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Vol/52 No/1 2013 FEBRUARY/MARCH The Linguist 25 FEATURES Dress, stress, address In a European country I deal with, 'urgent' seems to have a different meaning. In the UK it means 'I expect it right now'; over there it means 'when you're ready'. The 'urgent and important' criteria also seem to be perceived differently. They can't understand why everything in the UK is so urgent. On the other hand, when they are chasing feedback, we get chaser emails every other day. The typical forms of address are formal, even among colleagues, but at the same time, it's fine to wear jeans at work – with a tie if meeting customers. Members of the senior management team address overseas colleagues by their first names but expect to be addressed formally themselves. Taking four weeks' holiday in the summer is customary, and they think we're mad for stressing when we're about to take a week off, yet they balk at the UK ten-day Christmas shutdown. They think we're crazy for putting up with so much freight on our roads. Their motorways are empty as they send most of it by rail. They can't understand why we don't spend all weekend taking healthy walking or cycling exercise. They have a beautiful country and are lovely people. We may be mad, but it's a pleasure to work with them. BPG Committee member Nordic countries, on the whole, favour a factual, no-nonsense approach. For them, the British can come across as too indirect and wordy. By contrast, the Japanese will not necessarily tell you directly if something is amiss. They will remain polite and respectful, and a Westerner can miss the seriousness of the undertones in their communication. It may be months later before the project manager realises that there is some 'non-cooperative cooperation' going on. Potential flashpoints If you are the main contact between different nationalities, you get used to being a cultural bridge. You need to be aware of potential flashpoints. Some nationalities, for historical reasons or due to differences in approach, may not work well together. The unease between China and Japan is one such example. As project manager, you need to remain neutral and stay calm. The natural British tendency to resort to humour in a difficult situation may not go down well with other nationalities. It can give a false impression of flippancy and a lack of professionalism. You may need to adjust the directness or indirectness of your management style to something that is more familiar and acceptable to the other culture. I have learnt that it is as important to be aware of your own innate characteristics and the effect they might have on other nationalities, as it is to be aware of the differences in other nationalities. My first 'culture shock' outside Europe occurred when I was waiting for flights to Algeria, and my appreciation of orderly queues was confronted by a survival-of-the-fittest scrum. However, I realised that this said more about how British I am than anything about the Algerians. When working for an American client, the manager emptied a bag of M&Ms on to the Working in East Asia In a Japanese company I worked for in Hong Kong, the vertical nature of Japanese society was reflected in the human relations, behaviours and languages. The strong sense of – and emphasis on – hierarchy and seniority was explicitly expressed through languages and manners. Junior staff were supposed to use honorific words when talking to senior staff, while managers would deliberately talk to their direct subordinates in an authoritative, top-down manner. Juniors were supposed to bow deeper than their seniors and to pour wine to them first in order to indicate the vertical management structure in a clear and explicit manner. Although the stress on authority, hierarchy, seniority, status and respect of elders are common cultural characteristics of East Asian societies, according to my experiences, the Japanese system is more vertical, and the hierarchy is more explicitly expressed than in the Chinese system. Dr Ivan Hon MCIL table to illustrate a point, and the multi- coloured hailstorm spread noisily across the table in a manner that recalled to my mind the stereotype of Americans as being 'gung ho'. She was apologetic. The effect had been more dramatic on the heavily polished table than she had intended, and I became conscious of my British instinct to recoil at such a scene. Despite the need to be aware of cultural practice and instincts, it is important not to generalise. We are all individuals and like to be heard and treated with respect. Working on cross-cultural projects can be intensely humbling and enriching experiences. Offence can easily be caused by something you take as a given. Yet other cultures often offer refreshing ideas and approaches. Your eyes open in a way that would never have occurred if you had stayed within your own country. Karen Netto MCIL Miscommunication My first encounter with Korea came when I was Lead Engineer working for GEC on a project for the Korean Navy and had to visit the Hyundai shipyard in Ulsan with a colleague. Our Korean Agent was to meet us at Seoul International Airport to take us to the Domestic Airport. We walked up and down past several dozen 'meeters and greeters', looking for a sign saying 'GEC', one of our names or something relevant to us. We waited until we were left standing on our own, lost. Somehow we made it to Ulsan and to the Friendly Diamond Hotel. My colleague phoned our elusive agent to ask why he was not at the airport. He was, he explained and just could not understand how we missed him. He was waiting there with a large board displaying the single word 'Lufthansa'. How stupid of us! The next day, we were up early as our first meeting was arranged for 9am. We soon found that 'meeting times' were the times that we were supposed to arrive, not the time that meetings were scheduled to start. In fact, a 9am meeting could start at 10.30am or whenever they felt like turning up. Finishing the meeting early the next day was quite normal. The record was about 2.30am – it would have gone on longer if I had not walked out. Paul Shipman MCIL It can come as a shock. However, once the problem has been addressed to their satisfaction, the working relationship can move to a new level of mutual respect.