Post 177: Intracultural communication--Funny Asian American Experience Anecdote

Post 177: Intracultural Communication--Funny Asian American Experience Anecdote

When you have intracultural communication, you have a meaningful exchange between members of the same age group or members of the same cultural/ethnic group.

When people of the same group talk together, they usually talk more informally with each other, because there is a bond of trust and commonality within that group. They either share the same taste in hobbies, the same age, the same musical preferences, the same profession, or the same cultural habits and customs, the same language, the same sexual preferences, or the same gender.  I remember my Psychology 101 book said this cliche, "Birds of the same feather flock together." which is so true.

A non-Asian European American was sitting in a Chinese restaurant eating lunch. Two Chinese women were sitting near him. The two Chinese women were chatting loudly in Chinese. One Chinese woman said, "White males are so arrogant. My boss is such a white male. He thinks he is all that.  He expects me to serve him hand and foot and worse yet, he expects me to be the proverbial passive Asian female. He is so disgusting!" The other Chinese woman says, "White woman are also just as arrogant. They may obey the white males in the office, but when they see me, they boss me around like I am her slave! White people are so arrogant!"

Then, to the surprise of the 2 Chinese women, the lone non-Asian European American male finishes his lunch and he walks up to them and says in Chinese, "I think Chinese men and women are just as arrogant." And then he walks out the door. He does not need to turn around to see the stunned and shocked look on the 2 Chinese women's face. (Based on a true story of a friend of mine.)

In this case, I feel like saying to my students, that you can never judge a book by its cover. My point in bringing up this story is that when 2 people are in a intracultural communication exchange, they will exchange information to each other that they would not ordinarily talk about in public to people they do not know very well.

How many of you who speak another language talk about other people disparagingly when you think people around you cannot understand what you are saying?  How many of you think you have been the target of gossip? How many of you tell your peers secrets you would not tell anybody else?