The major rule of the game is to always respect the culture in which you find yourself, (except of course if that borders too closely on disrespecting yourself J ).
When I first got to Taiwan I was told by a few students that it is considered rude to ask questions in class, I remember responding by asking “so how am I supposed to learn?” . It is a given in Western cultures that students show that they are actually listening to their teachers by asking questions and engaging in dialogue in classrooms. In fact this is basically the way homes, and work places operate, however, most of us know there are situations when this dialogue can turn into “back answering” and are able to navigate accordingly.
My first Chinese teacher was Xu Laoshi he had worked previously in the United States of America and so understood that his Western students asking questions was not a sign of them being rude ( a word that most Taiwanese seem quick to use in any situation where they are questioned). Xu Laoshi encouraged us to ask questions and to speak up in class. I sat right next to him because I wanted him to be able to hear my voice and correct my mistakes; this is something that my mother insisted I do from a little girl. First day of a new class the talk was always the same and somewhere in there was “make sure you sit in the front”.
Now if you are a Taiwanese who has been afforded to the opportunity to vacation, work, or study in a Western society it is important that you understand the differences in our cultures. You might have learnt that Western societies are very individualistic this might be true in some cases, but in the Caribbean , more so in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines we can be quite individualistic at times, but, we still do have a great sense of community. If you are to find yourself in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines be ever so mindful that if you are asked by someone to explain an action, elaborate on a decision … it is not that the person is being ‘rude’ it is simply that they have been raised in a society that has trained them to be a thinker, a society and perhaps a home that has stressed the importance of them respecting themselves as a person and earning that respect from others by having “a mind of their own”.
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