Entry 8 : Summary

It's raining right now as I type this. No better weather really to accompany this introspective and retrospective post, which is naturally tinged with a tad bit of nostalgia. Cliche and all, these 13 weeks have really flown by too fast, we're entering yet another summer holiday full of promises and fun.

This course has really broadened my perspective with regards to cross cultural communication. The 8 lectures we had, covered a wide range of topics and brought us through the various forms of communication like written and spoken discourse. The lecture on gender interaction and communication was especially insightful and rather hilarious as the conclusion that most of us drew from that class, was simply that men are from Mars, and women are from Venus.

Our research project was undoubtedly a huge portion of this module. I must admit that at certain points in time, this project really seemed like a bit of an uphill task. However, I am proud to say that my group mate and I managed to overcome most of the obstacles and put together a report that we are fairly proud of. Thus even though it was fairly challenging, I had a sufficiently good time as our topic was really quite interesting. Thus despite the hard work invested in constructing our findings, we had a good time conducting the interviews and collecting the chat logs. Work is not really work when you enjoy doing it after all yeahh?

Anyway, I am really glad that I took this GEM module after all. It's really a breath of fresh air from my 3 finance modules, at least I don't have to constantly think in quantitative terms! Another thing which I thought was pretty awesome about this class, was how vocal we were. Most of us didn't have much of a problem voicing out our thoughts and airing our opinions, and through this honest exchange of information, tons of fun was injected into the class.

And with that, I would like to thank Dr Deng and every single one of my course mates for making GEK1036 as enjoyable as it was! See yall on Facebook, our favourite CMC!

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Entry 7 : Cross-Gender

Last session's topic was on cross gender interaction, and I personally felt that it was one of the more interesting sessions as we delved into the inherent differences between the way a man and a woman communicate.


There are a couple of stereotypes which do hold true, whilst some on the other hand have been debunked. Stereotypes like the perception that women speak more than men have been debunked. Studies have shown that men indeed do speak more than women. This is especially the case during public speaking or speaking up in class as was mentioned during the previous lecture. After attending last week's lecture, I have become more aware that these studies do indeed hold some truth. As a finance major, I realise that predominantly, the probability of male students speaking up in finance classes especially is higher than that of female students. This might be due to the impression that Finance is more of a masculine field, as a result, masculine traits like assertiveness as mentioned in the lecture on Cultural Components and Representation might prevail.

Another facet of last week's lecture which I would like to comment on, is the degree of back chanel support which women provide in comparison to men. Back channel support refers to the verbal and non verbal feedback provided by the listeners. Women tend to be ready givers of listener responses. When engaged in conversation with another person, they tend to provide feedback by uttering conversation prompters or fillers like "hmmm", "mmm", "yeahh" and through their body language like nodding, smiling or other facial expressions. This shows that the woman is actively involved in the conversation and her full attention is being devoted to the conversation.

I believe that a certain degree of listener responses must be present in order for the speaker to feel that the listener is being actively engaged in the conversation. Otherwise, the speaker would tend to feel a tad bit un-appreciated and that he might even be boring the socks off the listener. Which hopefully, is not the desired intention! On the other hand, it is important to be sincere in interactions and to be firmly aware of the various impacts of both verbal and non verbal communication.

Entry 6 : Face and Politeness

So this is another entry that's coming pretty late, sorry about that!


The concept that stuck with me the most is that of negative and positive politeness and the actions or speech acts which result in them being on or off record. Negative politeness recognises the individual's need to be independent and also to possess freedom of action. Positive politeness on the other hand leverages on the need of individuals to be accepted and treated as a member of the group.


When we are faced with Face Threatening Acts (FTA), we can choose to react in a way that is off or on record. Off record refers to carrying out the next action in an indirect manner, however on record refers to doing things in a direct manner. Taking for example seeking help, we can go about it in a direct manner (on record) or an indirect manner (off record).

As described in the lecture, an off record manner of seeking help would be to ask in a loud voice, a question which is not directed at any particular person. This seeks to ensure that the distance between each party is observed and in no way is the speaker infringing on the rights of the people around him. On the other hand, an on record manner of seeking help would be to just ask directly for the help required.

For certain scenarios, it would be more suitable and effective to practice on record actions. Take for example if you were in the canteen and you would like to know what time it was as you had a class coming up. Assuming you did not have a watch with you, it would be a lot more effective to ask someone next to you directly for the time instead of standing in the middle of the canteen and exclaiming loudly " oh gosh, I have no idea what time it is!" It would be tons more likely that you would attract stares and weird glances than you would actually find out the actual time. Thus, for some situations, going on record would be better than going off record.

However, in selecting each method, we have to ensure that we firstly recognise the needs of each individual. For those who value their individualism and space, we have to make sure that negative politeness is used in dealings with them. On the other hand for those who have a more collectivist attitude, positive politeness should be employed in interactions with them.

Entry 5 : Components & Representation

Last session, we discussed the basic concepts for intercultural communication. In furthering our grasp of this topic, we utilised Hofstede's dimensions of cultural variability which are separated into four categories; power distance, individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty accepting versus uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity versus femininity.

Out of the four categories, the last one on masculinity versus feminity piqued my interest the most. Hofstede used those two words not with the intention of referring to males and females, but instead, to refer to the degree to which masculine or feminine traits prevail in a society. Masculine traits would refer to assertiveness, achievements and "not caring for others". Feminity on the other hand refers to traits like nurturing and having concern for others.

From these definitions, I do believe that Singapore is a society that has shifted from a masculine culture to one that melds femininity and masculinity together. Singapore focuses on meritocracy, where we are rewarded for the results we produce borne out of our hard work, or our smart work. This is undoubtedly a masculine trait as our society focuses on achievements and success and we are subsequently motivated in order to achieve our rewards financially or in any other way in which we may furnished. There has also been a perception that Singapore is gradually moving towards a more and more materialistic society due to the focus on possessing branded goods.

However, these masculine traits that our society possesses, are tempered by a variety of feminine traits that work towards neutralising and providing a balanced society. Sexual equality is celebrated in Singapore and an increasing number of women are assuming roles of greater power and influence at work. This highlights a blurring of the lines between the stipulated rigid roles of men and women in the past, and celebrates greater flexibility and fluidity in the gender roles.

Overall, I feel that this shift from a more masculine culture to one that is a blend of both, is a mark of an increasingly developed society both in terms of infrastructure, but also in terms of values and ideals.

Entry 4 : Written Discourse

Oops, so this post is coming really late, but hopefully it's still worth the read!

During the written discourse lecture, we were taught the different types of discourse patterns which different cultural groups utilise. The two which I found to be the most interesting was the circular and romance pattern which the Chinese and the French use, respectively. The oriental pattern referred to placing the most important point at the end of the sentence. On the other hand, the romance pattern refers to starting and ending with the mainpoint, however in the middle, some digression will occur which doesn't tend to link to the main point.

However, the part which struck me as the most interesting was the written discourse in the form of emails. The way in which the Chinese and the Australians approached a request through an email was very starkly different. While the Chinese would temper the email with social niceties and cushion the request with praises and compliments before coming to the point of the email, the Australians went straight to the request after a brief salutation and concluded it by signing off.

This thus made me wonder whether this would be similarly applied in the context of emailing our professors with queries and clarifications. How many of us tended to go straight into the request immediately after the salutation whilst how many would tend to engage in a spot of social niceties? I wonder which approach would be more preferable to the professor. From my point of view, most students tend to engage in the social niceties for a bit, however sometimes from their replies, I tend to get the impression that professors would rather students cut to the chase with the true intention of their email than beat around the bush. (Dr Deng, if you're reading this, what is your opinion?)

Anyhow, I personally believe that in interactions with people, certain corners especially those pertaining to politeness and etiquette should not be cut. Lasting impressions are formed during the first few interactions between two people, thus what might seem inconsequential in an email, can actually go a long way towards moulding a person's perception of us.

Entry 3 : Spoken Discourse

Dr Deng's latest lecture on Spoken Discourse raised a couple of interesting points which have provided me with plenty of food for thought. The first is that of typical phone openings in America and in The Netherlands. The Americans have a penchant for voice sampling, which refers to them saying hello first upon picking up the phone. However, the Dutch on the other hand identify themselves. This is probably due to the fact that the Dutch believe in efficiency.

I believe that Singaporeans cater their phone openings according to the situation. At work, we tend to pick up the phone by self identification. An example is as follows:

"ABC Company, Jean speaking. How may I assist you today?"

This is done in a bid to help the caller ascertain if the call has reached or been transferred to the right party. Moreover, it sounds more professional also when the call is answered in this way, as opposed to a vague "Hello".

However, other situations call for different phone openings from my point of view. For example, if our mobile phone were to ring and with technology being so advanced these days, we would be able to determine who the caller was before picking up. If the person was our friend or relation, we would tend to just answer the phone with a simple "Hello". Self identification would seem a little too formal for such a conversation.

On the other hand, I have encountered people who do not say Hello or Self-Identify themselves when they pick up a phone call. Imagine this:

Summons: (Ringing)
Answer: (Silence even though the recipient has picked up)
Caller: Hello? Hello? Anyone there?
Answer: Yes?

I personally feel that it is pure phone etiquette to acknowledge that the phone call has been picked up regardless of whether it is done through voice sampling or through self-identification as in this way, more pointless conversations of the sort depicted above can be minimized. It also does seem rather intuitive to at least say something or other when the phone is picked up! Or rather, it does to me at least (and maybe I shouldn't impose my views on other people!)

Another thing which I would like to discuss would be listener responses and the various types. I’m the sort of person that appreciates listener responses in a conversation as it makes me feel as if the other person I'm speaking with is being actively engaged. However, if I was relating a story or an experience and the other party just remains quiet or doesn’t make eye contact with me, I tend to feel that I am most probably boring the socks off the person. Either that or I'm pretty much the worst conversationalist ever! Imagine this (sad) situation:

Me: And so I was just telling him that he should stop worrying so much about every little thing and just get on with his life, he's spending way too much time obsessing over the whole situation!
Listener: (silence, looks past me into the background, scratches eyebrow absent mindedly)
Me: (faltering) Yeahh...so that's just what I think.....
Listener: (silence)

However, after attending last week's lecture, I am now privy to the fact that listener responses do not come naturally to all cultures. Thus, what I might interpret as disinterest on the listener's part due to a lack of listener response, might just be simply that, a lack of response with no other deeper meaning. Moreover, it seems that the quantity and quality of listener responses vary across the cultures. For example, research has shown that Chinese speakers tend to be more passive in terms of listener responses compared to the Japanese or the Australians. (With reference to my previous blog entry, maybe it’s not so bad living in Japan then! At least I’ll get plenty of listener responses!) But this shows that even though there might not be a lot of listener responses, it does not necessarily equate to a lack of attention being paid.

In conclusion, the culture one is in tends to mould the way one responds to another in a conversation regardless of whether it’s the phone opening, phone closing or listener response.

Entry 2 : Speech Events

After attending last week's session, I must admit I am rather relieved that I was not born a Japanese! Firstly, I believe that I am not someone who takes to silences very easily and I do not often subscribe to the phrase silence means consent. To me, silence can actually be a pregnant pause where a person deliberates how to decline or refuse a request in a polite and elegant manner. That is probably just my whole Singaporean mindset in play though. However, in Japan that appears to be the exact opposite. Silence is evidently taken to mean consent as can be seen by the Japanese Marriage Proposal which we discussed in class. Upon popping the question to the woman, acceptance is depicted by silence and her "standing with her head down". This taken in the Singaporean context, however, would mean a refusal.

This "silence" is in fact expected by the Japanese male as this signals their "quiet future" ahead and the consolidation of his position as the "head of the household". Moreover, the proposal was a mere formality as he fully expected her acceptance. This comes as new to me as I view situations and scenarios from a more westernised point of view where women are treated on an equal footing as their male counterparts and are fully entitled to their own views and opinions. To have to be subservient, obedient, little females is probably as foreign to most Singaporean women as Greek and Latin are. However that said, and Singaporean mindset aside, there are a whole variety of cultures which subscribe to different beliefs in terms of marriage proposals and more broadly, speech events.

The components for a similar speech event can be poles apart in different countries simply due to the fact that each country is governed by their own cultures, traditions and beliefs. Thus when viewing a particular speech event, we have to contextualise it and take into account the cultures in play which influence each individual's body language and speech.

Another interesting point which was brought up in the last class was how the Chinese often react to an invitation. We have a tendency to first reject, reject again despite insistance and finally to accept. After attending that class, I made a conscious effort to take note of my own reactions to an invitation and I realised that I had subscribed to the same patterns. I must have been doing it all along and I never realised! The reasons behind such a speech pattern was due to the need to ascertain how genuine the invitation truly was as it could have just been lip service.

I shall conclude this post by putting up this video of only the most awesome marriage proposal to date. Watch and learn! =]

Entry 1 : Speech Acts

Regardless of the language, country or inherent cultures, speech has all along been the primary way of communication and interaction between people. As a result, speech is second nature and to many, is simply an exchange of mere words in an effort to convey messages to one another.

At the beginning of the second class, however, I was introduced to the idea that speech played more than one instrumental role. The abstract concept of speech as a performance was thus established and a whole new spin was put on that simple word. The idea of speech being the central theme to a performance provided a unique perspective on what has always come naturally to most people. I have learnt that speech is deemed a performance in almost every form of usage as through it, we could be imploring, demanding, commending, teasing and even flirting.

There are variations in speech acts across cultural boundaries and this can be seen in the speech act of compliments. In the powerpoint slideshow which Dr Deng showed us, many of us found that the compliments paid in the Indonesian and Iranian culture did not amount to a compliment in the Singaporean context as we just could not relate to it. However, an important point which was brought up was that we should not use a “Singaporean” mindset to assess whether that is deemed a compliment or not as there are different cultural sensitivities that are taken into account when sentences are formed and speech is made.

In the last class, we also discovered that there were 4 main classifications when reacting to a compliment. We could choose to accept, return, deflect or reject it. I believe that the culture and surroundings which we have been brought up in play a major part in molding our responses to compliments. Juxtaposing American English speakers’ and Chinese speakers’ responses provides us with a stark contrast in itself. Statistics show that American English speakers are more prone towards accepting a compliment whilst the Chinese speakers have a greater tendency to a reject a compliment. I personally feel that the culture and environment plays a major part in this. The American culture leans more towards individualism whilst the Chinese culture places greater emphasis on collectivism, as a result, American English speakers are more willing to accept a compliment and the praise which is being showered upon them as they believe that individually, they have earned it. However, the Chinese generally do not believe in individual glory as they favour teamwork and group rewards, this results in a greater inclination towards rejecting compliments.

This has once again increased my awareness of the inherent differences between cultures with regards to a whole variety of situations including speech acts. Culture undoubtedly has a major influence on our actions and reactions, thus through broadening our horizons and understanding the variety of cultural inflections, our awareness will increase.

Lastly, in response to the video shown at the end of the class last session, I would like to end off by saying that there is no such thing as having a quota on the number of compliments paid in a day. The more the merrier, so we should all go on a compliment-frenzy once in awhile!

Thank you!
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