Cultural Self Awareness April 14

Last week, we discussed different greeting styles in Japan and in our own countries. The class was very interesting because I had the chance to learn about three greeting styles: Japanese, Dutch, and Polish. It was quite refreshing to observe both the similarities and differences among them. Each culture has its own unique approach to introductions and greetings, and comparing them made me reflect more deeply on how greetings work in my own country, Mexico.

In Mexico, people usually start by saying their name, and sometimes they include a nickname, their age, and their likes and dislikes. Sharing job information is more situational and depends on the context, but we usually don’t talk much about our families or the bond we have with the group setting. This made me realize how cultural expectations shape how open or reserved people can be during introductions.

What I appreciated most about the class was learning not only about Japanese greetings, but also about how my classmates from different countries greet each other. It gave me a broader perspective and helped me understand behaviors that I didn’t quite understand before. Talking directly with my classmates really helped me see the reasons behind their greeting styles, sometimes making more jokes, or being serious, sharing personal information really easy or maintaining themselves closed emotionally.

Comentarios

  1. Boris21 de abril de 2025, 23:19

    I liked how you reflected not only on the differences in greeting styles, but also on how those differences are shaped by deeper cultural values. Your observation about how introductions in Mexico vary based on the context really stood out to me.

    ResponderEliminar
  2. Chiel21 de abril de 2025, 23:20

    Personally I like the Dutch greetings the best!

    ResponderEliminar
  3. Elsa21 de abril de 2025, 23:20

    Hola Emi, I am very happy to hear the last class was that insightful for you! I actually felt the same way and I think it is interesting to see how our different backgrounds influence even those small things in our daily lives. I hope to learn even more about your home country as well :)

    - Elsa

    ResponderEliminar

Publicar un comentario

Entradas populares de este blog

Rest and Sleep

The last class we learned about the rest schedule and sleep of the japanese culture, it was really interesting to discover they don't sleep that much, in comparison I could say that the mexican culture sleeps more definetly but is not more than the average world sleep hour schedule. Personally I sleep 10 hours each day but it is not in one single sleep, I use to sleep in the bus, in the metro or even in the table at restaurants or coffee shops, I think is an skill I adquired by the mexican culture. I usually sleep 8 hours at night and then after meal I sleep around 30 min. And during the day I sleep 15 min whenever I can. My work as a cooker is pretty demanding so I need to have energy to last and don't cause any accident. The rest is important to each person because is the way the body recover their strength the brain restores the energy and develop unique activities like the segregation of ATP. Stopping from medical terms, rest is important to get to achieve our best performa...
Leer más

Cram school and power distance

 Personally I've never gone to a cram school in my life, even though I'm not the smartest I never needed it, that maybe is because Mexico is not the strictest country in terms of education, which is good to be honest, I think the distance between different classes is not that big, you can hang up with anyone if you have the charisma you can make any kind of friends, on the other hand there's countries with higher standards and that make complicated hierarchies. That brings us to the power distance theory by the Dutch guy, I think it's a little dated, as you can use it as reference but you shouldn't use as a rule. I understand the concept but measuring a culture that way is kinda closing the perception to my own perception. I really like the class of last week, it was amazing learning and understanding about the cram schools the fact they are based on the objectives is really messed up, it reflects a lot the objective of education of each country sometimes overlappin...
Leer más

Romantic Life & Short-term vs Long-term Orientation Post (AMOOOOR)

Imagen
 So hello dear readers, Hope you had an amazing week, again your coffee addict came to talk, and this week we will be talking about love <3 So, love in Japan is an interesting topic, the culture around it is really secretive in the sense that they don't use to show off the affection in public, Yet I have seen some couples kiss in starbucks. On my own experience I can tell that Mexico is a way to open country on love terms, love in Mexico is shown since kids, hugging, kissing in public our parents is so normal that on the future is reflected on the teenagers,  So in most public places there are at least 1 couple "eating" themselves. Also is interesting, Japanese people also do confessions. In Mexico is the same usually you ask her dating to be clear, sometimes is not the case, but usuallly is because something shady is going on. The important dates are also there, except for white day which i think is unfair, makes men too safe, In Mexico valentine day is mutual so both...
Leer más