideas, information,
opinions and feelings.
• There are various ways of
communicating
• Communication is culture-dependent
 Communication (2)
◙ Purpose of communication: to get your message
across.
◙ Process that involves both the sender of the
message and the receiver.
◙ It leaves room for error, with messages often
misinterpreted by one or more of the parties
involved.  
◙ Message can only be successful if both the sender
and the receiver perceive it in the same way.
◙ Successful communication = conveying thoughts
and ideas effectively.
Sender Message
Channel Receiver

Feedback
Context
 Crossing..
• Cross-cultural communication
– how people from differing cultural
backgrounds communicate, in similar and
different ways among themselves, and
how they attempt to communicate with
people from different cultures
 Barriers to cross-cultural
communication
• Prejudice
• Generalisations and stereotyping
• Ethnocentrism
• Discrimination
 Stages of Discrimination
• Antilocution – speaking against among
your friends
• Avoidance – not making friends with
the “other”
• Discrimination – treating the “other”
worse than mine own
• Physical attacks
• Extermination – Bosnia, Rwanda
 Crossing..
• Cross-cultural competence:
“ability to interact effectively with people of
different cultures. “
• Is an art, not a science
• Four components:
– Awareness of one's own cultural worldview
– Attitude towards cultural differences
– Knowledge of different cultural practices and
worldviews
– cross-cultural skills
 Perception
◙ How are you perceived by others?
◙ Why does it matter?
◙ What do others think of Australia?
◙ Ugg boots, vegemite and Akubra hats?
◙ Roos in Sydney
◙ What do others think of Australians?
◙ Lazy
◙ You don’t need to work hard here
◙ No respect for knowledge, age, status
 Now how do you perceive
them?
• Incomprehensible
• Backwards
• Difficult to teach
• Religious fanatics
• Won’t cooperate
• Won’t listen
• Continue doing their own things
 Aliens?
• Xenophobia = Lack of cultural
knowledge + resulting fear
• Conditioned by the media on both sides
(Terrorists vs Sex In the City)
• Assumptions based on half-truths
 Two Attitudes
• Optimistic: Well, tomorrow’s another
day, and I’m sure she’ll see reason then
• Pessimistic: “Well, they’re all like that.
What can you expect from people from
XYZ country? We’ll never be able to
work together.
 ..based on
• The incorrect assumption that our own
views are automatically the right ones
• Therefore, no reasonable person can
hold a different view
• That ALL people from XYZ are the same
• Revealing a lack of self-awareness that
is likely to give us problems in future
intercultural contacts
 Meeting half-way
• An interest in learning about the
culture you are going to meet, in what
motivates and influences its members,
• makes an excellent start to a good
relationship between people of
different cultures
• Possession of even basic pieces of
information can help remove some of
the stumbling blocks that act as barriers
in intercultural relations.
 Takes time…
• Getting acquainted with whole new
culture takes considerable time,
• so don’t trust your first impressions.
 Avoiding Pitfalls
• Names
• Space
• Gender
• Class
• Religion
• Food
• Politeness
• Humour
• Racism (real and perceived)
 Names
• Titles
• Patronymics
• Compound names
• Religious affiliation
• Learn to pronounce
• Be patient
 Impressions
• We don’t always create the impression
we are striving for
• being conscious of some of the
unwritten rules of behavior of another
culture can help us do just that.
 Dress
• Err on the side of formality
• Err on the side of dullness – but not a
single colour
• Err on the side of modesty
• Err on the side of elegance
 Etiquette = Knowledge
• Being well-mannered implies having at
least a basic knowledge of the country
and people you are doing dealing with.
• Have good knowledge of your own
country! Remember, you are our
ambassador to the world.
 Etiquette (1)
• Manners are cultural
• Arrogance and ignorance is global
• Don’t criticize
• Don’t display a complete lack of
knowledge of, or interest in, your
students’ country or culture
• Do not get atop your high horse
• Don’t speak LOUDLY. They have
language, not audio, problems.
 Etiquette (2)
• Give people from other cultures the
benefit of the doubt if they break your
rules.
• Stay open-minded.
• Be prepared to modify your behavior
and your preconceptions.
• Be prepared to explain and/or
apologize if you break their rules.
 Etiquette (3)
• Listen to people; pay close attention to
what they say and do not say.
• Thank people when they are helpful.
• Try to learn at least a little of the
language.
• Reciprocate as far as you can
(hospitality, favors, gifts, and
compliments).
 Food
• One man’s meat is another man’s poison
• When No means Yes (and No means No)
• Utensils
• Noise
• Religion plays a big role
– Vegetarian
– Pork, shellfish, beef, rabbit,
– Kosher/halal
– Fasting
– Alcohol
 Language
• A vehicle for expressing needs, desires,
beliefs and emotions.
• That means: a vehicle for
communication.
• No language = no communication =
disadvantage
 Language (verbal and not so)
• The way we communicate, and what
we do or do not say, may be entirely
mystifying to people from other
cultures, even though we believe we
have made ourselves perfectly clear.
• “Fair enough”; “mate”; “she’ll be right”;
“gone down the creek”; “reckon”; “Are
you right, there?” – is this English??
 What we say, how we say
• Depends on class, education, context
• Depends on mastery of language
• Questions can mean
– I am interested in you as a person
– I am nosey and rude
• Questions can mean
– I don’t understand
– I am dumb
 What we say, how we say
• Answers can be straight forward,
ambiguous, or non existent
• It might be impolite to say “NO”.
• It might be impolite to say anything at
all.
• It might be impolite to speak in first
person
• White lies = face savers
• Sarcasm may = high IQ
 What we say, how we say
• Debate = quarrel/Debate = discussion
• Not having an opinion as a community
building exercise
• Rudeness may be what the listener
hears, rather than what the speaker
intends
• Humour is in the eyes of the teller
• Communal talking versus interruptions
• Silence as sign of attention and respect
• Emotions
 Terms to Cringe At
• Ethnic
• Non-English Speaking Background
• Person of colour
• Asian
• Arabian (horse, maybe?)
• Do not put labels – do not put people in
boxes – do not assume anything
• LISTEN – WATCH - ASK.
 Stereotyping
• Do not trust your first impressions of people
from other cultures.
• Public and private roles affect how people
act, and if you are unaware of what their
roles entail, you may come to faulty
conclusions
• While stereotypes about nationality or
ethnic groups are dangerous, there may be
broad similarities in the way members of the
same cultures act in certain situations.
 Body Language
• Eye contact
• Hand gestures
• Personal Space
• Voice levels
• Posture
• Shrugs
• Smiles
 Body Language
• The closer the relationship, the closer
people get physically (within their
cultural parameters).
• Don’t touch any part of the body of the
opposite sex (apart from a handshake,
with the right hand, which is acceptable
in most non-Muslim countries).
 Time
• Clock obsessed (minority) - Nordic
countries, Germany, Switzerland, and
Austria, and followed by among others
the U.K., the U.S., Australia, New
Zealand, and Singapore
• Elastic (majority) - time is elastic and
will always stretch sufficiently to allow
them to do what is important
 Time
• Different calendars/ Different holidays
• Different functioning time (siestas and
fiestas)
• Different weekends
• What’s “early” for the worm might be late for
the “birdie”
• Sacred time
• Different priorities (how time is spent)
• In time – through time
• Time value
 Educational Systems
• From top-to-bottom
• Discourages Questioning
• Based on Rote Learning
• Poor Study Skills
• Lack of technology
• Focused on religion and history
• No respect for humanities
• Nationalistic and ethnocentric
 Challenges Faced
• Cultural acclimatization: (food,
transportation, student diversity, reaction to
Asian students)
• Language and non-verbal communication
• New laws and regulations: (non-
discrimination, noise levels, public behaviour,
gender equality, etc.)
• Adapting to a new educational philosophy:
(punctuality, learning style, note-taking,
preparing for classes, doing independent
research, active participation)
• Perceived disadvantage (racism, anti-
Islamism, etc)
 Solutions?
• Embracing “multiculturalism” and
“tolerance” is not enough
• Become cosmopolitan
• Do not exaggerate the differences –
some values are universal
• Build conversations – in particular,
conversations with people from
different walks of life.
 Possible Approaches
• Encourage cross-cultural engagement
• Teach learning skills and provide
support
• Provide support for cultural adjustment
• Be sensitive to issues facing NESB
students
• Promote Australian culture and
Australian institutions as open, tolerant
and non-discriminatory.
 Show respect
• willing to be awkward or clumsy in
dialogue with them
• willing to use body language and voice
intonation in conveying meaning,
• willing to investigate the cultural
heritage of a student from another
country, and
• sensitive to the difficulties faced by
your overseas students.
 DISCUSSION TIME

and time to make some resolutions,

perhaps?
 Web: www.2m.com.au
Email: multimedia@2m.com.au
Phone: 1800 462 742

THANK YOU
FOR YOUR TIME