one time at a family party, friends asked about who is elder, my husband or his brother. Brother said my husband is the firstborn but himself the better looking. i immediately raised my hand and said: i beg to differ!! :--))
Agreed. Cultural intelligence is important in communication
There is a very good book called "The Culture Map" goes into depth to explain the how culture plays a significant role in shaping minds, communication, and the way people use their languages.
Adding to it, I share part of an impromptu speech I made a while back ago, it happened to touch on this topic.
"Cultural difference has its deep root in languages. There are 700K words in English but there are only about 150K words in French , what does that tell us? That tells us people from UK have more words to express themselves in a more explicit way than French people do, who would have to use combinations of fewer words to express the same idea. In that sense, British usually mean what they say, French expect you to read between the lines.
In the same vein, same word can mean two different things, depending on the geographic region or culture. An extreme example (is) gift in English means present whereas gift in German means poison. When a Portuguese says “am I understood?”, he is trying to be as polite as possible, while this very same phrase is usually said by a senior to their subordinates in United States. When I say interesting, I perhaps mean I am neutral or even slightly negative about an idea. When a Dutch says the same, they mean they really like the idea."
Chinese Customers Think Their Waiter Is American... But When He Takes Their Order...
超级实用的点餐 英语，看完就立刻能流利地用英语点餐啦
看英文菜單，用英文點菜
one time at a family party, friends asked about who is elder, my husband or his brother. Brother said my husband is the firstborn but himself the better looking. i immediately raised my hand and said: i beg to differ!! :--))
everybody was chuckled out :-)
There is a very good book called "The Culture Map" goes into depth to explain the how culture plays a significant role in shaping minds, communication, and the way people use their languages.
Adding to it, I share part of an impromptu speech I made a while back ago, it happened to touch on this topic.
"Cultural difference has its deep root in languages. There are 700K words in English but there are only about 150K words in French , what does that tell us? That tells us people from UK have more words to express themselves in a more explicit way than French people do, who would have to use combinations of fewer words to express the same idea. In that sense, British usually mean what they say, French expect you to read between the lines.
In the same vein, same word can mean two different things, depending on the geographic region or culture. An extreme example (is) gift in English means present whereas gift in German means poison. When a Portuguese says “am I understood?”, he is trying to be as polite as possible, while this very same phrase is usually said by a senior to their subordinates in United States. When I say interesting, I perhaps mean I am neutral or even slightly negative about an idea. When a Dutch says the same, they mean they really like the idea."