Intercultural Essay
Name: Jeremy Ong
Intercultural Communication Individual Essay
The intercultural experience I am sharing involves one of my close Malay friend whom I have known for many years, and through our different family backgrounds and religion, there are times when we have to employ some effective intercultural communication skills to cross the boundary that is set by our personal field of experiences.
First and foremost, and probably the most important difference between us is our religion, which with reference to the text, plays a large role in determining our worldview, and indeed it does. For myself, I’m an atheist while my Malay friend is a Muslim, thus there is a lot of rules and regulations that we observe which are very much different. For example, my friend has to abstain himself from the consumption of pork while pork is a food that I eat frequently. Thus when the both of us go out for a meal, it is essential that I respect his religion and not order any food containing pork that would be shared among the both of us. Another example is how my friend needs to observe the Islamic tradition of praying five times a day, which sometimes occur at times when I least expect, such as in the middle of a meeting or when we are having our meal together. I have come to respect his needs to observe such a ritual and there are times when I have to compromise a little to allow him to carry out his prayers, such as pausing in the middle of a chat or a meal. If I were not able to respect his needs that are tied to his religion due to me being an atheist, then friction might arise between the both of us that might cause the relationship to suffer. On my friend’s part, he has also opened up to my religious view and respects the perspectives I have on issues related to religion and also the different rules that govern my life due to my religious views. Thus from this mutual understanding between both of us, we are able to appreciate the different worldviews each of us have.
Intercultural Communication Individual Essay
The intercultural experience I am sharing involves one of my close Malay friend whom I have known for many years, and through our different family backgrounds and religion, there are times when we have to employ some effective intercultural communication skills to cross the boundary that is set by our personal field of experiences.
First and foremost, and probably the most important difference between us is our religion, which with reference to the text, plays a large role in determining our worldview, and indeed it does. For myself, I’m an atheist while my Malay friend is a Muslim, thus there is a lot of rules and regulations that we observe which are very much different. For example, my friend has to abstain himself from the consumption of pork while pork is a food that I eat frequently. Thus when the both of us go out for a meal, it is essential that I respect his religion and not order any food containing pork that would be shared among the both of us. Another example is how my friend needs to observe the Islamic tradition of praying five times a day, which sometimes occur at times when I least expect, such as in the middle of a meeting or when we are having our meal together. I have come to respect his needs to observe such a ritual and there are times when I have to compromise a little to allow him to carry out his prayers, such as pausing in the middle of a chat or a meal. If I were not able to respect his needs that are tied to his religion due to me being an atheist, then friction might arise between the both of us that might cause the relationship to suffer. On my friend’s part, he has also opened up to my religious view and respects the perspectives I have on issues related to religion and also the different rules that govern my life due to my religious views. Thus from this mutual understanding between both of us, we are able to appreciate the different worldviews each of us have.