6.4 Activities and Applications

From theory to practice…

Here are some considerations in respect to communication in different environmental and professional contexts:

  • Adjust your language and communication style to the environment in which you are located. In familiar settings, this is likely something you do automatically – speaking informally with friends over lunch, while using a more formal style in responding to a professor in the classroom. However, in unfamiliar settings, this may not come as easily. Heightened cultural sensitivity is especially needed in sites of significant cultural importance – places of worship, monuments. Speaking loud in a hallowed space, like the top of a holy mountain is inappropriate, as is snapping selfies of yourself naked.
  • Beware of pragmatic transfer in speaking in formal settings. In most business and professional situations in many parts of the world, a more formal language register is expected. This means not only using formal modes of address and typical politeness formulas, but also watching out, if you are not speaking your native language, for keeping the formulation of “speech acts” (like greetings or leave-taking) in line with cultural norms. We often will instinctively translate word for word set phrases we use all the time, but that can sometimes cause miscommunication or awkwardness.

 

For discussion and reflection…

 

  1. Time and Speed in Cultural Contexts
    After watching Honoré’s “In praise of slowness” and Zimbardo’s “Psychology of time“…What is your assessment of the concepts of time and speed presented in the videos? How does time effect your life (in terms of relationship building, work, school)? What do you make of the “slow” movement? Are you aware of schools or companies “slowing time” or enabling more free time? Comment on experiences you have had related to concepts/traditions of space and time across cultures
  2. Alternative Approaches to built spaces
     After watching the videos on space and architecture byKéré, Hardy, and Phillips…:Are we victims of “groupthink” and conformity in terms of housing design? How do you assess the importance of using traditional building materials? How does living in the communities discussed in the videos effect the way of life and cultural values and behaviors? How do you think the design of the 2 schools discussed, the “Green School” in Bali and the Gando school in Burkina Faso may effect learning experiences of students? What are your experiences, if any, with cultures having different kinds of living arrangements, housing, bathroom cultures?
  3. International Businesses

    Comment on experiences you have had related to international business, for example, different kinds of consumer practices, changes that US companies make in selling abroad(i.e., McDonalds, Wal-Mart)

Share This Book