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 don’t
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 it’s hard. Quite often jokes don’t
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.
You’ll often hear outback Aussies say ’G’day, ‘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
and gesturing
Avoidance of eye contact is a sign of great respect in some
cultures, including Australian Indigenous culture. Many
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
member of the opposite sex.
© The State of Queensland (Department of Communities and Disability Services
Queensland) 2007.
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
other
situations
Many Muslims do not touch dogs and must avoid being
licked by one. Some may touch dogs, but may not touch a
wet 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.