Three years ago, my cousin was invited to attend one of her Singaporean friends’ wedding dinner. The wedding dinner was celebrated at one of the five stars hotels at downtown Singapore. It was the first wedding dinner she was ever invited in Singapore. The bride was her office colleague. She did not make any confirmation with the bride when she received the wedding invitation card as she thought she did not need to do so. On the wedding day, when she arrived the hotel, the usher asked her to go to the reception and get the table number .When my cousin checked at the reception, she found that her name was not in the list. She was very embarrassed and did not know how to react about it. Luckily, the wedding coordinator who was also her colleague helped her to get a seat.
From this wedding, she realized everybody has to confirm the attendance for wedding invitation. Back to our country, Myanmar, we do not practice it. People do not have to confirm and they usually bring along family members to attend the wedding ceremony. Singaporeans use to hold wedding dinner in a restaurant or hotel. This might probably be the reason why we need to confirm our attendances as the cost is expensive. In Myanmar, people celebrates wedding at both city hall and hotels but the wedding cost is not as expensive as in Singapore.
My cousin also brought a porcelain tea pot and cups set as a wedding gift for her colleague. But at the wedding, she found nobody brought such presents and all of them gave red packets. In Myanmar, we have the culture of giving wedding presents and rarely give money. From this incident, we can see the intercultural differences between the Singaporean and the Myanmese on the wedding celebration. I believe there are many more intercultural differences on other matters. Therefore, to communicate effectively with everyone, we should always observe, explore and understand different intercultural behaviors. And I believe this will help us avoid the misunderstandings and miscommunications.
From this wedding, she realized everybody has to confirm the attendance for wedding invitation. Back to our country, Myanmar, we do not practice it. People do not have to confirm and they usually bring along family members to attend the wedding ceremony. Singaporeans use to hold wedding dinner in a restaurant or hotel. This might probably be the reason why we need to confirm our attendances as the cost is expensive. In Myanmar, people celebrates wedding at both city hall and hotels but the wedding cost is not as expensive as in Singapore.
My cousin also brought a porcelain tea pot and cups set as a wedding gift for her colleague. But at the wedding, she found nobody brought such presents and all of them gave red packets. In Myanmar, we have the culture of giving wedding presents and rarely give money. From this incident, we can see the intercultural differences between the Singaporean and the Myanmese on the wedding celebration. I believe there are many more intercultural differences on other matters. Therefore, to communicate effectively with everyone, we should always observe, explore and understand different intercultural behaviors. And I believe this will help us avoid the misunderstandings and miscommunications.
3 comments:
We should always observe and understand the different intercultural norms and behaviors in order to improve our communication skill effectively. The cultural difference will arise depending on different locations and people. Myanamese people like to give presents instead of money at wedding dinner. For chinese, giving a red packet is a custom. So,we all have to observe and follow the way of doing things accoding to the different cultures.
Oh no. I can imagine how embarrass your cousin was during the wedding dinner. She most probably felt uneasy until the event was ended. An advice of such/similar occasion is to communicate efficiently with the locals and take note of their cultural practices.
Wedding is one aspect of culture. It is different from some other intercultural communications where people can keep their own habit. For example, when a Indian eat with a chinese, Indian can use hand while the chinese use chopstick. In a wedding, the guest has to follow the host's culture for respect. So, doing "homework" before come to the wedding is crucial for a foreigner.
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