Communication is important when traveling most important while abroad. It is at someone else’s discretion whether or not you figure out where you are going, especially when you didn’t bother to pick up a translation book or figure out where you were going before you got there. The only way to receive help is by communication and even then it is difficult because you have submerged yourself within other cultures.
I have been fortunate enough to travel around to several countries of the world. One thing that always seems to be “the same” is the difference in every country. Not one single country in this world is the same, though they may have similarities. They all have their own social norms, rules and features that make them unique. Some have different languages, some have different forms of writing, others with unique cuisines and some similar to each other. But one thing that remains the same is that we all try to communicate with each other regardless of how it is done. A simple smile and wave can mean so many different things. We call this Intercultural Communication. Intercultural Communication is defined as a process whereby individuals from different cultural backgrounds attempt to share meanings. (Moran, Abrasion, & Moran, 2014)
A great example of this for me would be when I was in Athens, Greece. We were completely lost and had no clue how to get from one place to another without the help of our GPS. The only issue with that was that we didn’t have a GPS because we didn’t have cell service. In Greece not only is their language different but so is their wording. Their letters are more or less symbols to non-Greeks like myself and it can be so stressful to not understand anything around you. It leaves a sense of discomfort that can’t be explained by those that have never submerged themselves whole-heartedly into a different culture.
This is where the beauty of intercultural communication came in. Not only were we living in the fear of the unknown but we were also just lost. Nonverbal communication is mentioned in the text as 80 to 90 percent of communication between two people. This is what we used everyday. Even though we couldn’t understand what they were saying, when we communicated on a level that didn’t involve speaking, it worked. Whether it was based on pointing, motioning, translating on a cell phone or saying one single word we both know, we could still communicate and this was a blessing to us.
Sometimes it may not have been the best communication possible between two people though. I asked someone how to get to the Parthenon after we had left the Acropolis and we ended up in a shady part of town. Unfortunately for me it was poor judgement and bad communication with my own map reading knowledge because the Parthenon was right beside of the Acropolis.
Don’t get me wrong though, Athens is a beautiful place and everyone should make time to go and visit. Just make sure you have a GPS to get from place to place! 🙂 Here is a few pictures that I took during my time in Athens to show you why you will love it!
References:
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2013). Chapter 2. In Managing cultural differences (9th ed., pp. 34-67). London: Routledge.
Sven Frisell says
I really enjoyed your point about how different things can be from country to country. Although I am a born New Yorker, and identify as an American my family is from Sweden, and my mother taught me Swedish before I went to kindergarten and learned English. She did this because it is much easier to know Swedish and learn English then the other way around. Swedish is a difficult language to master, yet there are very few words in Swedish in comparison to English.
Here is a fun clip from YouTube of a Swede who interviews a Greek woman and then they try to repeat a sentence in each others language. I think Greek may be harder than Swedish because she is definitely better at Swedish then he is at Greek.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afjsSjea8FA
Your post made me think of different countries I have traveled to and how the languages can pose a challenges, but also be a source of great humor. Anyone who has heard Dutch for example would marvel at how they are able to produce words seemingly from the back of their throat, in fact a joke I often hear in other European countries is that Dutch is not a language it is a throat disease! Another joke I have heard is that one should tell the people in ones life that one loves them, because life is short, but yell it at them in German because life is also confusing and scary!
A great example of how scary German can sound is found in this clip comparing different words from different languages, also very funny I think:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41lZmGcRWHU
Granted this is all a bit of an exaggeration. Those of us who wonder what English speakers sound like to non-English speakers might be amused by this clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJXgox_fl3E
Finally a Japanese speaker who has learned English asks some very interesting questions form and American and an English woman highlighting how very confusing things can be in our own language, let alone when you have to translate from a totally foreign language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gpjrais-Ik
Have a wonderful week! Sven