Cultural Communication

   

   
                                                                                                A smile is one of the most common examples of a very controversial facial expression that we wouldn’t think twice about. It may be crazy to think that in other cultures they may even be offended by something that we do to show happiness. That’s why there is a huge importance of understanding how we can make everybody feel more comfortable by doing a little research. In Russia a smile is considered very strange and even impolite. A smile can even convey weakness in Scandinavia because you’re not encouraged to show your emotions.

     Even hand and arm gestures vary widely among cultures. For instance, the “thumbs up” and “OK” sign have vulgar meanings in Latin America, Greece, Brazil, Russia, West Africa, and Iran, while in other countries the “OK” sign just simply means zero. The appropriate physical distance is also a huge factor that varies from country to country. In the Middle East and Latin America people tend to be comfortable very close to each other when in Canada we would feel as though someone is invading our personal space.

     Eye contact is where I find the differences in cultural meaning is the most striking. In Latin America not looking the other person in the eye can come off as a sign of disrespect, it may even make you look suspicious to them. In Asian culture you should avoid prolonged eye contact at all costs because they will most likely take a huge offence to it. One huge offence to Asia, Europe and the Middle East is resting your feet on a chair or a desk. I repeat, DO NOT DO THIS. EVER. Enough said.

     As you can see, because of these differences between cultures it makes sense to learn well in advance about somebody. This way you can understand and respect them and their culture reasonably. It’s easy to fall into believing that how you were raised and your culture has everything right, but the big picture is that nobody is right or wrong. Different cultures make the world a new and exciting place to be and odds are you will learn amazing things from every country you visit. 

     Here's a short video of 10 things you could do that would offend other cultures. Can you think of any others?