Intercultural Behaviour

It is often said that in a multi-cultural society like Singapore, that tolerance for another race’s practices and approach towards life in general is positively medium to high. This could be explained by the fact that most Singaporeans in the current generation of youth and the generation before, were born into a multi-racial, inter-cultural environment, thus making it a norm to live amongst a diverse range of cultural scenes.

It is interesting to note that even though there are many languages spoken in this society, there is a “non-verbal local language” that bridges the communication gap between local cultures. Somehow, conversations and situations at a coffee shop, community centre, office and even playgrounds rarely end up in a misunderstanding, because of a common understanding of the way things are done as a Singaporean.

However, change is inevitable. The past decade has seen a high influx of immigrants into Singapore, many of which have taken up citizenship as well. The societal environment has changed. What doesn’t come with citizenship or permanent residency, however, is that “non-verbal local language” or common understanding that can only be learnt by living in any particular society. This is where intercultural conflict creeps in.

Recently, I was on a trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and there was a stop-over at a rest point. I wanted to purchase a meal at a certain stall, with certain customizations, so I tried to explain to the staff what I wanted, but she could not understand what I was saying. I tried to look for diagrams to point but unfortunately there wasn’t any. I was trying for at least two minutes, and eventually, she just shook her head in frustration, waved her hand in a manner gesturing me to leave the counter, and went back into the kitchen – I figured she had no time to waste and had to prepare meals for other customers. Not a very good experience, but I was simply too tired to even get angry, and so I just went to another stall to get myself a hot cup of Milo.

So let’s assess the situation. From her accent, I knew she was not from the South-East Asian Region (an immigrant). I knew also that she was not frustrated initially because she greeted me with a smile. A difference in spoken language would have definitely had a part to play in the conflict, but I would like to go further and say that, even if there was a language barrier, there could have still been communication of my wants using gesturing and other non-verbal methods.

What was missing was that “non-verbal local language”, because I have had similar situations in Singapore with Singaporean stall owners, and they could understand what I had wanted when certain requests were made. She was frustrated at failed attempts in understanding, and decided that it just wasn’t worth her time or money.

One way to resolve a situation like that would be to get help from a third party who could understand both languages or at least know how to communicate the information better. Of course, I was too tired to even think of that at the time, and besides, she had already given up in frustration. Milo seemed like the better option anyway.