Taza Chai

Stand at the corner of a street in New York, London, or Toronto and observe a collage of humanity. Each individual represents a unique culture, values, history, and society. They perceive world from their perspective.

A statement like, “You are such a pig!” may be a friendly tease to a Nova Scotia native but the same would be an insult to someone with Middle Eastern roots.

One person might tell you intimate personal details to a simple greetings like, “How are you today?”, while other may just say, “fine.” What is the right response? Why would you even expect that? It appears that all of us have a unique thinking style or a thinking accent.  

Rui Umezawa, a communication expert at the Japanese Embassy in Toronto and the author of a novel Truth about Death and Dying explains his mother’s thinking accent by offering a recent incident. His mother was born in Japan but has been living in North America for last 40 years and she recently bought a condominium in Toronto. When the real estate agency handed over the possession, there was still some unfinished work. “Mother had to take a deep breath before she said OK,” Umezawa said. “In Japan, a developer would never hand over keys before a condominium is fully completed. One would think that in 40 years she might have acclimatized to local business practices. I guess she is still very Japanese inside.”  

Before we can understand others we need to understand ourselves. Here are few ways to identify one’s own thinking accent.

Know who you are: 

Umezawa suggests that introspection is extremely important to identify moral, social and personal values that we are composed of. Talking about our old values and their usefulness in a new environment he recommends, “I think we don’t need to discard any of our old values, just keep them.”  

You are the only one:

Umezawa suggests, “Consider yourself an individual. Culture influences but it does not totally define you.” Considering ourselves independent of our culture would help identify our own uniqueness. Each one of us responds to his or her cultural, social, moral and psychological influences very individually.

Know what is expected from you:

You need maturity and ability to understand how you are being perceived and then adjust your words and actions so that you are communicating the right kind of message,” says Angela Corriero, a communication expert based in Toronto, who has helped the South Korean army to effectively communicate with US forces, Ms. Corriero adds, “It’s almost like saying things in a way so that people can hear it through their accents.”  

Now that we have some idea about ourselves we can explore how others think. Here are few techniques to identify someone’s thinking accent.

How & Why of things:

Umezawa thinks that questioning the internal logic of why things are done a particular way will help understand others behavior. For example, a common practice in Japan is to give kids money as a present, while in North America, people prefer buying a gift. To North Americans, the Japanese way appears impersonal while the Japanese think the child should have a choice as to how the money is spent.

Avoid stereotypes:

Cultures have tendencies, but beware of assuming that an individual conforms to the stereotypes about their culture. Effective way is to treat a person independently of his or her culture. Umezawa points out a common stereotype Japanese have about Americans as being aggressive. In his years of interaction with both cultures he has seen more exceptions than confirmations of this.

Stories tell:

According to Corriero, “A society’s humor, newspapers, magazines, and radio will give you an idea about their values.” Another neglected source is the advertisements. “In Australia, for example, practically every second commercial is advertising either beer or sports. This should give us a general indication of what Aussies value,” says Ms. Corriero.

Technorati tags: Thinking Accent, Communication, Cross Cultural Communication, Community, Ideas