Only in Portuguese

A few days ago I knew about a situation involving cultural issues that shocked me.

This is what happened: the owner of a firm that employs workers from several nationalities, decided that  during the work time of his employees they only could speak Portuguese, any other language is forbidden during work hours. I understand that the employer wants its employees to speak Portuguese, but at the same time is it fair to ban someone to talk another language during work hours? Especially when there are people from other countries??  And in the case of non-native employees, is it fair to ask them to don’t speak their native language, even if only during work hours?? When we ask such a thing aren´t we asking them to hide a part of their identity???

Language

"Function of Language

In the straightforward style of American culture, language has primarily the instrumental function of transmitting information. For the members of the face-salient societies, however, it performs the important role of social lubricant, easing and harmonizing personal relations".

Raymond Cohen (1997). Negotiating Across Cultures;

Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press, 112-113.

I found this quote online while searching for information about communication. Though this is more about language itself than communication, I found it interesting.

It says that in the “American culture, language has primarily the instrumental function of transmitting information”, and this is not only in American culture, but in most of all others too. By language we transmit information, but we also improve our personal and non-personal relations.

In Intercultural Communication we absolutely need language. How else are we supposed to communicate with all those different cultures? I believe that knowing a lot of languages is important. Knowing the language of the culture you are communicating with shows respect to them, in my opinion.

I also believe that it is so difficult to know a lot of languages and know them right, and according to this I say that a universal language, like English, is the one everyone should know and it is indispensable.

Still, even with knowledge of the English language, knowing a different number of languages is important and respectful when communicating interculturaly.

Iceberg of Latvian culture

Hey!

I want to share with You the Iceberg model of Latvian culture. I tried to make it as detailed as possible, but still there are so many things that stayed out of this picture just because it's hard to put culture in one page :)

I know that You probably won't have any opinion about latvians in general, but maybe You can just look at this model and say if I'm typical latvian :D

Enjoy! 

Tips of the iceberg

The other day our teacher of intercultural communication asked us to do what turned out to be a really interesting exercise. It consisted of three parts.
First, we had to write down what we thought defined our country, what legends we had, what we did differently from others, why did we like something more or less, etc. This part was named "the tip of the iceberg" of our country. In my case it was Belgium, so I wrote things like "we like beer" and "we eat a lot of French fries".
The second part was to put us together in pairs and exchange our "tip of the iceberg" with our colleague's one. The point of this was for us to find what was beneath those legends and traditions they wrote about, the history behind it. This was not an easy part. What you would expect is to find the reasons behind traditions of other countries right on the Internet, but it was not that obvious. There is not a lot information about those iceberg tips, the most you find is what traditions exist, but not where they came from.
The third part was to compare results with our colleague and see if what they found was consistent with what we thought were the reasons behind our traditions. I must say, I did not know why us Belgians like beer and French fries so much, but she gave me a satisfying answer. The beer came from the fact that, once upon a time, there was no drinkable water and so they drank beer against thirst. The French fries came from the fact that one day there was no fish to catch so they had to eat potatoes. Then, one day, someone decided to fry those potatoes and the French fries tradition was born. How interesting is that?!
It was really nice to learn something new about my own country, but also about my colleage's country, which was Spain. You really have to take notice that things didn't appear from nowhere, there is a reason behind everything and it is important to know about those reasons. Essentially, what I learned from this exercise is that we should try to learn about the whole iceberg, and not rely only on the tip of it.

How Portugal is seen on the outside?

According to an exercise that we have done in the previous weekend I found out, in conversation with Jitka, how she, being a Czech citizen, thinks about Portuguese people. I agree with some of the things that she said like: we (Portuguese) are sociable people, warm and gentle that likes to dinner with our family and friends. We have no time pressure (most of us like to go to sleep after the 2 am because we like to party and in the morning the desire to go to school is not so much). We like to eat either fish or meat, and our salads are typically seasoned with olive oil.  Pastry shop is our deal, loving our conventional cakes and pies like pastel de belém, morgado, and toucinho do céu. Another thing is that we are very patriotic, and that’s true but I think that every country has to defend its culture and identity. We count the days from Monday and we use a little purse for coins.

Leaving now the positive things, there are some negative aspects and explanations that I would like to say. According to our colleague we feel insulted when compared with the Spanish people. That happens because some foreign don´t know that Portugal and Spain are two different countries. However they cultivate relationships between them when we talk either about economic or cultural reasons. Another aspect is that we are not very responsible. We like complaining with everyone just because. We don´t like waiting, (because we are very nervous folk) But in contrast we like to live a slowly life, (How funny is that). And of course our crisis is the front page of our disgrace. Big financial troubles and the closure of schools, attempted to decrease number of teachers are in the order of the day.

To conclude I think that Jitka has done a really good job finding out the good and the bad things about this country who sings the nostalgia of the past. And you? What do you think about Portugal?

Cultural stereotypes: What we think about other countries

YouTube is apparently a very valuable source in terms of discussion about cultural stereotypes. Today I accidentally found this video: 

And I must say, it is true in most of the statements - this is really what Czechs in general think about the rest of the Europe. And yes, I'm very sorry, Latvian girls, but we don't really know anything about Latvia, anything! :( So I'm very glad that I've met you, it was my goal to visit Baltic states one day in order to learn something about you. 

Can anyone of you find similar video showing what people from your country think about other countries? It could be an interesting discussion, comparing more opinions/stereotypes about specific countries. :))

Português ou Inglês?

Uma das principais dificuldades quando você sai do seu país é a língua, o idioma. Vindo para Portugal descobri duas coisas essenciais nessa área: a primeira é que o português de Portugal é completamente diferente do português do Brasil. Por motivos óbvios, cada país, separado por um oceano, possui culturas particulares e, assim, o idioma ainda por ser o mesmo sofre mutações. No Brasil nós temos as chamadas reformas ortográficas, que modernizam a maneira de conjugar as palavras. Entretanto as próprias palavras ainda continuam as mesmas de 500 anos atrás. Já em Portugal é o contrário, as conjugações são arcaicas e as palavras modernas. Talvez por isso (não somente) seja tão difícil entender a “mesma” língua.

Outra dificuldade que todos os Erasmus sofrem é com a falta de vocabulário naquele idioma. No meu caso, o inglês sempre foi minha segunda língua, sou formada pela Oxford, mas sem a prática não pude perceber o déficit que eu tinha em relação ao vocabulário inglês. Contudo, esse obstáculo foi muito importante para que, então, eu me desse conta de que praticar é a melhor forma de aprender. E que não existe momento melhor para isso do que durante um intercâmbio.

Portuguese or English?

One of the main difficulties when you go out of your country is the language. Coming to Portugal I discovered two essential things in this area: the first is the Portuguese of Portugal is quite different from the Portuguese of Brazil. For obvious reasons, each country, separated by an ocean, has particular cultures, and the language mutates. In Brazil we have the so-called orthographic reforms that modernize the way of combining words. However the words themselves are still the same 500 years ago. In Portugal it is the opposite, the conjugations are archaic and words are modern. Maybe that's why (not only) is so hard to understand the "same" language.

Another difficulty that all Erasmus are suffering is from a lack of vocabulary in that language. In my case, English has always been my second language, but without practice I couldn’t realize I had the deficit in relation to the English vocabulary. However, this obstacle was very important for that and then I realized that practice is the best way to learn. And there is no better time for this than in an exchange.

10 curiosidades sobre as terras lusitanas

A primeira reação das pessoas para as quais eu contei sobre meu intercâmbio em Portugal foi: “Vai para aprender o português?”. Essa pergunta/piada foi repetida por diversas vezes e minha resposta nunca era satisfatória. Por esse motivo resolvi escrever 10 curiosidades que percebi em um mês vivendo em terras lusitanas.

1.       Comboio e Autocarro

A primeira diferença ao chegar em Lisboa foram os nomes dados ao trem e ônibus, comboio e autocarro, respectivamente. Comprar a passagem de comboio foi um desafio, pois na estação existiam tanto trens como ônibus. A estratégia foi esperar o número da plataforma e correr até lá, e então, somente nesse momento, descobrir do que se tratava o meio de locomoção que me levaria ao Algarve.

2.      Interruptor de luz

As casas de Portugal, em Faro particularmente (cidade onde vivo), são bastante particulares. Uma das maiores diferenças que demorei para me acostumar foram os interruptores de luz do lado de fora do ambiente. Ou seja, você ascende a luz antes de entrar no quarto, banheiro, cozinha. Se quer desligar deve sair do local.

3.      Não gaste mais de 10 euros

Conversão é o pesadelo dos intercambistas vindos do Brasil. O euro atualmente (25/09/2014) está entre os R$ 3,06. Isso quer dizer que tudo que for mais que 10 euros é cerca de 30 reais, ou seja, muito caro (nos meus padrões, é claro). Lembre-se sempre que os brasileiros não ganham em euro, o que dificulta todo o processo de conversão.

4.       Primark

Para tranquilizar aqueles que querem fazer compras na Europa, tenho uma dica: Primark. A loja de departamento é realmente barata. Você pode encontrar camisetas por até um euro. 

5.       Faixa de pedestre

Em Faro uma das diferenças mais bonitas e gentis é que os carros realmente param na faixa de pedestre. Em Curitiba (minha cidade natal do Brasil) isso não acontece em qualquer faixa, apenas nas elevadas. Um bom exemplo a ser levado para a ex-colônia.

6.       Casa de Banho

Engana-se quem pensa que em Portugal todos os brasileiros entendem tudo. Por vezes é preferível conversar em inglês do que em português, dado a tamanha diferença de linguagem. Como as novelas brasileiras passam frequentemente por aqui, o Zé entende tudo que estou a dizer, mas sempre corrige. Aqui vão alguns exemplos: Casa de Banho é banheiro. Pastelaria é padaria. Cú é bunda. Telemóvel é celular. Bicha é fila. Bife é estrangeiro.  Fixe é legal. Giro é bonito. Entre muitos outros...

7.       Nutella e Dulcineia

Essa vai para os gordinhos de plantão: Nutella aqui é muito barato, mas existe uma imitação, muito parecida, chamada Dulcineia. A Dulcineia custa 2 euros e vem 400g. O paraíso na terra!

8.       Pastel de Belém X Pastel de Nata

Mais uma gordisse. Quando for pedir Pastel de Belém em Portugal, pare e pense: Eu estou em Belém? Se não, peça o Pastel de Nata. Você vai evitar uma desconcertante aula de história e geografia dada pelo seu Zé da “pastelaria”.

9.       Muitos carros

Faro é a capital do Algarve, que por sua vez é um distrito de Portugal, muito ao Sul e bem pequeno. Quem imagina que é um lugar calmo e tranquilo enganasse. A quantidade de carros é absurda, acredito que cada habitante tenha, no mínimo, um carro. O que mais me impressiona é que a cidade é perfeita para andar de bicicleta, contudo o preço dos carros chega a mil euros, muito barato comparado ao Brasil.

10.   Cultura brasileira em todos os lugares

Vim para Portugal e conheci músicas brasileiras que nunca tinha ouvido. Estou assistindo novelas brasileiras que nunca havia visto. Estou conhecendo mais da cultura do Brasil do que de Portugal. E isso não é exagero. Chego nas festas e toca lepo-lepo. Se me sinto honrada? Não. Mas são estereótipos que tanto eles têm conosco, como nós temos deles.  Vamos mudar isso, pronto?

Planning/managing problems

While I am living and styding in Faro, I have realized that Portugal is sooo different from my country – Latvia!

While Iam studying in University of Algarve, I noticed, that mostly everything happens of its own accord. It’s difficult to see the structure and organization of work. Often everything happens chaotically. There are moments when classes are canceled or time and place changed, but we didn’t get any information about these changes and it is hard to understand where and when we have to be.  For example, teacher made an appointment, but after that she did not appear. I think it’s just obvious if students are informed of any changes and „updates”, because for me  (and I think for others as well) schedule is important and I like to planning my time. And I think it’s all about respect and we have to show it to each other, because both sides have plans and we can't ignore them.

In Latvia „be on time” means be on time, but if we have some changes or problems, we always inform and apologize about situation. And we consider that if you are at work, then you have to be maximize productive and only after work you can do other things, which are not related with work, but during the work – NOOO! If you are at work, then  you have to work!  Also we have many companies, which has blocked social networking sites such as www.facebook.com. and employees can focus only on the job. But I have impression that people in Portugal living with the motto „take it easy” and  I have feeling that they don’t know word stress (but to be honest, sometimes I envy them :)

For me it’s hard to accept these differences, at least right now... but I heard from my latvian friends (who are living here), that after a while I will be the same as they are, but it’s hard to imagine,  because stress is a part of my life (sad, but true :D) 

But in general I like to live here – every day is like a new journey with hot sun, nice weather and friendly people! J