"We no speak americano!"

Shalom everybody!

For today's post, I wanted to address a topic that everybody seems to have an issue with at least once in his or her lifetime when interacting with different cultures. It appears to be an easy thing to do, yet nobody truly has any single solution for problems associated with it. The topic is on communication and different styles of communicating.

I wanted to do a post like this because my advisor, whom I am doing research for, asked me a particularly interesting question the other day when we were catching up. That question was, "Are you meeting nice people?" In a regular situation, it would be a simple answer - a yes or a no. However, in this case, it was more complex because different people communicate differently in different cultures.

Israeli culture is no exception. In Israel, from my perspective, people are more informal, more direct, and more personal. I am not saying that this is the permanent norm of the culture, because to say that would be discounting the individuality of the Israeli people and the fluidity of culture, itself, which is something that is also important to consider. However, based off my experience, that is what I gained from my observations. To be honest, that particular style of communicating is quite refreshing to experience, since there is no question of what a person thinks about a certain matter or subject.

Contrastingly, having come from a culture where people, from my own experiences, are more indirect in consideration of others' feelings, it can be hard to really know what someone is thinking about an inquiry you asked or a topic you want to discuss. Of course, like I said before, this is not the permanent norm, as it is also important to consider the individual behaviors and preferences of people in the United States, but it is what I have encountered in one case or another my whole life.

I mention this because when people have different styles of communicating, they can conflict, since the connotations that a person aims to give off may not be the same feelings that a person receives during the interaction. It is an interesting experience to behold, and an even more difficult one to solve. So, what do I do? I give the benefit of the doubt and listen. What this means is that I do not assume anything, I learn about the cultural cues or common speech patterns, and I base my judgment off what I have learned and observed from others. It is not perfect, but I get by most of the time. :)

In conclusion, to answer my advisor's question, "Yup! I am meeting nice people everyday!"