Saturday, September 27, 2008

As mentioned in my previous post, I am currently working as a part time fitness instructor with SSC. In my dealings with the numerous gym users, I have garnered some observations on the intercultural communications which I would like to share.

The ratio of Caucasians and non-Caucasians in the gym is quite evenly distributed. The usual practice in the gym is to greet each incoming users. Whenever I greeted them, I came to realize that it is the Caucasians who are more willing to maintain eye contact with me. They would also response with a smile or a greeting in return. Non-Caucasians users, however, tend to ignore both the greetings and the instructors.

Yet, it does not necessary mean that these non-Caucasians users are aloof or arrogant. In fact, most of them are extremely sociable when you get to be on friendly terms with them. From what I understand, these people are simply not comfortable with greeting strangers. It is nothing against the instructors per se but a cultural habit. To them, it would seem presumptuous to greet a stranger when one barely demonstrates affectionate gestures to family!

It would seem that, regardless of how one’s initial reaction is, in order to achieve effective communication, one of the most important things to do is to break the awkward barrier that exists between strangers. I have tried to do so by making small talk with them and maintaining eye contact and a smile on my face at all times. To date, this method has not failed me yet!

posted by Max (Zong Neng) at 3:18 AM