Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

Wai – a Thai air hostress 

greeting customers.

Last Monday, I had a chance to do role-playing. I was invited for dinner with people from different countries. Each person had to represent their own culture. For example, when greeting the host, others used a handshake, while I did the wai (pronounced [wâːj], a Thai greeting similar to Namaste). The dinner displayed intercultural communication among those from different backgrounds.

The role-play reminded me of my first year in Singapore when I had problems adapting to a new environment where I could not wai. Therefore, this post will tell you about intercultural communication through my own situation and illustrate how this affected my communication.

Wai is one of the most beautiful cultures in Thailand. It is used in many occasions such as greetings, receiving blessings, and so on. It is important in Thailand for showing respect as Thai people highly value seniority. Every time people meet a senior, they must wai; otherwise, they will be considered rude.

I, being from Thailand, always respect my seniors. Whenever I meet a teacher, I wai. Moreover, I do not call a teacher by his name but by his title “Ajarn” (which means teacher.)

However, the world has a wide variety of cultures. When I came to Singapore, I found a lot of cultural differences. Although Singapore has so many cultures, wai is not among them. Should I wai in Singapore, I will look weird. Moreover, seniority in Singapore is not as strong as that in Thailand. I do not have to greet teachers so formally anymore and I can call teachers by their names.

Some may think that my life became easier as some societal rules are lifted. Nevertheless, this new culture completely confuses me. I could not greet teachers or others by using wai. It makes me curious as to what I should do instead. Should I wave hands, bow, or …? Not knowing what to do, I was irritated and could not communicate well with teachers, especially during my first semester. I felt so uncomfortable approaching them since I did not know how I should greet them, or how I should show respect to them and I was also afraid of being rude unconsciously.

Above is one example of intercultural communication. There are still a lot more as the world has so many different cultures. We should respect the culture of the place we live in. Take Ronald McDonald as an example. He wais people in Thailand!