Singapore is a multicultural society. Despite this fact, there are still some cultural traits of certain race, religion or nationality that some Singaporeans cannot accept. For instance, when we bid farewell, the Chinese just wave goodbye and the Malays would kiss the hand and touch their heart as a form of respect and love. For people who come from France, they would hug the person and give the person a peck on the cheek regardless of the person’s gender.
I have witnessed an incident whereby a conflict started due to the cultural differences. My grandmother is a great cook. Everybody in the family enjoys eating her cooking. However, she is very particular when it comes to dining etiquette. To her, loud eating noises such as slurping and burping are very impolite and are considered a number one sin in dinner table etiquette.
My third aunt has a Japanese friend – Molly. There are some differences between Japanese dining etiquette and my grandmother’s. Contrary to my grandmother's, the Japanese would slurp their soup and noodles loudly. This is their way of expressing that the food is delicious. One day, Molly was invited to my grandmother’s house for dinner. When the soup was served, Molly slurped the soup very loudly.
My grandmother was very disgusted by her action and told her off immediately. Molly, being Japanese, apologized immediately and explained to my grandmother that slurping the soup loudly was a way to show that she was enjoying the meal.
This incident really reflected the fact that cultural differences do result in conflicts. The conflict did not escalate because of the polite nature of Japanese people. In this scenario, my grandmother should have spoken in a more polite manner, rather than telling Molly off in a harsh tone. Effective communication involves the speaker being clear in sending the message across as well as effective listening from the receiving end. My grandmother’s harsh tone might have turned the listener off. The incident would then have a very ugly conclusion.
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