Travels in the Riel World

Language is of course one of the most common obstacles to communication across cultures.  It often surprises us, though, when these obstacles crop up even among individuals who speak the same language, albeit in different countries.  There is a popular quote attributed to George Bernard Shaw about England and America being “two countries separated by the same language.”

Along these lines, there is a humorous piece by Marion McKeone in the NY Times Sunday magazine about the differences between Irish and American English.  An excerpt:

Some time ago, my sister spent several months working as an au pair for a wealthy family in Denver. … Her first lesson (in American English) came on Christmas morning. The grandmother and family matriarch handed her an envelope … My sister, who was making the standard $50-a-week au pair’s pittance, opened the envelope and found it thick with $20 bills. Fifty of them, to be precise. “Oh, no,” she protested. “I can’t accept this. No. No, really. It’s far too generous.”

Grandma looked at her quizzically. “If you say so,” she responded. Without further ado, she repossessed the envelope, removed a single $20 bill and handed it to her instead. “Is this about right?” she asked.

Helene swallowed her bile, bit her tongue and nodded mutely as she uttered silent curses. She had been speaking Irish, and Grandma had been speaking American. My sister’s refusal of the money was meant to convey her gratitude and acceptance of the gift. You might think a simple “Thank you” would have done the job a lot more efficiently. But we Irish just can’t say yes. Or no. It’s not in our genes. …

For Americans, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The idea is to get the point across, not fashion it into a pair of earrings. But we Irish are more interested in the journey than the destination …

Since culture influences the very way we perceive the world, it’s natural that it should also affect the way in which video games are designed and constructed in different countries.  Aleks Krotoski of gamesblog (via Cross Cultural News) examines this topic on her site and looks at some of the differences between Western and Asian video games.

One obvious difference is in the types of characters and situations.  She uses a wikipedia entry as a reference to determine that:

Western RPGs are set in a fayirie fantaysie type of environment, with bawdy barmaids and lots of rats. They tend to be dark, brooding, and the action often takes place in a location where at least one of the main characters has to be English. Tolkien-obsessed. …

Far Eastern RPGs, on the other hand, are often set in colourful spaces which feature a mix of traditional “Eastern history and mythology”. They also take manga and other highly stylised content as their inspiration, whereas we take elves, warriors, etc.

Even more interesting, I think, are some of the differences that are based on our cultural perceptions of the world.  Her sources here include a blog entry from Terra Nova and research done by Prof. Richard Nisbett of the University of Michigan.  Krotoski writes:

…there’s some evidence to suggest that people from the West and people from the East differ on more than game content; we also differ on what we pay attention to. This may have implications for the types of games we each prefer. (Terra Nova) eloquently explains findings of a study by Prof Richard Nisbett:

“One of conclusions of Nisbett’s work is that given an image a Westerner will tend to focus on prominent details where as someone from Asia will take in the images as a whole and the relationship between things - they tend to give a more overall, complete account of a scene.” …

“Another point that Nisbett makes is that Westerners tend to assume linearity but Asians assume circularity. For example he gave in a recent interview was a stable set of circumstances a Westerner will tend to think that this signified a trend and that things will continue in the same fashion but an Asian will tend to think that it is indicative of the potential for change and ultimate return to some pre-existing state.”

Cross-cultural specialists regularly note that Westerners view things according to their component parts and see time in a linear fashion, whereas Asians see the world holistically and view history as being more circular.  So it shouldn’t be a surprise to see these perceptions also show up in video games.  One more indication of the importance of culture in understanding the world.

Ever wondered what is was like to be a member of the Foreign Service and represent your country in an embassy or consulate abroad?  NPR just did a two-part series on “Life in the Foreign Service,” including the increasing dangers of assignments in such places as Iraq or Sudan.  There are of course many positive and rewarding aspects of this career, as well, and the NPR piece includes three essays on a day in the life of a diplomat, as told by individuals in Italy, Thailand and Afghanistan.

For further reading, you might check out Tales from a Small Planet, an online magazine full of stories about life abroad for members of the American expatriate and Foreign Service communities.

Anyone who is interested in knowing how culture influences the conflicts in the Middle East would enjoy an op-ed piece by John Tierney in yesterday’s New York Times .  Tierney describes the importance of honor in that region of the world and how it can affect everything from tribal and family loyalties to communication styles.

In the West we’ve redefined “honorable” as being virtuous, fair, truthful and sincere, but that’s not the traditional meaning. Honor meant simply the respect of the local “honor group” — the family, the extended clan, the tribe, the religious sect. It meant maintaining a reputation for courage and loyalty, not being charitable to enemy civilians. Telling the truth was secondary to saving face.

This “tyranny of the face” continually frustrates Westerners trying to understand the Middle East. When I interviewed villagers in Iraq, I discovered we usually had separate agendas: I wanted the facts, but the villager wanted to avoid embarrassing either of us. So he would tactfully search for the answer that would both please me and not dishonor his family.

Tierney concludes:

When you’re confronted with an honor culture like the one in the Middle East, there are two rules to keep in mind. One is that you are not going to placate the enemy with the kind of concessions that appeal to Western diplomats. …

The other rule is that you’re not going to quickly transform an honor culture. The Iraq war was predicated on the assumption that democracy would turn Iraqis into loyal citizens with new civic virtues. But for now the old loyalties to tribes and sects still matter more than any universal concept of justice. The men would rather have honor than peace.

It’s an intriguing insight into how cultural differences can affect international relations.

Many business executives still suffer “from a lack of cultural awareness,” according to a recent story in Working Knowledge, a publication of Harvard Business School.

But why is it so difficult to develop effective global managers? The answers are as complex as the world’s geographies. Each company has its own specific needs and challenges, and every country presents a unique and rapidly changing landscape in which work must be accomplished. … With the emergence of China and India as the newest and most daunting playing fields, experienced executives and thought leaders agree that softer cultural issues have become the source of notable management problems. 

“Managing in a global environment means you manage people who are separated not only by time and distance but also by cultural, social, and language differences,” says S. Devarajan, managing director of Cisco Systems Global Development Center in Bangalore, India. … “(You) need to be sensitive to and respect the cultural differences. People from different cultures tend to misunderstand each other’s behaviors or stereotype people from other countries. It is essential to recognize the discrepancies between cultures in order to work together effectively.”

The Harvard article suggests a few skill sets that global managers should have.  These include an ability to let go of a headquarters mindset and be able to adjust to new ways of working, to understand that cultural differences matter, to have an openness to new ideas, and to have a cognitive complexity that allows one ”to balance the need for consistent corporate practices with the need for regional uniqueness.”

When I was in Bali a few years ago, I had an opportunity to see firsthand the role that spirituality plays in the everyday life of Indonesians.  For many people, this spirituality goes beyond mere organized religion and extends to a strong belief in the powers of the non-physical world. Now those beliefs have become a political issue, as some Indonesians are suggesting that the country’s recent string of natural disasters may be a result of their national leaders having taken actions that angered nature.  The Christian Science Monitor explored this issue in an article today.

Shockwaves from the string of natural disasters over the past 19 months, including numerous earthquakes, two tsunamis, and an imminent volcanic eruption, have reached even Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the state palace. … The president’s political opponents, such as the well-known soothsayer Permadi, have eagerly spread the notion of a divine warning. Speaking on Metro-TV Wednesday, he warned that the president was angering nature.

According to the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), a national polling agency, the president has reason to be worried. … The survey concluded that 78.1 percent of those polled believed the disasters were a “warning from nature to Indonesia.” … “In Indonesia, people believe in the supernatural,” says Muhammad Qodary, an LSI researcher. “And the more people believe [the disasters] don’t come from scientific explanations, the more they’ll look to the supernatural.”

I just spent the past weekend at a reunion of former students and staff members from the cross-cultural educational program Up With People. It was three days of catching up with long lost friends, and as I sit here today two things in particular stand out in my mind.

One, is how interesting it is to see so many alumni who have a passion for impacting a greater world. Students who have participated in an international program such as Up With People’s (as well as others who have made the effort to travel on their own) inevitably have a deep appreciation for the world and its people.  Thus, it’s always fascinating to see what these individuals have made of their lives.  I was struck by the varied ways in which alumni have strived to make a difference, whether by volunteering in local schools and churches or by working in war-torn regions of Africa.

Second, was a comment made by the current president of Up With People, Tommy Spaulding, when he set a goal of taking each cast of students (beginning in 2007) to one developing country, in addition to their more typical travels in the industrialized world. That, I believe, is truly the future of educational exchange.

Most international student programs were born in the second half of the 20th century and were incredibly successful in bringing together young people from Europe, North America and Japan whose parents and grandparents had fought against each other in World War II.  But now it’s time for those programs to take the next step and to meet the crying need for individuals to know about and to understand the rest of the planet.

My own perspective on the world broadened considerably after traveling in recent years to such places as Kenya, Cambodia, India and Egypt. Visiting Europe is great and it’s still an important region to experience, but those who really want to know about the planet that we inhabit have to go further in their travels. 

Nicholas Kristof touched on this a few months ago in a NY Times column, when he suggested that the best educational travel experience for university students would be one that took them to the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. So kudos to Tommy Spaulding and to Up With People for wanting to expose students to the developing world.

One of the differences commonly used to differentiate between cultures is the degree of formality or informality exhibited by people in their speech, dress, etc.  There was an interesting article this week in the NY Times that discussed how an Iraqi Olympic official took on some of the informal traits of the U.S. culture during a recent exchange stint in this country - and how, in a strange twist of fate, his newfound informality may have saved his life.

Emad Nasser Hussein began dressing more casually during the three months he spent working with the U.S. Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs.  Back in Iraq, he went to work one day without a suit on, which he never would have done previously, and was in a meeting when gunmen stormed in and took numerous officials hostage.  Because he was dressed informally, though, it was assumed he was a less important employee.  As he reported:

“I was wearing a red and white T-shirt I bought in California. The gunmen just wanted the guys in suits. I guess they thought I cleaned the place.’ ”

In a recent Business Week column, Ann Mettler of The Lisbon Council suggests that Europeans need to overcome cultural obstacles to entrepreneurship if they are to reinvigorate their economies.  She writes:

… the key impediment to entrepreneurship is cultural, namely Europeans’ continued preference for economic incumbents, big brands, linear career paths, and their unforgiving attitude towards failure. Too few parents advise their children to take the risk of entrepreneurship, and instead urge them towards “safe” careers in established companies or civil service.

There are few role models to inspire our youngsters or empower people who ponder self-employment. Entrepreneurship education is in its infancy in Europe, and few organizations actively explain and defend the role of entrepreneurs.

There is an interesting op-ed piece in today’s newspaper suggesting that the U.S. needs to make more of an effort to increase tourism, not only for the economic benefits but also to boost the image of the country.  The piece refers to a recent global poll that shows favorable opinions of the U.S. dropping in countries around the world, although individuals who have had personal experience with America and Americans tend to have a higher opinion of the country.  The column was written by Jonathan Tisch of the Travel Business Roundtable and Roger Dow of the Travel Industry Association.  Here is an excerpt…

The American people make this country what it is. If there was one bright spot in the Pew study, it was that opinion of Americans as people is much higher than that of the United States as a nation.  Americans are our most powerful, but underused resource in the battle of ideas. Our challenge is to find a way to put more Americans in touch with people from other countries around the world. Travel and tourism should be part of the solution, and there is no time to waste. …

Studies consistently show that people from other countries who have visited the United States have significantly higher opinions of America and our people than those who have never been here. The opportunity to help restore America’s image through people-to-people communication is something we need to embrace.

U.S. business executives believe that a lack of cultural understanding is one of the main factors behind international outsourcing deals that fail.  That is one of the results of a recent study by Accenture, which was reported on by Business Week.

Different communication styles was identified as the key factor causing problems between onshore and offshore workers by over three-quarters (76 per cent) of the managers questioned.

Different approaches to completing tasks, different attitudes toward conflict and different decision-making styles were cited as the other main cultural factors that frequently cause upsets when managing an offshore outsourcing relationship.

There is an intriguing post on World Hum, attempting to offer a fuller perspective on life in Israel and Lebanon that goes beyond the current fighting there.  They do this by providing links to recent travel writing about the region.  It’s worth checking out.

We often say that we travel and read travel writing to discover more about the world. So this week, we turn our attention to Israel and Lebanon, where a violent conflict shows no sign of letting up. To get a different perspective, we thought we’d link to some of the best travel stories we’ve seen from Israel and Lebanon in recent years.

So many people have tried to define the difference between a “tourist” and a “traveler” that it’s now become something of a cliche.  However, the NY Times put an interesting twist on the question when they profiled travel photographer and writer Peter Guttman.  Here is Guttman’s take on the topic:

“You have to decide whether you want to be a tourist or a traveler,” said Mr. Guttman. “A tourist basically stands to the side and takes timid candids of things that they see from a distance as a shy spectator.”

“A traveler,” Mr. Guttman said, makes an effort to enter an experience, “and tries to feel all the essence and the joy and the drama of what a place has to offer.”

The story, and some of Guttman’s tips for travel photography, can be found here.  You can also check out Guttman’s website and travel photos.

Ever wanted to know what it’s like to travel in rural Africa?  Joshua Berman and his wife are in the midst of a round-the-world journey and just spent two weeks visiting villages in northeastern Ghana.  He writes about their experiences on his blog, the tranquilo traveler:

We returned to Accra last night, stiff and loopy after the 16-hour “luxury” bus ride from Tamale, and I am reeling from all that has happened in the two weeks leading up to (and including) yesterday’s long ride. From everything we saw (mud-hut compounds, maize and ground-nut fields, and leather-sewn jujus) to everyone we met (Muslims, midwives, malaria patients, village chiefs, and children) - and all the sounds, smells, and tastes in between.

In short, this trip opened my eyes to a much deeper Africa than I had yet found in our previously Accra-centric experience; and with its hot, dusty rural-ness and rich blend of West African tribes, languages, and colors, the past two weeks took Tay a decade back to her own Peace Corps days in the Gambian bush. She is ecstatic that I am finally sharing at least a few sensory nuggets of her experience (the bitter, biting taste of kola nuts, the sensation of simultaneously enthralling and frightening young children by our white-ness). Through it all, I am simply overwhelmed by yet another world that I am lucky enough to visit and to know.

Anyone who has traveled much has no doubt discovered that the best experiences on the road often result from encounters with people rather than places.  That point is emphasized again in a recent Washington Post story by travel writer Tahir Shah.  In an article about books that inspire wanderlust, Shah recounts a meeting he once had with the legendary explorer and writer Wilfred Thesiger.

As a student almost 20 years ago, I made a pilgrimage to a barren hillside in northern Kenya. It was summer, and the heat was insufferable. A herd of zebra had collapsed in the shade of a thorn tree at the base of the hill. Nearby, a Samburu warrior was standing on one foot, the other propped up against a rock, as he picked his teeth with the end of a stick. I asked him in Swahili if he knew where I could find the mzungu , the white man. He pointed to a tin-roofed adobe shack encircled by low cacti, halfway up the hill. I struggled up the slope, clambered over the thorns and rapped at the tin door. Nothing. Then, suddenly, the door was yanked open, and a tall old Englishman in tweeds lurched into its frame. That was how I first met Sir Wilfred Thesiger, the world’s most famous living explorer.

Standing there, I felt like Stanley finding Livingstone. My head was spinning because of the heat. “Do you have any water?” I asked pathetically. Thesiger peered down at me. Then he smiled. “I have just made some nice hot tea,” he said.

During the days I spent at Thesiger’s shack, he explained in a soft, aristocratic voice that we can all be explorers — that it’s a matter of enduring hardship, of observing and, most important, of seeking out people and learning from their company. Thesiger’s lesson for me, a young wannabe explorer in search of a mentor, was to search for people rather than places. Find great people, he would say, and you will find great places.

Thesiger’s most famous book is Arabian Sands, which is considered by many to be one of the best travel books ever written.  It is about the several years that he spent trekking across the desert of the Arabian peninsula and living with Bedouin tribes.  I posted a previous entry about Shah in March.  His most recent book, The Caliph’s House, is about moving to Morocco with his family and renovating a house there. 

There was a recent article on MSNBC (via entrepreneur.com) about networking around the world.  It offers a few tips on overcoming cultural differences in business.

For example, here is an excerpt on how to treat business cards in Asia:

The business card means much more in the Asian culture than it does here in America; it’s truly an extension of the individual and is treated with respect. Things like tucking it into a pocket after receiving it, writing on it, bending or folding it in any way, or even looking at it again after you’ve first accepted it and looked at it aren’t considered polite and can insult your fellow Asian networker.

And some helpful advice on dealing with personal space:

When networking and meeting others with whom you wish to pursue word-of-mouth marketing, it’s crucial to understand the subtle, unspoken dynamics of personal space in every culture. … There are three basic separations to consider when taking personal space into account. For Americans, they typically are: public space (ranges from 12 to 25 feet), social space (ranges from 4 to 10 feet), personal space (ranges from 2 to 4 feet), and intimate space (ranges out to one foot). 

In Saudi Arabia, their social space equates to our intimate space, and you might find yourself recoiling while your business associate may get the impression that you’re stand-offish. In the Netherlands, this might be reversed due to the fact that their personal space equates to our social space.

We’ve all seen photos of women in burqas, the head-to-toe pieces of fabric that women wear in public in some Islamic countries.  Now Sara Terry reports on what it’s like to view the world from inside a burqa, which she first wore as a means of gaining anonymity while walking the streets of Afghanistan.

At my request, my driver asked his wife to find a burqa for me. He delivered it early one morning, and I hurried upstairs, threw it over my head, went straight to the bathroom mirror, and made the first of several discoveries. The burqa has an oddly comforting quality at first - reminiscent of the cozy intrigue of a kid hiding in a makeshift tent under the dining room table. But it’s also hot and stuffy. It’s tricky to walk in because it allows no peripheral vision and catches on things like bushes and doorknobs.

She began taking photos with her cell phone from behind the mesh screen that covered her eyes, providing a glimpse of the world as seen by women who wear a burqa…

In the end, I made a series of photos I call “Circle Vision,” because of the way the circles in the burqa mesh screen divide up the field of vision. For me, they ultimately came to represent little intersecting boundaries that remind me of the many woven boundaries encircling the lives of Afghan women every day.

It was the briefest of encounters with their world - but an enlightening one. I saw a bit of what they see, and learned, in surprising ways, what it means to be seen inside a burqa.

It’s not always easy for a traveler to truly get off the beaten path, but Lisa Singh tried when she ventured into rural India.  She recounted her experiences for the Washington Post, although as she admitted, “finding rural paradise turned out to be not so easy.”  Southwest of Jaipur, however, she found some of what she was searching for.

Weaving through serpentine roads that overlooked green hills and homes framed by neem trees and bougainvillea bushes, we came across members of the Garasia tribe, a clan exclusive to Mewar and the neighboring state of Gujarat. With a red-turbaned groom in tow, a group of them, mostly children, walked by with steel pots of water on their heads. They’d just drawn the water from a well for planting wheat in honor of the upcoming wedding.  A woman with a huge hoop nose ring grabbed my hand and led me into the courtyard of a stone house.