#4 Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

This incident is not one which I'm proud of. The story goes like this:

Back in my secondary school days, I used to hang out with a bunch of friends. There was this time when we were out together and while we were crossing the road just outside Peninsula Plaza, we saw a middle-age man wearing a turban. Immediately, my friend gave me a pinch on the arm and exclaimed, "What colour?! What colour?!" This was our "ritual"- whenever we see a person wearing a turban, we have to say the colour of the turban. Whoever doesn't say on time or says the wrong colour, gets an excruciating pinch on the arm. (Click here for an illustration)

Being immature and oblivious teenagers back then, we thought it was rather hilarious but it proved otherwise. Amidst our mini "ritual", the man came stomping towards us with his face cringed. I was trying to figure out what he was saying though the background noise seemed to drown his words. However, as he closed in, his voice became more distinct and audible. I was scared stiff. Never in my life had I heard a person utter such expletives with such speed.

He brought us to the side of the road and confronted us, demanding to see our student ID. His face wasn't a tinged relaxed. His bloodshot eyes and stern bellowing voice said it all - we were in trouble. ...

In retrospect, what my friends and I did was immature and culturally insensitive. Not only did we cross cultural lines but the religious line as well. Our actions would bitter the relationships between the different racial entities in society and "burn the bridges" of intercultural communication. We were in fact encroaching into his personal sphere of practicing his own culture and religion. Instead, we should have practiced cultural relativism in a multicultural society such as Singapore.

Before we have engaged into a conversation with the man, my friends and I had already created a barrier for effective communication by our rude gestures. Hence, for effective communication, there is no room for ethnocentrism and one need to have a proper disposition by maintaining respect for the other. Indeed, learning to be empathetic and taking into account the complexities of human relationships and cultures are hallmarks of an effective communicator.

#3 Business Correspondence Critque

Below is a letter my girlfriend received a few days ago.

(click on picture to enlarge)

Generally, the letter possesses most of the 7Cs in writing as well as the principles of business correspondence. Firstly, the writer began by thanking the recipient for using their services. The tone was objective, formal and non-controversial. In addition, the letter was reader-friendly - the main ideas were stated clearly in bulleted points. The writer also used very simple language which was clear, concise and without errors. By providing adequate information and contact numbers the writer also achieved the last C - Completeness. In short, the writer had written a coherent and cohesive letter.

In writing a 'Bad News Message', one needs to be tactful in the tone and language used. The writer had certainly tried his/her best in doing so. For instance, in point 4, " We request you to settle these immediately so that your borrowing privileges will not be disrupted on 1 April 2009." I wouldn't know how much further one can improve on this sentence to make it sound more polite.

On the other hand, there are some areas for improvement. One, the salutation should be personalized, i.e. the recipient's name. This is because addressing the recipient by name shows sincerity. (However, this is a free service. So I guess this is why NLB doesn't bother so much.) Two, as mentioned previously, the language used was objective. However, by underlining and writing the words in bold (seen in point 3) is tantamount to writing thousands of exclamation marks for that phrase. One may regard it as being assertive but it could be seen as a threat.

I'm not too sure if many of you would agree with me on my last point on the words in bold but feel free to make comments. =)