Two thursdays ago I went to Ramin's intercultural class and I worked with Kayla and two of his students, Shuo and Shahd. The four of us talked about differences in our cultures and how they affect communication and relationships. Shuo is from China and Shahd is from Saudi Arabia, and while there are definitely differences in our culture, I was a little surprised at how similar all three of our cultures are. Many of our greetings and customs, if not totally the same, are very similar.
The differences I noticed did not have to do with feelings and attitudes, but specific customs. For instance, in China, when greeting an older person, they have their hand on top of the handshake, as a sign of authority and your respect to them. In Saudi Arabia, the elderly are greeted by kissing the top of their head and their hand when you shake it. In America the way you greet the elderly is a lot less structured I'd say, it definitely varies with relationship. I think that the structures of greeting in China and Saudi Arabia are great, because it reinforces a cultural idea of respect for the elderly, an ideal which is often forget in the United States.
We talked a lot about other differences, including teachers and students interact. And how not knowing these cultural differences could affect your effectiveness and respect as a teacher. It was very interesting to see the different ways respect and love are shown around the world. Because, despite the different means that we communicate these ideas, the ideas themselves are often very similar.
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