Cultural Communication

               I do find myself communicating with people from different groups and cultures. I remember my trip to Europe back in 08, it was interesting because I did a homestay in Germany. The children could speak English but the parents couldn’t. The parents were mostly translated for me in conversations and they also had an American BBQ for me with cupcakes with American flags on them. One morning, the daughters were gone and the parents were downstairs. I needed help putting their sofa bed back together. I pretty much had to play charades to get them to understand me. Before things got worse in communication, the mother grabbed my hand and took me upstairs and allowed me to guide her to the problem. When she fixed the sofa bed, I replied “danke”. She smiled and went back downstairs. That was the most interesting communication situation I have ever had when dealing with different cultures and groups.

               The three strategies that can help in my communication effectively would be

·        To not judge others different from me to gain a deeper understanding than first impressions allow.

·        Accept the fact that I don’t know everything (completely embarrassed for not knowing a lot of German)

·        Allow the person of different culture to immerse me into their own culture. I learned to do that in my homestay and I learned a lot from the Germans. Despite the fact that I did not know a lot of German, they still accepted me into their home and made sure I had the best time ever!

Me and the German sisters (Jessi & Nikki)