Just as an aside and something that amused me yesterday....I was waiting in line to buy some chocolate to get me through my afternoon classes when I came across what I realised is a common situation. A student of asian background was attempting to make a purchase and use his credit card, something wasn't working with it and from my observation he wasn't quiet understanding the shop attendant. The attendant then proceeded to raise her voice (to a near yelling level) repeating the same phrase as if somehow the new level of her voice would help him to understand and that it wouldn't be an issue if the student didn't have the needed english comprehension. I laughed to myself and thought about just how many times I have seen this in our community. It appears if someone doesn't understand you when communicating all you need to do is raise your voice and magically they will totally get the point, problem fixed ;)
In relation to social Psych I think this demonstrates a good example of issues in communication across cultures and once again the stereotype and mindset that people often have when communicating with those of a different background. I can't help but wonder what the student was thinking about this woman who contined to repeat the same thing repeatedly raising her voice!
4 comments:
Hi Beck,
Regarding your question about links to others pages... (I also have something to say on your post but I will write that separately). I went into customise - template - page elements - add a page element - link list (then you can name the different links and add as many as you like). Then I went to the blog's that I have commented on any copied the link into the page element. I hope that makes sense.
Hey Beck,
This post made me think of all the times I have seen this type of situation occur, and shamefully enough somewhere along the line I have probably fallen prey to the same problem. This reminded me of a conversation I had at work. I work for the ACT Government in Payroll and on this occasion I had to discuss someone's leave/pay with them. However, in this instance I don't think cultural differences were present, probably just arrogance. After I stated why I was deducting money from him he started to challenge me and so I repeated myself again, and again. Eventually both our tempers were getting frayed and he said quite rudely "I know that because you have said it seven times now" (each time I was trying to adapt my words into a new sentence to see if it would assist his understanding of leave entitlements). However he kept asking the same question! Eventually I said "I will get someone else for you because obviously I can't explain it clearly enough for you." As rude as this sounded I meant it as nicely as possible as obviously we were having a communication problem and the conversation was straining us both. This really illustrates to me that communication problems are everywhere within our daily lives... and often ignorance (especially in believing that raising one's voice will help) dominants within society. Thanks for your post. Zoe.
I know i have definetly done this in the past. While working for a large supermarket company close to the city, I would always serve customers from different cultures (as we were located close to universities, businesses and community housing, which I know this may sound steretotypical but does house alot of people from many different backgrounds) and at times I found it so difficult to communicate or help them out with requests as they either could not clearly understand me or I wasn't explaining it in a way that helped them to understand. I tried to numerous times to patiently explain things to them. I have fallen prey to the raising of the voice so that all the other customers and staff members around could hear me. I guess we just have to remain patient and remember what would happen if the roles were reversed and we had some person repeating the same statement over and over while progressively increasing the volume of their voice. We'd feel just as confused and frustrated.
Hey Beck,
I agree that this occurs so often. I am pretty sure i am guilty of doing this and next time I go to do this i'm sure I will think twice. I feel there is a lack of cultural understanding around the world. I once visited Italy and realised that most people could speak English. However, you would receive more help from shop assistants and people in the street if you attempted to speak in Italian. By only speaking in English in their country may show a lack of respect for their country and therefore they are less likely to assist you.
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