Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

During my secondary school life, I went for a Taiwan exchange programme. It was my first trip to Taiwan and I was very excited about it. As most of the Taiwanese speaks Mandarin, I did not think that any research on the country was necessary for the trip.

I visited many educational and interesting places in Taiwan. The event that left the most impression on me was the one day trip to a Taichung Secondary School. When I reached the school in the morning, it gave me a different feel from the schools that I usually see in Singapore. The school there had a more traditional and conservative appearance as most part of the school were in wood colour. Therefore, I was expecting the students and culture there to be more traditional and conservative. To my surprise, the students there were extremely friendly, welcoming and open-minded.

In my secondary school, a Buddy was commonly assigned to an exchange student to ensure that the exchange student’s needs were attended to and to make it easier for the exchange student to integrate into the class. However, no buddy was assigned to me when I visited the Taichung Secondary School. Initially I was a little afraid, but eventually I realized that buddy system was not necessary there. In less than an hour, almost all the students in the class have approached me to introduce themselves and their friends. Their way of communication were very genuine and made me felt very heartwarming. I felt more like a good friend of their instead of a new exchange student that had just joined their class. Although it was uncomfortable at times when they stepped into my personal space when I just knew them, it was easy to integrate in and adapt to their communication style.

After the trip, I realized that knowing the same language as the citizens of the country that you are travelling to is not sufficient to integrate and adapt into their lifestyle. Research on the country’s culture and communication style is equally important. I feel that if I have done more preparation and research for my Taiwan trip, I would be able to understand and communicate better with the students.