Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 11 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 23 years, 5 months ago by
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- To people of varying backgrounds: What's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you when interacting with someone of a different language/culture?
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Name : xuersn, Gender : F, Race : Asian, City : Shanghai, State : n/ Country : China, Occupation : teacher, Education level : 4 Years of College,I am originally from England and was studying in Canada as an exchange student when I was in secondary school. As I was heading off to bed one night, I asked the male head of the host family if he would be so kind as to 'knock me up in the morning,' which to a Brit means 'wake me up.' After all the laughter died down, I was let in on what that particular phrase means in North America.User Detail :
Name : Denise, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 29, City : London, State : NA Country : Canada, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper class,Twenty years ago in college I had a Jewish roommate. He invited me to his younger brother's Bar Mitzvah. His family practiced Orthodox Judiasm. I stayed at his house the night before, and at dinner with his family his mother asked me what I wanted to drink. I casually answered 'milk.' This provoked awkward silence, then snickering by my roommate, who informed me of the Jewish prohibition of drinking milk with the same dishes as one has the main meal. Hey, ignorant white Methodist farm boy that I was, who'd of thought it!User Detail :
Name : Steve27820, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 44, City : Houston, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : Corporate Cubicle Kind of Guy, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,Teaching students from Asia in Australia made me realize what a double-bind is. I was explaining that in an examination I needed students to use their knowledge gained from the subject, and to take the unknown situation posed in the exam and use their own knowledge as well to create a coherent, well-explained strategy. The Asian students pleaded with me to tell them what they needed to answer. I explained that Western education required students to build on the knowledge offered in the subject, even to build a case against it. I realized they felt bound to believe me in a Confucian sense. But I was asking them to disagree with me, and justify it!User Detail :
Name : Kent, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Episcopalian, Age : 57, City : Melbourne, State : NA Country : Australia, Occupation : Consultant, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,The first time I had the opertunity to meet a lot of people from other countries was at a youth diversity conference. Since Ireland has almost no ethnic minority groups, I was rather naive. I was happily running around asking people where they were from and how to say 'hello' in their language. Approaching an Asian woman, I asked where she was from, and got the reply 'Sweden.' I burst out laughing and said, 'Hehehe, nice one, yeah! So ... where ARE you from?' It didn't occur to me that there are often differences between nationality and ethnicity... DOH!!! Although now we have been a couple for five years, so I think she forgave me...User Detail :
Name : Iteki, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Lesbian, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Recovering Catholic, Age : 25, City : Stockholm (Via Dublin), State : NA Country : Sweden, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,We host exchange students. This is really their moment. Most are European and have learned British English. Several years ago, one young man went to school, leaned over in class and asked the young lady next to him if he could borrow her 'rubber.' To him, in British, he was asking for an eraser. In American (for those unfamiliar with our slang), a rubber is a male's device for preventing pregnancy. Definitely an embarrassing moment. From now on, I try and remember to warn our students NOT to do that!User Detail :
Name : Beth, Gender : F, Age : 45, City : Wamego, State : KS Country : United States,That would have to be the time I tried to impress a Jewish girl I liked with my awareness of her special holidays, by wishing her a very happy Yom Kippur.User Detail :
Name : Daniel27210, Gender : M, City : Ann Arbor, State : MI Country : United States,There is a German-speaking student who is studying with me (in a French-speaking university). He once went to the pictures and learned there that 'baiser' (= to make love with someone, in informal language) did not have the same meaning as 'embrasser' (= to kiss). He felt embarrassed because he had always thought both meant the same thing and had perhaps use 'baiser' in the wrong sense.User Detail :
Name : Pascaline D., Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 18, City : Namur, State : n/ Country : Belgium, Occupation : student,When I went to Ireland three years ago, I was with some friends at school and was talking about a boy, and I wanted to say 'he is fat,' but I said 'he is dick' (dik means fat in Dutch).User Detail :
Name : Ghislain-B21683, City : Namur, State : NA Country : Belgium,I once spent six weeks working in Chinju, South Korea. You have to understand that Chinju is not a very cosmopolitan place; it's a reasonably big city, but it is two hours by car from Pusan and eight from Seoul, so nearly all the native population has never had contact with a non-Korean. Very often, small children would see me and immediately run away, screaming, hide behind something and watch me pass. Someone told me that I was the first 'round-eye' they had ever seen. Took a while to get used to it.User Detail :
Name : Jesse-N30782, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 41, City : Herzliya, State : NA Country : Israel, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,When I first phoned the Dutch mother of my girlfriend, she asked me if I was a serious guy and if it was "true love" with her daughter. I answered that I was indeed serious and that my girlfriend was 'mijn eerste echte geliefde,' which means 'she is my first true mistress.' Of course my real intention was to say she is my first love...User Detail :
Name : Vincent, Gender : M, City : Namur, State : NA Country : Belgium,I work with Asian students at a large public university in the United States, and I found your answer very interesting. I wonder if I could ask your opinion: I advise students about various matters. Several times, Asian students have come to me with a problem, but not wanting to 'upset' people. Apparently I'm not giving them advice they can use, because they frequently leave my office unhappy and as confused as they did when they arrived. I don't have this problem with students from other cultures. The closest I have come to understanding their attitude toward problems is that once, when a student had to make a choice, I went over her options with her. She kept being concerned she would not be doing the right thing. Finally, I told her that neither choice was wrong, it was just a matter of picking the best one for her - but either choice would be acceptable. Well, it was like the sun came out and lit up her face - the stress completely drained away, and she said she'd think it over and let me know her choice. Is a huge deciding factor in Asian choices whether or not they are doing the 'right' thing - which is not necessarily the 'right thing for the student'? Do you have any insight into this situation? I would appreciate your thoughts.User Detail :
Name : Nancy, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Episcopalian, Age : 35, City : Atlanta, State : GA Country : United States, Occupation : education, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,
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