Working across cultures
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| culture | 文化 | wén huà |
| cultural diversity | 文化多样性 | wén huà duō yàng xìng |
| stereotype | 刻板印象 | kè bǎn yìn xiàng |
Most of a culture is invisible until it breaks
- Culture 文化 is the shared assumptions of a group: what is polite, how directly people disagree, how time is treated.
- You notice your own only when someone acts on a different one.
- The module assesses how you behave in a mixed group, not how much you know about countries.
When do people usually notice their own culture?
Shared assumptions are invisible until they are broken. That is what makes them assumptions.
Directness varies, and so does "yes"
- In some cultures that could be difficult is a refusal. In others it is an invitation to solve the difficulty.
- A meeting that ends in agreement has not necessarily ended in agreement.
- ⚠ Ask rather than assume: So, are we agreed that Wei sends it on Friday? costs one sentence and settles it.
A meeting that ends without objection has definitely ended in agreement.
Directness varies. Confirm explicitly: "So we are agreed that Wei sends it on Friday?"
Write one sentence that confirms a group decision explicitly, so nobody leaves with a different understanding.
Example: "So Wei sends the draft to the group on Friday and we each comment by Sunday — is that right?"
Diversity is a resource, not a difficulty
- Cultural diversity 文化多样性 in a team means the members notice different things.
- A group that agrees on everything sees less of a problem than one that does not.
- A stereotype 刻板印象 applies a group generalisation to an individual, and it is usually wrong twice — about the person, and about the group.
Applying a generalisation about a group to an individual is a useful shortcut in teamwork.
It is a stereotype, and it is usually wrong twice — about the person and about the group.
Four students present together. Two answer every question immediately; two wait to be invited and never speak.
A group that reads this as "two did not contribute" loses two members' worth of preparation.
A group that reads it as a difference in turn-taking adds one line to the plan — each member owns two of the eight likely questions — and all four contribute.
Nothing about anyone's ability changed. One line of design did the work.
Two of four presenters never speak because they wait to be invited. What is the best fix?
One line of design turns a turn-taking difference into four contributors. Advice about confidence changes nothing.
Adapting is not abandoning your own norms. It is choosing a shared way of working deliberately, instead of defaulting to your own and assuming it is neutral. Everyone's default feels neutral to them.
Do not treat the most confident speaker as the most competent one. Confidence in a second language reflects practice and personality at least as much as knowledge — and a team that rewards volume systematically loses its quietest expert.