Canada, eh?

2 situations involving intercultural miscommunications come to mind easily. Both happened when i was in Canada for an exchange program last semester. The first is between a Canadian and me, and the second between Singaporean Chinese visiting Canada for the first time, and Canadian Chinese who have been living there practically their whole lives. It would not take much imagining to combine both into a single hypothetical scenario (although the Canadian in the first was a Caucasian young lady, it applies to most Canadians in general).

I was purchasing contact lenses from a sweet young lady optometrist at the mall. Now, the Canadians have a slang called "Eh?", similar to the Singlish we are familiar with. However, their "Eh?" is much more widely applicable to a variety of situations, depending on the context. It can be used as a question - huh?, as an indication of attention - ya?, as a reinforcer of the statement made - you know? Or even as a period at the end of a sentence - lah/hor. The Canadians (especially the pure trueblood kind for whom travelling out of their city is a major trip already) have evolved to utilise perfectly this expression that they often forget foreigners do not wield the same weapon with equal dexterity, even Singaporeans who have their own incomprehensible language. So it was with an increasing amount of bewilderment that i tried to crack the code she often lapsed into. I do feel that her apparent insensitivity to my predicament was due to the fact that facial conveyance of befuddlement looks very similar to squinting when trying on contact lenses. The mix up has serious implications as my contact lenses have not arrived 3 months after i seemingly ordered them.

The second incident is less a cultural conflict than it is a lack of understanding of cultural norms. It transpired at the end of my exchange, hours before i was to leave for the airport. There were 3 Singaporean guys, and one of them had friends in the area seeing him off. Hence we all went to have a nice dinner at the local pasta shop. Anton's Pasta has a reputation of serving large portions of pasta, so much so that it is rare for a person to WANT to finish the pasta. In fact they reward people who are able to finish their plates with a gift of a pen (which reads: "I ATE THE WHOLE THING"). Portions come heaped on plates 15x6/7 inches, and that is usually enough for 2 meals. In fact the norm for the Canadians was to eat their fill and pack the rest for takeaway (as we saw many other customers doing).
However, as ambassadors of Singapore, land of "buffets-do-not-make-much-profit", we had a reputation to uphold. Two of us managed to finish our portions quite easily. The last person was the one with his friends around, and he was having a very hard time. Mouthful after mouthful was forcibly shoved into his mouth as he struggled to maintain his dignity. To the Canadians, he seemed as though he was ravenous. They kept asking him if he was alright, as they'd never seen him this hungry. With his face stuffed with pasta all the time, my friend could not engage in a lengthy explanation of why he HAD to finish the plate. Even the waitresses were watching this spectacle, as they prepared the pen he had earned through so much suffering. Different cultural norms indeed!

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Business Correspondence Critique (Post #3)
Copy into this blog post a business letter/email that you, a member of your family or a friend received, one which you feel that you can share with your classmates. Next, analyze the letter/email according to the 7Cs in writing and principles of business correspondence and write a critique of about 200 words, showing the positive and negative points, and suggesting how the letter/email can be written more effectively.
After you have read your blogging group classmates’ posts, comment on each of their critiques to show whether you agree with their analysis.


Friday, 06 February 2009
Dear Jonathan (VP414422),
1) Match Your Packages
You can match your USA purchase invoice and packages using the online Matching Service to expedite the processing of your own packages! Learn more.
2) Include VP Number
When filling up your shipping address at the merchant’s website, include your VP Number in BOTH the Name field and the 2nd Address Line.


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Sadly, I really do not receive any business letters or emails (perhaps students do not have a great spending power) so this is the only email within months that fits the bill.
In terms of courtesy, the email parts "unsubscribe" and "privacy" score, using positive wording and adopting a 'you' attitude. It appears as if my interests are being highly regarded. Going with my first name 'Jonathan' also makes it seem less formal and relatively gender-neutral (if my first name was not clearly masculine that is).
The language used is fairly well understood, with nary a grammatical error. However, the sentences are somewhat short, and a few could be combined to result in much more pleasant wording.
The short sentences also score on consciseness, to the point of being in point form. On one hand it helps in skimming through the email to find relevant portions. On the other, it makes for lousy reading.
The email is very clear, delineating the different ideas with points in the form of numbering. Emphasis is well placed with the use of exclamation marks.
The brevity of the email causes it to have less coherence and cohesion, simply because it is not long enough to contain the necessary connection of ideas in prose. However, the use of enumeration mitigates it by paragraphing the points together.
This email lacks concreteness in that it does not elaborate on how much more expedient the processing of my packages will be if i were to use the online Matching Service.
Lastly, as with any advertisement, the email lacks total completeness. It fulfills it's purpose in selling the products, but it does not fully educate me on all relevant supporting information i might need to make an informed decision (i still have to do my research on the products).

Boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy stalks girl??

It has been brought to my attention that instructions say to write 200-250 words per blog post. While I would really like to write more (and sometimes would unintentionally), I apologise to you who have had to trudge through too many words and would try to limit myself in the future. :>
Now for the real(ly) hypothetical situation

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict (Post #2)
To connect with you the audience, I have decided to use a romantic drama. That just means one in which there is a boy, and a girl, and one or more like each other, with a hodgepodge bag of spice thrown in in terms of a conflict. I am quite sure that university students would have encountered such a situation in one form or the other, whether personally or vicariously through peers. This plight is based on actual events, but the names of the lead characters have been changed to protect their identity.
Boy K and girl D have known each other for about a year now. Their acquaintance developed from attending the same co-curricular activity. They only recently got to know each other better and on a more personal level through a mutual friend (who is overseas). Both are foreigners, but D has been in Singapore for almost a decade now, while K has just arrived within the past year or so. D is pretty (much a friendly person), outgoing and sociable. She has more or less internalized the local culture, speaking singlish fluently and thoroughly enjoying the food here. She has been to the country where K and their mutual friend originated for a summer program. Therein lies the reason for their mutual friend’s asking her to bring K out in Singapore.
K has not been around Singapore much even though he’s been here for almost a year. He’s relatively quiet, preferring to concentrate on studies than social activities, and overall is a thoughtful person you would describe as a “nice guy”. He is overweight, but not overtly so. Financially speaking, he is well off but not rich (sort of middle income kind).
Now, after the outing, K keeps calling D, approximately twice a day. He also sends her gifts and frequently wishes to meet up with her to “spend time together”. He has followed her to her home and to her lessons as well. Efforts on the part of D to communicate displeasure have seemingly fallen on deaf ears. Obviously, D is feeling stressed by the hounding, and feels increasingly frustrated.
What might have gone wrong in this situation?
PS: Feelings of K have been intentionally left out until some comments have been made.
PPS: Perhaps focus on what has been given in the framework about the characters’ backgrounds.