A few years ago, a Japanese student I was tutoring shared an interesting cultural experience with me. She had attended a dinner at an American friend's home. While he was still preparing the dishes, some of the other friends began to eat. The problem was, in her culture it's impolite to begin eating if your host hasn't started, so she sat there waiting patiently for him. However, this made the host think that she didn't like the food that he made. This is the difference between cultures. If we don't understand, then we could possibly insult people, even when we're not trying to be rude.
Although we're just learning English, it's also important to understand culture because culture and language are very much intertwined. To learn a language better, we must become part of the culture too!
Of course Chinese, French, and Korean aren't the only important cultures to know, but I'm hoping the image above will show you that every culture has its own differences and you should be aware when you travel abroad, meet new people, or do business.
In your culture, is it OK to eat before your host eats?
Although we're just learning English, it's also important to understand culture because culture and language are very much intertwined. To learn a language better, we must become part of the culture too!
Of course Chinese, French, and Korean aren't the only important cultures to know, but I'm hoping the image above will show you that every culture has its own differences and you should be aware when you travel abroad, meet new people, or do business.
In your culture, is it OK to eat before your host eats?
RSS Feed
