With people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, it’s only too clear that there will be differences. First of all, in the languages we grew up with and learned to speak; what subjects are considered topics for everyday speech, and which are rather sensitive; to what extent the communication is meant to support a social relationship or to be just the facts.

Intercultural communication has come to be of ever greater importance. Some people marry between cultures; some do international business; most come into some contact with people from other backgrounds. Maybe it has been given too much importance.

There are obvious blunders, areas of cultural sensitivity which one should know about. Most issues, however, are not all that sensitive. We may have misunderstandings, and more easily so when what we consider normal is different. Still, the differences between cultures hide both the variability within each and every culture, and the misunderstandings that can occur when people are supposed to understand each other anyways, coming from similar backgrounds, making them all the less aware and careful.

The trouble is that intercultural communication training – at least the kind you get from books and lectures – means only too well… Many times, it teaches all too many small things.
Knowing not to stick your chopsticks into the rice isn’t going to help you much in China when you find that people actually do, and don’t care. Or maybe they don’t, because they stick them in sideways, not truly upright. Knowing that an East Asian may not want to directly say “no” could be helpful, but when it makes you see every “I’ll think about it” as a “no,” it’s taking you too far.

The situation at hand is the important thing to consider: it is not helpful to communication not to know anything about the likelihood that a person from a different background will react differently to what one is used to. The things which are noticeable and noticed are less likely to be the problems, however. The trouble are the small things which go unnoticed except as a nagging issue, where both don’t know why the other is acting the way s/he is, but both are doing things only “the normal way.”

Intercultural communication, in most situations which truly matter, is direct communication between persons.

Listening, getting to know one’s opposite, as an individual person and not a representative of a culture, is one of the things that count most. The diversity between people, within culture, is always greater than the diversity between cultures. We are human beings, not machines, after all. Yet, we tend to act just the way we learnt to act, as if on-program – and when something outside the normal program happens, we react defensively.

Thus, maybe the most overlooked aspect of intercultural communication is the person in the mirror: oneself.

Many of the misunderstandings arise from the simple problem that we learn most about the other culture, what people of that do – but not always so much of what our own preconceptions are, let alone how to deal with them.

“Cultural intelligence” – like in David Livermore’s Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The New Secret to Success – goes there, focusing on the person in question and his/her psychological faculties. Training for these may be harder than simply reading some books about the wondrous ways in which those strange others from exotic lands talk and act, but more of a journey of self-discovery. It will also prepare you better to actually listen to what the other is communicating, and where you are reacting in ways that may not be appropriate for the new context you find yourself in.

So, what does it take to feel at home; does it make any sense for me to be writing a blog entitled “at home in China”? (I realize one issue with the latter is that I haven’t been the most prolific writer; it’s my unmade new year’s resolution to write regularly.)

Let’s get to two quotidian, and at the same time central, issues first: language and food.

Chances are, when you go to a foreign country, you are and feel like an adult, but you are also rather like a small child. After all, you can’t talk yet. Even having studied the language, you talk differently, in ways that are not quite conventional and probably don’t (immediately) understand all that much. In China, in particular, there are different regional variations of the Chinese language, and even more dialects. Of course, one can still live comfortably in many places, knowing just the basics – if that. Thinking of deeper issues, however, the importance of language returns with a vengeance.

In my case, being here as German teacher, there is way too much contact with languages I already know, and far too little need to go beyond the bare essentials of Chinese. I am working on it, and noticing more and more just how appropriate the Chinese way of learning (which seems to be one of the main impediments to foreign language studies in China) is to the study of the Chinese language. There is a very strong need to sit down and practice writing, review and practice by reciting, go on – and review, then repeat…

The other major issue one encounters more than once-a-day is, of course, food. There is no coming home in a different place if it is not accompanied (or, more likely, preceded) by a liking for the food. In a place like China, this can be particularly striking.

Much non-Chinese food is hard to come by outside of the bigger cities in China, and when it can be found, it’s very expensive in comparison to normal food.

Tastes are also, of course, noticeably different; Chinese sweets are oftentimes decidedly not-sweet to the European palate, meats on the market are oftentimes so fresh, they could still run (or fly, or jump, or swim) away, and people actually like to see that meat is not grown in a vat – so, of course there are bones (and fish heads, and chicken feet).
Meat is also a more-expensive ingredient, and therefore oftentimes used as more of a spice, cut very small, in as many dishes as possible. The importance is best illustrated by the variety of fake meat dishes one often finds around Buddhist temples. No meat in them, but at least the taste of it – surely, you wouldn’t want to do without that, would you?

Then, there is the issue of the rather peculiar tastes and things one may encounter. Hunan’s chile pepper-laden dishes are not a problem for me, they are a reason I’m here; but, of course, not everyone would concur. At the beginning of my time here, I was decidedly not fond of chou doufu (“stinky tofu”). To the uninitiated, it’s a great dieting method: sniff, and you don’t feel hungry anymore. Except, I recently noticed my mouth watering upon a waft of freshly frying chou doufu…

Lastly (at least for now), there is the matter of conditions and orientations: Speaking as an ecologist and anthropologist, this is particularly fun for it is, in a way, a matter of environment and adaptation; the bread and butter of my disciplines.

As for environment/conditions: living in China makes it obvious that China is, in most respects, still a developing country. Most of the time, the accusations which are leveled at the country don’t play much of a role. Youtube and Facebook are blocked, but basically all news sites can be accessed; you have a one-party government, but usually what counts is that the situation is stable. Still, it is cold now, and of course there is no heating, basically no insulation to the houses; electricity sometimes gives out, and so on…

Not least, the country’s opening has not been far enough back for foreigners to have become a truly normal sight. Thus, and also given that further socio-cultural aspects make for a society that manages to be rather closed and over-accommodating at the same time, one is not usually integrated too well.
Still, it is possible to work with cultural competence, and be made to feel very well at home. The language, of course, is a major influence in this regard.

Personal orientations, in the end, play at least as much of a role as the host societies’ openness: Some (many, actually) expats apparently come to China for the adventure, feel quite at home in the bars, and think they have experienced China; some (maybe) want to be accepted and treated as absolute equals, without any cross looks and comments about the “laowai.”

My personal attitude, maybe due to personal factors, definitely also a side-effect of my professional training, is that there needs to be a second socialization into a host culture, and that – as long as it is open enough for that – it is always possible to reach a point where one is culturally competent enough to be a functioning member of that society. So far, I’m definitely just at the point of being able to take (most) things as they are, go on, and feel at home notwithstanding the downsides and paradoxa there are.

On the occasion of the “China and Global Climate Change” conference I’m participating in, at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, today and tomorrow – and it even made it into their “Top Stories” links…

Full text below the fold:

China has become strong enough to surpass Germany as the third-largest national economy. Even suffering from the global recession, China’s economy is still growing. One has to have the greatest respect for the achievements of the last 30 years. Yet, the challenges ahead are going to be tougher still – measures against climate change seem to threaten the recovery and further progress, but climate change is threatening all prior gains. So, the talks on the road to a successor treaty to the Kyoto protocol are hard.

Chinese politicians, very rightly, point out that the West tends to measure with a double standard.

Industrialized countries’ affluence was built on cheap oil. Their development caused by far the largest share of the emissions that are now recognized as problematic. This is conveniently overlooked in arguing that all countries now need to reduce future emissions.

Industrialized countries tend to celebrate their emissions reductions and criticize China’s rising emissions. A share of these reductions was not really achieved, however, but only “outsourced” to China when moving manufacturing here. Now, conveniently, these emissions are China’s problem.

China’s rise to the third-largest economy – and the largest emitter of CO2 – is taken to imply that the country has an obligation to reduce its emissions. It is less popular to look at GDP and emissions per capita, which puts the issue into a very different perspective. China, if compared by population size, still has low productivity, low material affluence, and low emissions. Industrialized countries, meanwhile, want to see and portray themselves as exemplary for their highly developed way of life. The resources used and emissions generated are so large, however, that such a lifestyle must be changed, and must not be the example for others to follow. In this regard, all countries are developing countries; change may even be harder for industrialized countries because it appears to mean giving up some of their affluence.

At present, all attention is on the new treaty. It is understandable that China, where economic development has brought millions out of poverty, is very concerned about its economic effects. Even the US and Europe, although in a very different position, are not changing as dramatically as would befit their status. China, although looking for its own ways, is so far following a Western model of development only too well, although the problems that this creates – even without counting the effects climate change could very well cause – are clear. Thus, all the mutual criticism, no matter how justified, is of little use when the whole world needs to change toward sustainability. Thus, the focus on emissions reductions is short-sighted. In fact, what we need to work toward are economies and ways of life that function better, satisfy human needs and protect our environment.

The challenge of a change toward sustainability, in the end, may pose a peculiar opportunity for China: looking over the unfairness of some of the arguments, China could show that it has not only been gaining power, but aims for greatness as it develops toward sustainability.

China has a chance to improve its environmental situation as it gets better at serving its citizens, and to develop its economy toward alternative energy and products designed to satisfy human needs while having as little negative effect on the environment as possible.

As it does this, it can put other countries to shame (which would certainly get them working on environmental improvements, too).

The expenses necessary to develop alternative energies that are focused more on quality and sustainability rather than headlong growth are great, but given China’s commitment to stimulus spending, it is not impossible.

It would be a good investment in the future.