Have you ever made a comment to someone, and had them act strangely about it, and not really known what it was that you had said or done to offend them? What you said was not meant to hurt. Nor to offend. But here you are now, in a situation that you are not quite sure how to remedy!
Now imagine that this happens all the time. Such might be the case with some of our friends who come to a new country. They do not know the subtle cultural differences between their homeland and their new home. Maybe you have had that experience when you have traveled to a new place, and wondered what to do to learn the "ins and outs" of interaction there.
Luckily for us, there have been many social scientists who have studied cultural differences between
countries, and have written books and articles to inform us about these differences. There are also videos online that point them out in clever and informative ways. When we are faced with students in our classrooms who have come from different countries, we can use these resources to learn about their cultures, about the things that might offend them, and about how they might act that would create problems for them with other students. And we can teach them about their new culture, and the ways that will help them to avoid the cultural miscommunications that might cause them trouble.
Miscommunication is never fun; not for us in our interactions with our friends, and especially not for those who do not know how local culture is different from one they know best. Educating ourselves about cultural differences can make these miscommunications less frequent, and help us to better understand each other.
One of my favorite scriptures is from the New Testament. It talks about how we can become closer as a community when new friends arrive in our country. "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens...." (Ephesians 2:19). Educating ourselves and our friends about our cultural differences can help us to become more unified. It can make our interactions smoother when we understand "where the other guy is coming from." Literally.
Viki! I love what you said about how the scriptures can help us see the value in understanding culture- it brings us closer together. What a beautiful concept! Do you have any experiences in which you might have misinterpreted someone?
ReplyDeleteHannah,
ReplyDeleteI haven't had that experience with someone from another culture, but definitely with family and friends! My husband and I, though we were both born in New York, come from different cultures! He was raised in a very rural area, and I was raised in the city! We had some difficult times getting to understand each other! We got it all worked out, but it helped me realize that misunderstandings can cause difficulties in relationships.