I often experience different intercultural behaviors when I am travelling to a foreign country. They could be related to the individuals’ cultural values, beliefs, and languages, etc.
There was this incident that happened last year when a few of my friends and I went to Taiwan on a short vacation. After a long tiring day, we were at the train station on our way back to our hotel. It was rather crowded at that time as it was peak hour. We walk towards the side of the train door and waited as how we would usually do when we were Singapore. Then, one lady in the mid-40s tapped on my friend on his shoulder. She looked quite pissed and told us that we had to queue in line to wait for the train. That was when we suddenly realised that there were actually lines properly drawn on the floor to indicate where to queue for the train and the Taiwanese people were all queuing orderly in one straight line before boarding. Also, when they were going up the escalator, they would all keep to the side of the escalator so that there is a clear path for the people who are in a hurry.
This example clearly shows that there were cultural differences between Singaporeans and Taiwanese. In Singapore, people would never queue patiently like that before boarding the MRT. They would simply crowd outside the MRT door and try to rush into the train whenever they have a chance. Although we do a rule to keep to the left when we are on the escalator, we often do still see people standing on the right side chatting away while blocking all the people behind them. All this differences simply mean that Singaporeans and Taiwanese have different values and beliefs. Therefore when travelling to other countries, it is always good to be observant and try to look out for values or practices that are different from your own country. We need to understand the fact that people in other country will have a different set of culture and values and we should not assume that what we usually do or say in your country are acceptable in another.
