It is not easy to write about cultural differences. It is very significant in your own mind. However once you write it and spell it out, it sounds so trivial that it makes you think it doesn’t matter one way or the other. I don’t know how it makes the undesirable transition from interesting to uninteresting. Well, it could be due to my writing skill, or the lack of it, which makes me unable to present what I want to present; it may also be some tricks my brain is playing on me. I have to say our brain is constantly deceiving us, making us think we are funnier than we really are, our faults are less annoying than other people’s faults, our project will end well despite all evidence implying otherwise, our habits and customs are sacred even if changing circumstances have made practicing them difficult if not completely ridiculous. I have to say the last one is being experienced by immigrants every day.
Anyway, I have been watching one or two YouTube channels to learn a little bit Cantonese. Well, I just want to learn it without really learn it. You know what I mean. I don’t have a big purpose for the learning, just to watch videos with double subtitles turned on for fun. And I can’t help noticing certain small cultural differences:
Cultural Differences In Phrases
We all know that English has a lot of words or phrases, which describe objects or situations which a non-native speaker doesn’t even think specific terms are needed. Many languages provide convenience for everyday life and assist people who don’t have a good memory. English is the opposite–it enjoys practicing whimsical pronunciations and spellings, hoarding words from other languages, creating subtleties that are too subtle to be observable, and inexplicably making everything sound like an irony.
And English is really punishing those who don’t have a good memory. For example, a person with a below average memory can live a normal life in other languages without feeling penalized. He or she can be a painter or a businessman or something else. As long as he doesn’t take on a job that requires a good memory, he is fine. However in English speaking countries, he just looks slower than others. He speaks with simple sentences, uses limited words, makes regular language mistakes. He is bound to be disadvantaged in job searching, meeting partners, and professional advancement. Once someone told me that a big vocabulary is very important for promotions, or being recognized as smart in America. I was really shocked. This would not happen in many other languages, which exist only to be a convenient tool to people.
Although English have so many words, sometimes there are certain words (phrases) in other languages, which don’t have equivalents in English. For example, the term “happy fat” which describes a person who becomes a little chubby after a holiday or a period of good time. Or the term “against age” which describes a person who looks younger than himself or herself in the previous year or two. Or the term like “people air”, which shows a person’s popularity. The more “people air” one has, the more popular one is.
Cultural Differences In Interviews
Have you ever watched a group interview on TV, in which the cast of a TV show is interviewed together on stage facing live audience? I have watched several of such interviews of casts from popular American sitcoms or dramas. People are so polite; the interaction is smooth; the laughter is appropriate; the actors praise others’ merits while being self deprecating with themselves.
And I have watched several group interviews of Cantonese dramas with mostly Hongkongnese actors and actresses. And they behave very differently. In the beginning, they are quite rigid and reserved, as if they are on duty and cannot relax. It is left to the interview host to do the magic. He or she has to ask questions, provoke conversations, and enliven the atmosphere. If the host is successful, something will suddenly spark a heated exchange of words between the actors and then several people would jump in to talk over each other with no restraint. One or two actors would start to laugh so loud that his whole face looks twisted, and he would slap the actor sitting next to him for fun while being slapped back just as jokingly. Sometimes the audience will jump in and the whole scene looks very chaotic. One can’t hear specific words anymore since everybody is talking at once. Then suddenly, silence descends and the host is back to the command post again.
See… the two styles are a little different. I don’t know how to write it to make it sound interesting. But anyway, the difference is there.
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Image by bridgesward from Pixabay
Haoyan Do 
I find that language and culture are very closely tied together. I’ve tried to describe Asian culture using English and I found myself struggling because the concept would pop up in my head in an Asian language and I can’t think of the equivalent term in English.
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Me too. I have trouble with that too. And the uncertainty and doubt are very much prevalent. And even if it is a translation, somehow I can often feel that the meaning is somehow not conveyed accurately. LOL.
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Some concepts just don’t exist in other cultures so the same word doesn’t exist in the other language either!
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As someone that is part of multiple cultures I have noticed so many differences and it’s quite fascinating to me. Especially in phases, some things I say in one language would make no sense in another.
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Yes, so true. It seems like the existence of several logic. I was just watching a video of several people trying exotic tropical fruit on YouTube. They can just judging the fruit as if they are writing an analytical paper. LOL. I mean that’s really … cultural. I mean I would just eat it first–I won’t be able to judge it without eating it.
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Yup, absolutely. I’ve seen people judge foods of other cultures and I think that’s a bit unfair because sometimes you need to have grown up eating something to understand why it’s special.
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Yes, one’s food habit is very hard to change. I think for a lot of people. Many Asian immigrants have to make an effort to eat American food at least one day per week just so that they feel like they are adapting, food-wise.
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Yeah, I agree. It’s hard to change our taste and eating habits. Even after decades you’ll still prefer what you ate growing up.
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Yes, it is really hard to change our taste. I mean even taste in shows or books. It is said if someone is not exposed to certain kind of books in their teens, it is hard for them to pick them up later in life, which explains why most men don’t read women’s literature.
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So true, as they say old habits die hard. Yeah, I think that’s why it’s so important to educate young men early and make sure they read literature by women too. And not just literature, in all subjects.
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Love this post as it highlights cultural differences that perhaps people who have only known one way of living would never notice. 🙂
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Yes, so true. People who grow up in diversity really think and behave differently. LOL.
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Thank you for a thought provoking and interesting post.
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Interesting point about English. I wonder if it is because so many speakers aspire to be comedians or writers or artists? Maybe being a mechanic or a builder has a high enough status in some other cultures that people don’t feel the need to be linguistically obscure. I know in the UK we have a long-standing “problem” of devaluing the technical and vocational in education.
Having said that I have noticed that Finnish people are very fond of using dialect for the sake of humour and variety. Even educated people will sometimes speak in a strong local dialect, which wouldn’t happen in the UK. They even write in dialect at times.
I have noticed that Americans have the most perfectly calibrated good manners – even more so than the English. Stephen Fry tells a story about how he shocked everybody at a dinner party in New York by disagreeing too vehemently with the host about something – in a way which would have been regarded as normal in his circles in the UK. I used to spend/waste a lot of time on Second Life and I always knew immediately I was talking to an American when they spent ages with “good evening” “how has you day been going?” etc etc before actually getting round to talking about anything!
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Very true. Every culture has its own characteristics and differs from others,especially noticeable between the East and West but it’s these same cultural differences which makes the world such a varied, colorful and happily, different place ! Really like reading about your journey and your observations.
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Your writing sounded very interesting. Thank you for sharing this post about cultural differences
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