Evaluating My Intercultural Competence
It is very important in this
cosmopolitan world to understand the culture and background of people with whom
we are interacting. Culture is something that influences a person’s decisions
and traits. In this blog I will be reflecting on my intercultural knowledge and
communication.
My stay in 3 different places in
India and then in Singapore has made me conscious of my own culture and how it
differs from other cultures. This experience has made it easy for me to work in
teams that have people from diverse cultures. However, after the class on
inter-cultural communication, I realised that though we were comfortable
working together we did not discuss much about our own cultures. Despite
recognising the existence of different cultures most of the time we assume
things based on the limited knowledge that we have about that culture.
However, NUS has been crucial in
increasing my knowledge about various cultures and people in Singapore through
events such as “Bits&Bytes” and modules like Singapore Studies. In fact,
the Singapore Studies module which I took last semester has improved my
understanding of how various cultures co-exist in Singapore. These things
reinforce the concept that for any society with cultural differences to coexist,
all cultures must be recognised, respected and the interest of one culture
should not interfere with other cultures. I am able to see this both in the
Singapore and the India’s context where the government’s policies and laws are
framed with this cultural diversity in mind.
I learnt in the class other day
that I was not aware of some festivals that were being celebrated by different communities.
I believe that this ignorance was because I had not discussed much about
culture with people though we discuss other day to day things. However, this
does not mean that I was never curious or open about others cultures. I have
tried to find out about other cultures, but most of the times the sources were
from the internet and not the people from that culture.
The class on intercultural communication
has enabled me to realize that I should try to find out about the cultures of
other people and should not wait for people to talk about their culture. In
fact, I understand that I can learn about a person by learning his/her culture
as traits of a person are determined by the culture from which they come from.
I completely agree with what you said in the last paragraph about yourself taking the first step to get to know about others' cultures. I think most of us just wait for the knowledge to somehow come to us, but unless we proactively seek this knowledge, it wont come our way.
ReplyDeleteHi Dinesh
ReplyDeleteIt is good that the lesson on intercultural communication has made you more aware of the fact that you should get to know more about other cultures. You have mentioned a key point by saying that you should proactively try and learn about new cultures yourself, as it we normally don't care as much about culture that are alien to us. Unless we go and willingly make an effort to know more, we will continue remaining oblivious of the different cultures around us, which is a real shame.
You have also correctly mentioned NUS' role in trying to achieve greater intercultural exchange. Projects for modules and events like 'Bits&Bytes' really do go a long way, and I we should be very grateful to the university for providing us such communication opportunities.
I wish you the best of luck in trying to improve your intercultural competence, and hope that you learn a lot from other cultures.
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ReplyDeleteHi Dinesh
ReplyDeleteI think you are fortunate enough to have been in different parts, which would have really helped you when to co-exist with people from other cultures peacefully.
Also you have rightly pointed out the role of NUS in understanding other cultures as well. Even I feel the various initiatives taken by NUS has really helped me as well in improving my inter-cultural knowledge.
The main thing that I like about this blog is that, you have realized the importance of taking the initiative to learn about other cultures. It is very much true that, if we want to learn about different cultures, it is us who have to take the first step instead of waiting for the other person.
It's a lifelong process actually- learning about other people. Most of the time we make assumptions as we go along and then with each contact with a person of a particular culture we refine those assumptions/ conclusions.
ReplyDeleteHello, I really appreciate the events held to educate and exhibit the diversity of cultures. I believe that this is a wonderful opportunity for people to experience different cultures and unite as well.
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