No culture is monolithic. Not every person who identifies as belonging to a particular culture, behaves in the same way as every other person who identifies as a member.
There is always variety.
Any discerning person realises sooner or later that India is not an aggregation of linguistic groups as in Europe. At all times it is a multiplication of several socio-cultural historical factors; resultantly there is the co-existence of plural language identities in an individual or group. You speak one language at home, another in the courtyard, a third in the street and a fourth in office. Each of these co-exists with ease. There is an overlap of a partial universe in a single person or group. The plurality has given richness, vibrancy and a continued potential for creativity. (Vatsyayan 2003, 107).
In that spirit, the Harvard Business Review video is offered (below). The data inspired the HBR article, Getting to Si, Ja, Oui, Hai and Da (Meyer, 2015).
Self-awareness & Reflection
One lesson we can draw from this video is for all of us to be observant of our communication styles, as well as how people interact and prefer to interact.
As educators we should ask ourselves:
- What makes our learners or trainees comfortable?
- What makes them uncomfortable?
- To what extent is there a mismatch between who I am and how I interact and who my learner or mentee is and how they interact?
- Can we reach a meeting of the minds and hearts to work together?
Being self-aware and aware and respectful of others is the key to effective communication and relationship-building. The video below is not offered as an instructional guide for how particular cultures identify or behave. Rather it is offered as an illustration that we should be mindful of cultural and linguistic varieties because one size does not fit all when it comes to interpersonal communication. We should all be willing to demonstrate humility, check our assumptions at the door, and to adapt our communication style to improve relationships with patients, students and colleagues.
References
Vatsyayan K. Plural Cultures, Monolithic Structures. India International Centre Quarterly 29(3/4) India: A National Culture? (WINTER 2002-SPRING 2003), pp. 95-113; 2003.
Paul D, Ewen SC & Jone R. Cultural competence in medical education: aligning the formal, informal and hidden curricula. Adv in Health Sci Educ (2014) 19:751–758.
Tervalon M & Murray-García J. Cultural Humility Versus Cultural Competence: A Critical Distinction in Defining Physician Training Outcomes in Multicultural Education. Journal for Healthcare of the Poor and Underserved 9(2):1998; 117-125.