The Impact of Culture on Communication

I have always been interested in other cultures. When I was little, I loved to learn about different cultures, especially Asian and Native American (in part because I have a Cherokee background). Though I learned a lot about cultures, I didn’t really have the opportunity to interact and experience communication with people of different ethnicities. I went to a small, private school from the time I was in pre-school until 12th grade, and our school was definitely lacking in diversity. It wasn’t really until I entered college, that I was introduced to people from different cultures. The first person I met at NC State was actually Korean. Before I met her, I was already interested in joining the Asian Student Association but was kind of hesitant. As we were both talking at orientation we decided that we would sign up together (otherwise I probably wouldn’t have on my own).
It was through joining ASA and being friends with this person that I was introduced to many people of different Asian backgrounds. I was interested in all of the Asian cultures, but I became very fond of the Korean culture because of my friend who also introduced me to a predominantly Korean church that she had started attending freshman year. Through these experiences, I made a lot of Korean friends and was often exposed to their culture in terms of food, activities, language, etc. My friends also taught me a lot about the culture, like learning about etiquette, standards, and cultural beliefs
Learning about Korean culture through my friends and my experiences has been a blessing and in no way can compare to learning about cultures through “what you hear” or “what you read.” More importantly, I have found that being able to become familiar with the culture in this manner has allowed me to communicate differently with my friends or even other Koreans that I meet. Over the past four years, I have picked up on Korean words and I have also recently started to learn the basics of speaking Korean. Being familiar with words has helped me to better understand the context of conversations, or cultural references and has helped me to also reference Korean words or phrases. Learning about Korean culture has helped me to relate more to them, which helps my friends and I to have conversations we otherwise wouldn’t be able to.
Overall, our communication is enhanced not only because I am familiar with their culture, but also because they are familiar with the American culture. If I were to go over to Korea, my communication with people there would not be the same as my friends because their perspective of American culture is different. Since my friends have lived in America and experienced the culture, and I have experienced their culture through them, it has provided more of a balance that has helped us to better relate and communicate. Knowing about American culture has also helped my friends when they are trying to explain Korean beliefs or concepts to me. Often, there are words or concepts that my friend will tell me isn’t really found in American Language but she is able to relate in ways that I understand. I think if she wasn’t as familiar with American culture, she would have a harder time explaining (as I have experienced with some Koreans who recently moved to America).
Even though I may communicate better with Korean Americans, my experience has also improved how I communicate with other Koreans. Respect is a very important part of Korean culture, especially when it comes to elders. Learning about mannerisms and etiquette has helped me to be respectful to elders. Bowing to elders and speaking in a respectful way are very important to the Korean culture. When speaking Korean, there are different ways to speak, such as when you speak to your friends you would look at them and not use the respectful endings on words. When speaking to elders, you would bow, not look them in the eye and you would always use the respectful ending on words. For example, to say hello to a friend you would say “Ahn yeong” but to an elder you would say “Ahn young ha se yo.” I liked the example at the beginning of chapter 2 in the book where Hyun was seen bowing to her mentor and her colleagues mistook the bow for her being submissive to men. Her colleagues were not aware of her cultural beliefs of showing respect to and elder/superior by bowing. It’s things like these that help me to understand what is going on around me and to also communicate better.
I am very thankful for my experience at college, not only with Korean but also with other cultures (though it hasn’t been to the same degree). I think that learning about these cultures has been one of the most invaluable experiences I’ve had in college and I look forward to learning more as it helps me to understand and relate to people better.