Cultural Adaptation

Compared to most people I know, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to various countries around the world a lot. Most of my travel has been by myself, i.e. not part of a group travelling together. And nearly all of it has not been to “tourist” destinations – e.g. when I was in France I did not go to Paris, when I was in Israel I did not go to Jerusalem, etc. So I’ve had the opportunity to meet with the people of that country and been in many situations where I needed to culturally adapt.

Cultural adaptation is a complicated subject and I cannot cover very many aspects of it in this short posting. But I’d like to cover a few areas and give examples of what I have done.

Food

Food is one of the more visible aspects of culture – both in the types of food and how you go about eating it. When I have been presented with things to eat that I was unfamiliar with, I have learned to respond by at least trying some of it – after all you may find that you like it. I also do not generally ask the name of what I am eating – until after I have eaten it. Otherwise you may find that the name of the food generates a reaction. That’s less often the case with fruits or vegetables than it is with meat/fish products. If you were to find that the item in front of you is “eel” or “baby goat” or a particular body part, then you might refuse it or have an adverse reaction to it. But if you eat it first you will not have that reaction and might actually enjoy it.

How you go about eating it is another aspect of culture. One part of this is the eating utensils (or lack of them). In China you use chopsticks (and I suspect most of you are aware of this). But in Thailand the utensils on the table are a fork and what we might term a soup spoon, i.e. one that is larger than a teaspoon. But the fork is not used for eating – its only purpose it to push food onto the spoon. In Europe they have the same utensils as the US, but the utensils are used with the hand on the side where they are placed. In the US a right-handed person would cut up a steak with the knife in your right hand and the fork in the left (to hold the meat in place), then we would put down the knife, transfer the fork to our right hand for eating, then put our left hand on our lap. But in Europe you would cut the meat the same way, then keep the fork in your left hand and eat with the left, keeping both hands on the table and not in your lap. It’s a whole lot more efficient when you think about it. In some cultures you eat without utensils – so in Ghana when eating fufu you eat only with your right hand, tearing off a piece of the pounded cassava, dipping it in the chili soup (and getting your fingertips stained orange), and then eating it. Finally, especially with fruits and vegetables, but also with some meats, there is the question of how/what parts do I eat. If you encounter a strange fruit with a bumpy skin, do you eat the skin (like an apple), do you peel it off, or do you split it open? What about the inside, do you eat around the large pit/seed, or do you pop the whole thing in your mouth and spit the pit out? If in doubt, ask!

A good rule that I follow is to read about the eating practices and the common foods before travelling so that you are not surprised.

Greetings

In the US the common practice when greeting is a firm handshake. We also generally start with the senior person (for business), or the host (for a party). But while most people in other cultures will accept a handshake, if you use their form of greeting you will be more accepted.

Many cultures use a kiss as a greeting (even with strangers). This kiss is not the lip-to-lip variety that you think of in the US, but generally involves touching cheeks and “kissing the air”. Some countries use a single kiss and some use two or even three (first one cheek then the other). I was in Brazil on business and as it was in December was invited to the office Christmas party that would be after work that day. It was at a local bar and the office had rented out the space for their use. All the conversation was in Portuguese, except for anyone who was speaking with me since I do not know Portuguese. I was standing at the side talking to the executive secretary of the managing director. A woman from the office who I did not know entered the room and came down the side we were on getting greeted. When she arrived at me, rather than sticking out my hand, I greeted her with the appropriate kiss. Turning back to the executive secretary I found that she had a large grin on her face and she commented, “You know our customs!” That simple act of greeting had more impact on her than all that I’d said previously and changed the whole tone of our subsequent conversation.

In Thailand, the common greeting is also not a handshake but a “wai” (placing your hands together (like you are praying) and bowing). On my first trip there I was staying with the family of my exchange student daughter, Noon. She had told me that many of her relatives would want to meet me. We were sitting in her living room and I heard someone just outside. Noon commented, “That is my uncle.” An older gentleman came into the room and I rose so that I could greet him with a wai. But to my surprise, he stuck out his hand to shake mine instead and I thought, “He’s crossing the cultural divide first.” But as he shook my hand he said, “How old are you?” In US terms, this is a pretty personal question and certainly not the first question you ask someone when you meet. But I had done my research (more below) and so I answered him. His next statement was “Ah, young man, young man” as it turned out that he was two years older than I.

From my research, what I also understood about the wai is that the younger person owes respect to the older person so the younger person is supposed to bow deeper to keep your head lower than your elder’s. Since we were close in age he did not know how to properly wai, so instead he shook my hand and asked my age so that he knew how we were supposed to relate. So many aspects of culture in a simple greeting!

A final example – in Ghana, instead of greeting the senior person first, the custom is to start on the right and then move down the line. The purpose of this is that as both of you have your hands extended to shake, you are each approaching the other with your palm first. Otherwise if you are moving to your right, the back of your right hand is aligned with the back of the other person’s hand and one of you needs to move their hand out of the way before you can touch palms. So even a “simple” handshake may have other cultural aspects to it.

Common phrases

Even if you do not speak the language, knowing just few phrases can be very helpful and will show that you care about the other person’s culture. The phrases can vary a little from place to place, but often they include the equivalent of “good morning” and “thank you” that we use so often in the US. Here are a few that I learned over the years.

Brazil – “Bom dia” is the Portuguese equivalent of “good morning” (literally it means “good day”) and is used even with perfect strangers. “Obrigado” is Portuguese for “thank you”, although in Sao Paulo, it is almost always abbreviated as “Brigat”.

Thailand – “Suwadee” is their way of saying “hello”, although it is followed by either “khrap” or “kha” depending on whether you are male or female (note that it changes based on the gender of the speaker, not of the listener). “Kop kun” is “thank you”. [Since this is not a Thai lesson, I’m not going to worry about the tonal system here, but that is another cultural issue is how to use/understand tones.]

China – Chinese is another tonal language, but again I’m not going to get into that here. “Ni hao” is “hello”. “Xia xia” is “thank you”.

Conclusion

The key in all these areas (and many more) is to show the people in that culture that you care enough about them to want to do things in a way that is appropriate to them. Because culture is so complicated, you will certainly make mistakes – I know that I’ve made many, some that I am aware of and others that I’m unaware of. But by showing that you care in a few simple ways, people will accept you in spite of your mistakes.

A final comment from my good friend, Jon Hackett, who has lived in a number of countries (Germany, South Korea, Georgia, Vanuatu) -- Bingo! The only thing I would add is to watch what local people do, if they're not doing it, you probably shouldn't be either. This isn't just a cultural tip either. If local people aren't drinking the water, there's probably a good reason. (Price of bottled water is also a great indicator. The cheaper it is, the more likely you shouldn't be drinking from the tap....)