"Oh no, our host is back. Shall we?"
Hesitantly, we entered the living room, only to see an Oma (German for grandmother) resting on the couch. Pleasantly surprised at our arrival, she came forward and hugged us earnestly. I guess we were quite delighted at the warm welcome of our host!
Elsie and I were participants of the German language immersion programme and were attached to a German host family for 3 weeks. Our host was a friendly 78-year-old grandmother/Oma who was really active in sports. While we really enjoyed our homestay with her, our first few days were somewhat turbulent as we struggled to understand and accept each other's culture and habits.
Our host could not speak a word of English and was happily rambling in German, much to our confusion. As our command of German was relatively low (as she slowly came to realise), Oma tried to slow her speech and used simple German words so that we could understand. We found it pretty amusing whenever her repeated efforts to express her thoughts to us were futile and she would grumble 'arghhh!' in exasperation. Somehow, things got better over time as we picked up certain German phrases and interpreted her gestures much better. Nevertheless, we still attributed out smooth conversations to this holy book:
Oma's German-English dictionary!
Once, I was clearing my trash into the wastebin in the kitchen. Oma who had witnessed the horrific scene was a second too late in stopping my actions. It turned out that Germans have the habit of sorting out their trash into plastics, paper and degradable items and I had thoughtlessly thrown my trash into the bin. It was the assumption on both parties that such habits would be cultivated within Singaporeans as the case with Germans. Since then, I learnt to be more mindful and meticulous in sorting out my trash.
Hofstede defines culture as a unique way of thinking, feeling and acting that is shared between people in the same social environment and learnt through being in those environment. Through this immersion programme I have picked up certain cues that are unique to the German social environment such as the sorting of trash. However, it takes time and interaction for one to integrate his/her thoughts and actions that are distinct to a particular group of people. I have learnt to be sensitive to the Germans and accept certain norms that I may be unaware of and apply it during my stay. For example, I was unaware that Germans keep right while on the escalator and I have cultivated the habit to avoid any social violation. Language can also be the opening step to understanding culture as verbal and written communication helps to express thoughts and ideas unique to that social environment.
Elsie, my Oma and I
