Cultural Frames

                  I've been in Germany for 4 weeks now and each week I'm learning something new. This week's lesson focuses on cultural frames, which is described as structures we impose on reality based on our backgrounds and experiences (Remland,2015). Personally, the cultural frame of nonverbal communication has been eye opening to me.  In my frame, I smile and consider this to be a social norm. I smile at strangers and use it as a reassurance for others when they need comfort or when I'm greeting anyone. In Germany, they have a stone face expression about 65% of the time. This small, even trivial, nonverbal cue means a great deal in my cultural frame. A smile means friendliness and comfort in my mind that helps me navigate social interactions with an ease. 
                 A couple concepts within cultural frames that I've had experiences with as well are monochronic time and in/out groups. Monochronic time is described as staying on schedule and accomplishing things in a timely fashion (Remland, 2015). I am taking courses so obviously, my schedule revolves around my school work. The Germans are extremely time oriented and definitely have the same cultural frame as the United States in this way. Even within history, their timeline and World War II has been all about growth and learning. This cultural frame concept is reinforced here because I believe in time management and organization.
               A second cultural frame concept I have noticed is ingroups/outgroups. The ingroup I associate myself with is English speaking people. I don't have  any friends in any of the countries I've visited that don't speak English. However, this makes us an outgroup in the countries we visit. The language barrier between our group and the countries we visit/local groups in those countries, makes us outsiders and tourists which is why we stick together.
              Overall, cultural frames become more evident the longer I'm in the EU. I've noticed my perceptual screen being challenged and I've had to think a lot about my social norms and soak in another culture while remaining myself in the process!


Image may contain: 2 people, people smiling, people standing, sky and outdoor my in group :)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 4: Cultural Frames

Image
We have made it to week four in our SPICE Program and each week brings new adventures. We visited Bruges, Belgium this past week. It was a small but cute city with many fun things to do. We went to a french fry museum and went in and out of a TON of chocolate shops; not to mention we had some really cool hostel-mates, one from England and one from Portugal/Spain! This weeks objective is Cultural Frames . We take what we know from our background and experiences and apply it to our reality (Remland, 2015). Us, as Americans, try to take our social norms and apply them to our environment; and with a different culture comes different social norms. I was once told that Americans have really short goodbyes, but what I found in Bruges, is that they have an even shorter goodbye. You will be purchasing something from the shop and before you have your credit card back and receipt in hand, you are basically pushed out the door. A cultural frame that sticks out to me from the chapter is the In...
Read more

Week 7: Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

Image
European and American verbal and nonverbal communication are quite different. In class, when we are having discussions, I notice that when an American student is called on, we will respond very loudly compared to the German students. I also notice, at the school coffee shop, the man working behind the counter will be very soft-spoken when talking to a customer. I almost want to shout, "CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE LOUDER?!", even though I can hear him perfectly fine from a few feet away. I realize the reason I want him to talk louder is simple: I am nosey. I am also use to a loud coffeehouse setting. When you go to Starbucks in the states, you typically walk into a setting of glasses clinking together, music blaring from the speakers, and names being shouted so people can pick up their orders. With nonverbal, I notice that we also are very different. When the teacher is speaking and looking around the room, she typically makes eye contact with everyone. When she makes eye contact...
Read more

Week 8: Intercultural Communicative Competence

Image
As we come to our last week in Europe, I look back on the memories I have made and the people I have shared them with. When arriving in Germany, I knew I would talk to the people who also went on this trip, but I didn't think I would become friends with them as easy as I did. One person who stands out the most out of all my friendships that I made abroad, is my friendship with Ashley Pearson. When going through the "General Process of Friendship Development  ( Remland, 2015) " in chapter 8 of the book, it describes each of the steps you take when developing a friendship. The first stage is the   Role-Limited Interaction . Whenever you meet someone new, you are usually the nicest person in the world; you don't want to give them a bad impression. I remember being super nice because I really liked Ashley from the beginning. We soon moved to the Friendly Relations stage. This stage is more of an acquaintance stage. We were no longer new to each other, but we weren't...
Read more