Lost in Translation

1. Lost in Translation Juanita Hall, EdD Linda Boberg, MS International Student Services

2. Acknowledge Culture Culture is the shared assumptions, values, and beliefs of a group of people which result in characteristic behaviors (Craig Storti, 1999) What we do and say are not arbitrary or spontaneous. Culture proscribes our: • Notions of politeness and appropriateness • Language • Foods, music, dance HOWEVER, people are individuals and therefore there is a great deal of diversity within cultures

3. Basis of Behavior – 3 parts • Universal : • We all eat • We all want to be treated with respect • Cultural: • What we prefer to eat • What is considered respectful • Personal: • How much we eat • Choosing to be respectful or not

4. Quick Cultural Quiz – What feels normal to you is your “culture”! • Leaving school or work to attend the wedding of a distant cousin Centrality of the family---------Centrality of work • Agreeing to a suggestion you think is wrong Being direct---------------------Being indirect

5. Quiz (con’t) • Visiting offices in groups to solve a problem Individualistic------------------Collective • Not speaking in class Formal -------------------informal culture • Asking students to call you by your first name Deference to authority-----------Egalitarian

6. Quiz (con’t) • Accepting, without question, that something cannot be changed Fatalism----------------------Determinism • Exceptions to rules should be very rare, otherwise you open up the floodgates Particularist--------------------Universalist • Having no anxiety about arriving late to an appointment Monochronic-------------------Polychronic

7. Be empathetic! Non–dominate hand exercise EmpathyPatience

8. Minimize the idioms Example: Student: I have some questions Juanita: Okay, fire away Example: Student: So, Linda, what are you doing this weekend? Linda: I’m getting out of Dodge. Exercise: What’s your idiom?

9. Common idioms int’l students say they don’t understand: • Let your hair down • Show your true colors • Once in a blue moon • Under the weather • The bottom line • Throw in the towel • Strike while the iron is hot • Raining cats and dogs • Piece of cake • Two-faced • Sleep tight • Feather in your cap • With flying colors

10. Gestures

11. What does this gesture mean???

12. Mass Communication • Different strokes for different folks • Different rules for international students How will you modify your communication to be understood by international students?

13. Thank you! ?