I would like to describe intercultural conflict situation.
When Italian couple saw waiter’s hand gestures, their faces turned red and they became angry. They told something to waiter in Italian language. Then, they stood up and walked away immediately. The poor waiter was stunned by their reactions and tried to figure out what he did wrong by scratching head.
Other customers including my family were shocked about this event. In Myanmar culture, using the hand gesture as seen in the picture above was common practice and means a sign of eating. We felt that the waiter did nothing wrong. However, after I did research from internet, I found out that this hand gesture meant “what the f***” in Italy. This explains why the Italian couple was offended.
Here is a video link that explains the Italian hand gestures.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVCuyrPk7P4
All in all, we always need to be careful when using hand gestures or any other body languages while communicating or interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds. Different countries have different cultural norms and values and the same gesture could have different meanings. Therefore, we need to learn and research about different cultures to avoid intercultural conflicts and promote a good and effective communication.
Hello Zaw Htet Aung,
ReplyDeleteMay I assume that the restaurant you and your parents visited was a small restaurant mainly catered for locals? I reckon the owner of a more established restaurant would teach his or her staff the different meanings of a very common gesture in Myanmar which signifies eating since this gesture has various (and sometimes opposite) meanings in other cultures.
I guess you would not have expected such a misunderstanding to occur in a Myanmarese restaurant but this nevertheless shows how imperative our understanding of cultural norms and values are.
Trina Chua
Well, I would not quite agree entirely with Trina there. I think that most established restaurants would have staff that speak and understand English. In addition, they should have some basic knowledge of some foreign cultures. However, Italians only form a small percentage of the visitors to Myanmar every year, and I think that it might be excessive for the staff to learn about the culture of every tourist.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I think that the gesture pretty much means "eating" for most cultures in the world, save the Italians. In fact, I believe most of us would not have prior knowledge of such a different meaning for the Italians.
Lastly, I would also believe that the Italians know that they are probably the only ones who have such a meaning for the gesture. Since they are in a foreign land, they should be more forgiving as they cannot expect everyone to know about their culture.
On a unrelated point, here is a video of a stand-up comedian who talks about the above-mentioned gesture. I think that it gives a good explanation as well. Do take note that expletives are used in the video, so please stay clear if you are likely to be offended.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83KEvIURe9M
The relevant section starts at around 1 minute and 20 seconds in.
I agree with Jackson that it may be too excessive for the Myanmarese restaurant staff to learn about the culture of every tourist, especially the different meanings of every hand gesture. While it is important that we have a basic understanding of different cultural norms, we have to admit that that our world is just filled with so much cultural diversity.
ReplyDeleteI also feel that the Italian meaning for the hand gesture is quite obscure and it seems that it is only the Italians, or maybe a few other cultures, who regard the gesture as vulgar. As such, the Italian tourists could have been more understanding and forgiving. In addition, I believe that the waiter had tried his best to communicate with them, so they should have a rough gist of what he was trying to say. Thus, they should not be overly offended by the hand gesture, especially when it was borne out of a sincerity to communicate with them.
From this scenario, I guess on our part we should prepare ourselves for cultural immersion especially when we are traveling and experiencing different cultures.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! I have visited Italy many times but I didn't know about the headscratching or what it meant in Myanmar either. The Italian cursing is strange. When we sat on a wall near a souvenir vendor in Rome, he got angry and called us 'mozzarella' like the cheese you put on pizza or at least it sounded like that. I never found out if it was a big insult or not. Perhaps I should.
ReplyDeleteMrs Richardson