Communication Ingredients

Written or Oral; Direct or Indirect

In module 4 we discussed cross-cultural communication strategies. I thought that it would be interesting to share this story from the Canada World Youth Learning Guide. It highlights the different cultural assumptions that we bring into our communication with another individual and that non-verbal communication cues are just as important as the verbal ones.



Many of the cross-cultural communication exercises advocated by the trainers such as Kraemer and Storti focus on dialogue as an initial part of cross-cultural interaction and communication but the soup story illustrates the fact that we need to examine how our visual responses affect our understanding of other individuals as well. I would be interested in examining how images of another culture are perceived by individuals of a certain culture. What happens when we remove dialogue from the training? I fully acknowledge that I make assumptions about cultural situations based on the visual elements of a particular scenario and would like to understand how it influences or affects our stereotypes and generalizations. The way an individual dresses, moves, or gestures can also affect my communication regarding that individual. I believe that developing deep cultural awareness can certainly be aided by formal training but it is also the responsibility of the intercultural educator to move from the theory to practice by questioning her every day situation. This involves questioning non-textual, and non-verbal situations. What can silence tell us about each other?

These are some of the questions that I consider important for us to question when we read the soup story in our quest for greater cross-cultural understanding.

What perception does each individual have of the other?


Have we ever made one or more errors of perception?

The Soup Story


The scene unfolds in Bern, Switzerland.


In a buffet-style restaurant, a 75-year- old white woman chooses a bowl of soup and goes to sit down at a table.


"Shoot!" she says, "I forgot to get a slice of bread."


She gets up, takes her bread and returns to her table...only to find a black man seated in front of her bowl of soup.


And he is in the process of eating it!


All right, she says to herself, isn't this the best! Of course, he's probably a poor man. I won't say anything, but nevertheless, I can’t let this go by without doing anything at all.


She grabs a spoon, sits across from the man and without saying a word, eats the soup.


And so the man and the woman eat together, in silence.


Then the man gets up.


He goes to get an ample plate of spaghetti à la Bolognaise and he puts it in front of the kind woman. Along with two forks!


And so the two continue to eat together, still in silence. Finally they take leave of each other.


"Good- bye" says the woman gently.


"Good- bye" says the man with a soft glow in his eyes. He gives the impression of someone who is happy to have helped his fellow man.


And so he leaves and the woman follows him with her eyes.


At that moment, the woman sees, on the table next to hers, a bowl of soup that appears to have been forgotten.



"The Soup Story" is from “Canada World Youth Learning Guide."
Further exploration:

A website that provides a similar important exercise is called In the Mind of the Beholder. The website activity highlights our generalizations and stereotypes of another culture. It asks the participant to consider how their assumptions are affected by their own circumstances and from the position of the Other.

http://www2.pacific.edu/sis/culture/pub/1.2.2-_Activity-_Inthe_Mind_.htm