Culture essay

Culture

Culture influences everything, from body to mind and to our very own personality. Its mark is burnt into every way we can physically or mentally manifest ourselves. Culture is a defining factor for who we are and what will we become. What is culture? Culture refers to the relatively specialised lifestyle of a group of people consisting of their values, beliefs, artefacts, ways of behaviour and ways of communicating(page 100, Communication organisation and innovation 2^nd edition). In this essay i will cover the following – Singaporean culture, my value system, the behaviour expected of oneself and my communication strategies. The effect of Singaporean culture on my communication. New Zealand culture - its differences and similarities and issues that may arise – influencing the communication with a person from another culture.


Singaporean culture is a fusion of many different cultures, we are a mix of Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian. Singapore is neither Eastern nor Western, we are unique as our National Tourism Moto suggests “Uniquely Singapore”. As a small country like Singapore with a population of five million, the races with different cultures intertwine with one another, with each culture influencing the other, over time a new culture is formed - the unique Singaporean culture. One prominent feature of the Singaporean culture is the high regard toward the older workforce. Singapore views the older workface as an asset, we believe they are a gold mine full of work experience and knowledge. The government of Singapore has passed a law making it mandatory to offer re-employment to older workers above the age of 55 – 67. Singapore considers this to be very important in our growth as a nation.

The Values we observe in Singapore revolves mainly around the family such as showing filial piety to our parents and to respect our older counterparts. In Singapore, a child must take care of his or her elderly parents once a need arises, as it is repayment for what the parents did when raising the child. Behaviour in Singapore is highly regarded. Singaporean culture enforces the need to be well behaved at all times, Singaporeans do not condone misbehaviour: an example of unruly behaviour is talking in class. If a student is talking in the middle of a class the teacher will view it as a sign of disrespect, the student would then be then told off and punished for his actions. This describes the culture of Singapore of its value system and behaviour standards. The communication strategy when I first came to class was to find common ground with somebody, once i found a common ground I could converse with them and it would be easier to build a friendship. This was done with whippin, as we both are foreign students it was easy to relate to him and become friends. This is my views on my culture, the values I was brought up with, behaviour expected of me and my communication strategy

My culture has largely influenced the way I communicate with people in New Zealand. It is highly unnatural for me to jump on my feet and contribute in class. Teachers would probably find me too quiet and reticent. In a sense, I have been conditioned by the learning culture in a Singapore school and I have found my comfort zone in hiding in this small space. However, I do find permissive environment in New Zealand schools as refreshing as the weather. On the bus the simple good morning from the bus driver took me by surprise, in Singapore culture everyone keeps to themselves not even a smile in Singapore while in new Zealand you get the whole package, during the first week of arriving in Christchurch i had to remind myself to say good morning, to call the teacher by the first name instead of calling them Mister, misses or miss. My culture has influenced me greatly especially in the way I communicate with people.



New Zealand culture and Singaporean are two very distinct cultures, let us see if we can find any similarities or differences. One difference is that New Zealanders are very laid back compared to Singaporeans where being a workaholic is common, New Zealanders in my personal opinion tend to enjoy life while Singaporeans with their ‘kiasu’(which means scared to lose) mentality work till their death and never enjoy life. Another difference in New Zealand and Singapore culture is the conception of justice. New Zealand believes in rehabilitation in changing ones ways, even for murder, while Singapore retains both corporal punishment (in the form of caning) and capital punishment (by hanging) as punishments for serious offences. (Wikipedia Criminal law; Singapore). New Zealand is very lenient on sentencing while Singapore is harsh, very harsh.


Although New Zealand and Singapore have many differences, they both still have common ground, since both Countries were colonized by the British empire. New Zealand and Singapore both have the same concept of the notion of modesty, in my time in New Zealand I have not seen anyone dressed inappropriately, in actuality they dress very similar to what people wear in Singapore ( without the cold weather clothing). Another similarity is the conception of cleanliness, New Zealand and Singapore cultures both promote being clean and green is the way we should live, placing recycling bins all along the streets to hinder littering and to keep the country clean. Both enforce keeping the streets clean through active measures such as a fine (An Auckland council is hiking the fine for littering from $100 to $400) and for Singapore (Drop trash on the ground in this Southeast Asian city, and you'll pay $1,000)


Issues always crop up when trying to communicate cross culturally. One such issue is the lack of understanding with one another through different expressions, one such example was given by Richard Draper when one of his kiwi friends told his English friend “I want to go out and suck a nice fag” to me as a Singaporean it instantly made me think that the kiwi was homosexual, but that was not the case, he actually wanted to go out for a smoke. It shows that these expressions not commonly used in the other culture can create misunderstanding. Another issues that can appear is being offensive unknowingly, in Singaporean culture it is a big taboo for couples to show affection openly to one another, it is frowned upon, while a couple from New Zealand or some other country may come to Singapore and do that it will be considered offensive. These are some issues that come with cross cultural communication.

In conclusion, culture has affected every way I communicate with anyone, it has shaped my perception filter and my life. It is an undeniable fact that culture plays a leading role in the drama called life



Written by: a for anonymous