Section 4 activities

Activity Behaviour and assumption

Look through the cultural behaviour areas below.

Behaviour Assumption
Smiling Some Asians laugh or smile when someone is angry with
them. They are not only saving face for themselves, but also
for the angry person.
Indonesians and Thais smile a lot more than Australians.
They smile even when they are sad, worried or embarrassed.
(Australians may misread some Asian smiles; Asians and
others sometimes cannot read Australian smiles.)
Some Europeans smile less than Australians. This does not
necessarily mean that they are unhappy. It just means that
they smile less.
Humour When you are coping with a new language, jokes are very
hard to understand. Should you laugh even when you dont
understand, or just stand there?
The Australian habit of knocking is difficult for others to
understand. People from other cultures find it confusing,
insulting, and hurtful, even though it may be intended to
show friendship. Either way its hard. Quite often jokes dont
translate well, and so even if you are given an explanation in
your own language, it can often fall flat.
Manners Most Asian young people have difficulty in accepting the way
young Australians speak to their elders, especially their
teachers and parents, also the way they treat older siblings.
In Asia, young people must show great respect for older
people.
Australians say please, thank you, and sorry more often than
people from a number of other cultures. This does not mean
that we are more polite or that they are less polite. Each
culture has its own outward signs of politeness. (In fact,
when we say sorry for small things we sometimes sound
insincere to people from other cultures.)
Gift giving Thais, Chinese, Indonesians and Koreans do not usually
open a gift in front of the giver in case they do not like it and
may accidentally reveal this by their facial expressions. It
may also appear greedy.

Hygiene Asian bathrooms are intended to get very wet. So when

Asians are travelling they often leave the bathrooms in
motels very wet. Sometimes this is due to soaping up
outside of the tub or shower, then rinsing off in the shower

The State of Queensland (Department of Communities and Disability Services

Queensland) 2007.
 or tub. Also, some cultures do not use toilet paper. They
may be used to bidets and will prefer to use a dipper of
water. This can make bathrooms very wet. Often toilet seats
are broken because many cultures do not have toilets with
seats, but actually squat over the bowl.
Many Asians do not blow their noses in front of others. For
them, nose-blowing is really disgusting, but sniffing is
socially acceptable. In some cultures, spitting in the street is
a normal, acceptable practice.

Greeting Bowing is the accepted greeting for Japanese people, while

some of the indigenous cultures of the Arctic Circle and
Polynesian cultures rub noses. Even amongst our young
people greetings like High Five are common.
Auslan and Australian Sign Language also have their own
forms of greeting.
Youll often hear outback Aussies say Gday, ow ya goin,
mate? Ya good, ey? In the cities the young people have
adapted some Americanisms, such as That is so cool!

Saving face Avoidance of eye contact is a sign of great respect in some

cultures, including Australian Indigenous culture. Many
and gesturing
Australians regard having good eye contact as being very
important in building trust.
Body language differs from place to place. Sri Lankans and
Indians often shake their heads from side to side when they
mean I understand. Very confusing for us!
Gestures vary in meaning from place to place. The beckoning
come here movement that we make with our index finger is
extremely offensive and has totally different meaning in
Indonesia.
In some Asian cultures it is offensive to point, or to extend
the hand palm up.
In many cultures, particularly Asian, conflict, disagreements
and problems are usually not handled openly. It is important
not to lose face and the difficulty is usually not confronted
openly. Often it does work out in the end anyway or it may
be resolved with the help of a third person later. Australians
often avoid confrontation too but this is seen as an
inappropriate way; for many Asians this is the appropriate
way.
Friendship Hand holding between same-sex people is common in
Thailand and Indonesia, and indicates friendship. It may be
considered to be immoral to hold hands in public with a

The State of Queensland (Department of Communities and Disability Services

Queensland) 2007.
 member of the opposite sex.
Punctuality Pacific Islanders, some Australian Indigenous people, Thais,
Malays and Indonesians seem to us to place little importance
on time. They are accustomed to operating on rubber time,
and punctuality is not important.
Food Muslims do not pass things to each other with the left hand.
Muslims do not eat anything containing pork, bacon or ham.
Some will not eat from a plate that has at any time held
pork. Some Muslims are anxious that they should only eat
meat that has been slaughtered by a Muslim in the correct
manner.
Reactions to Many Muslims do not touch dogs and must avoid being licked
other by one. Some may touch dogs, but may not touch a wet
situations dog.
Many Asians find it difficult to say No, so they say Yes in a
way that to them really means No. Sometimes, if you ask
them if they understand, they will say Yes to save face for
you and them. Really, they may not understand. You need to
clarify by asking in another way.
Many cultures, especially those associated with Islam and
many Asian cultures, do not like to do business with women.
Women in their cultures usually do not hold positions of
authority. They may also not acknowledge a woman when
opening doors, etc. Many countries in Europe are still very
male-dominated.

Task
Do some research to find one or two examples of cultural
bias/assumptions in each area in a diverse range of cultures. Use the
worksheet to record your findings.
Consider subcultural groups such as:
farmers and rural dwellers
city folk
young people
people with a disability
baby boomers and generation X and Y.

The State of Queensland (Department of Communities and Disability Services

Queensland) 2007.
Assumptions Worksheet

Behaviour Assumption

Smiling

Humour

Manners

Gift giving

Hygiene

Greeting

Saving face
and gesturing

Friendship

Punctuality

Food

Reactions to
other
situations

The State of Queensland (Department of Communities and Disability Services

Queensland) 2007.