Cultural norms are behaviour patterns that are typical of a specific group. The following scenario took place when I was on board the MRT on my way home from school one day.
I happen to be near two friends, a local and a caucasian and I overheard them complaining about a friend who was doing a project together with them. Let's call the local Michael and the caucasian Jeffrey. Apparently, this friend had hardly contributed to the team's effort and appeared disinterested in helping out at all. Unevitably, they were unhappy with his attitude and they were complaining about him. Amid their complainings, a particular comment made by one of them caught my attention.
" Of course you know he will be like that one la.. The culture in his race is like that one mah.. Really buay tar han him. Sian sia.." Michael said.
"What is 'buay tar han'?" Jeffrey replied.
"Oh it means cannot stand him la.." said Michael.
"Stand? Do you all always so much of these 'la', 'mah'?" replied Jeffrey.
This particular scenario caught my attention as it is an intercultural situation and also recalling that I need to take note of one for my ES2007S module, I made a mental to note observe what was happening. The culture involved in this context is not that of between races or ethnic groups but rather one that is between countries. Singlish is a local cultural language as it involves a blend of the numerous ethnic groups that reside in Singapore. As such, it has become common for our spoken language to include terms from other languages. While we as Singaporeans may understand this language, our friends from overseas may not be able to do so. This cultural difference can lead to difficulties when communicating with others from other countries and it could serve as a communication barrier.
Another point is regarding Michael's comment. "The culture in his race is like that one ma." I think this is an interesting point as Michael has already built up his own perception of another based on his perceived understanding of their culture and his assumption that this race would have this particular culture. He believes their culture to be such and this understanding could be flawed or inadequate as he does not know the entire culture but rather based his judgement only on the few individuals which he may have met. While those that he have met may exhibit trends he has perceived, it is important to note that it is not a reflection that the entire race share this culture. Cultural differences can exist within races as well and while it could be minute, cultural differences can exist within smaller sub units such as families. This form of prejudice could serve to impede communications as he already has a prejudice against them by assuming something to be their culture and that this culture is inherent to people from his race.
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8 comments:
I agree with you that language barrier is indeed one that hinders intercultural communication. When I was having exchange in Korea, the students from other countries could not understand me at all when I spoke Singlish. I had to constantly remind myself to speak proper English to minimize any communication breakdown. Some of the students also had strong accent which made it hard for me to grasp what they were trying to put across.
I am curious as to which race their friend is from. I have never heard of or come across laziness being tagged along with any race. Probably Michael was stereotyping or he was being bias due to unpleasant encounters with people from that race.
Singlish is indeed a "language" that many foreigners are unable to understand! Due to different cultures, people develop different words specific to their country that other people may not understand, for example, certain slang words used specifically in Australia or America. Such cultural differences, which lead to language barries, definitely pose a difficulty in communicating effectively with foreigners. In addition, I believe there are many people who are like Michael too! Stereotyping is common and we often unknowingly hold on to a perception of a certain group of people based on those people we have observed before. Stereotyping can affect effective communication because we assume that the entire group will behave that way, causing unfair judgement.
I do know Jeffrey’s difficulties in communication as I had faced the same difficulties in the past. However, Jeffrey can overcome these difficulties if he lives in Singapore long enough and if he has a good local friend like Michael who can explain the Singlish meaning to proper English.
People should avoid giving comments on races as it can lead to a very big problem. We should not make decision on the whole race by looking at on only one particular’s behavior.
I think many Singaporeans use Singlish so often that some of us may forget that people from different cultures may not understand what we are saying. Different countries have different accents and slangs so effective communication could be difficult between people of different nationalities. I think stereotyping a certain racial group is not uncommon. I have heard many people making claims about a particular person because of the racial group he or she belongs to. I agree that stereotyping and prejudice will impede effective communication because the point of view of one of the parties involved is already biased.
I think Singlish is your culture. Just keep it! But make sure that when communicating with foreigners, try to use proper English so that they could understand you better. By the way, although I stayed in Singapore for almost five years, I still don't understand the meaning of "sian", could you explain to me what the word exactly means?
Using Singlish and local slangs among local people is quite a custom in Singapore. I was quite uncomfortable at the first place to understand and communicate with Singlish.
For example,Later free or not! Oh yah horh! You den stupid la! You kena scolded. Those words made me quite blurred to understand and became a barrier between myself and my Singaporean friends. I also don’t understand most of the Singlish words although I stayed 5 years at Singapore.
Yes, I agreed with Zn, Singlish is your culture. You all have to keep it. But it is good to use proper English when you are communicating with foreigners.
Singlish can be a problem when used in front of non-Singaporeans or even Singaporeans who have not been in the country for a few years. Singlish is made of many colloquial words and changes with time. A new Singish vocabulary word appears can appear at any time, which explains the ever changing form of Singlish. However, there is no need to eradicate this language as Singlish removes any form of formality and brings locals together. All we have to do is to ensure that we can convert to standard English should the situation arise.
Stereotyping, I guess, is a common practice among people. The only difference would be the extent and issue which each individual used it on. Like what the others have said, stereotyping affects effective communication and we should avoid doing that.
I think you can classify Michael's comment as stereotyping bah... hmmm...
Just like what some of my friends in my project group (other modules) are talking about also... "Singaporeans stereotypes". haha
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