(adapted from All Shores Consulting's Facebook and Instagram pages published on 1/16/22)
Driving on the opposite side of the road. Eating with your hands instead of using silverware. Walking or using public transportation to get from one place to another. Bowing when greeting someone instead of giving a handshake. Not tipping your server when going out to eat. Not making eye contact with someone of the opposite gender.
These are all various cultural differences seen and experienced between countries.
Some cultural differences are shocking because they are SO different. Others are only subtly different.
My first international experience was to England with my dad when I was 11 years old. We worked and stayed with a family of American international workers who had lived in England for several years. I remember riding in a vehicle with their daughters of similar age where I told one of them that I liked her ‘pants’. Not knowing the difference in terminology, where ‘pants’ is used to refer to underwear in England, my innocent adolescent self just wanted to share that I liked the ‘trousers’ she was wearing. Needless to say the young girl was mortified that I would say that about her underwear and I was horribly embarrassed that I had said something I had not intended.
Whether funny or embarrassing, if we interact with people from another culture, there will be mistakes and misunderstandings. Ultimately though these provide lessons we can learn from.
Many years later, I remember seeing people in Czech Republic use their silverware differently than what I was used to growing up in the United States. Instead of being dictated by one’s dominant hand, everyone uses their left hand to hold their fork and their right hand to hold and use their knife. This allows them to not have to put down their knife and switch hands to then pick up and use their fork. The knife is used to help shovel the food onto the fork while never having to put down their silverware. I thought this was genius! It was a subtle difference from how I had always used my fork and knife, but it was significant enough that I adopted this method and still use it to this day…almost 20 years later.
Something I’ve challenged the international workers I’ve worked with throughout the years is that cultural differences should not be looked at as bad or wrong…they should be looked at as simply being different. They take some getting used to. Some must be adopted much quicker than others due to their importance within the culture, but ultimately they can all take time.
What about you? What are cultural differences you’ve experienced? Was it something that was shockingly different or was it more subtle and it took a bit more time to realize the difference? Was it a funny experience? Or like mine, was it more embarrassing?
It’s fun to learn with/from each other, so please share. You never know, someone may have a similar experience!
Traver Butcher
CEO/All Shores Consulting
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