Evaluating Intercultural Behavior (Blog Post #4)

For this post, return to the skill builder for Fostering Intercultural Communication. Describe in writing the intercultural scenario that you observed for that task and present an interpretation in light of your understanding of cultural norms and values and the fundamentals of effective communication.


This scenario occurred a couple of months ago in a tim sum restaurant in Chinatown. An English man wanted to order fried dumplings but the menu only offered steamed ones, so he spoke to the Chinese waitress. However, she did not seem to understand English very well. He tried pointing to the picture of the steamed dumplings in the menu and said ‘fry’ several times when placing the order. She seemed to understand what he wanted and made a hand gesture of touching five fingers together a couple of times.

After about fifteen minutes, the dish had not been served and the English customer appeared quite agitated, he asked for the waitress again to ensure the order had gotten to the kitchen. Ten minutes later, the food finally arrived. To the customer’s alarm, five plates of steamed dumplings were served. Apparantly, the waitress had mistaken ‘fry’ as ‘five’; this, of course, displeased the customer and he called for the manager to lodge a complaint. The waitress was indignant.

In this episode, language barrier was the main problem. The waitress did not understand what the customer was trying to tell her. Body language was also a problem; she tried confirming her interpretation of what he said by making the hand gesture of touching five fingers together, which meant ‘five’ to most locals. The customer, being a foreigner, did not know what the gesture meant of course. The waiting time for the food to arrive was also too long for the customer, seeing how he wanted the waitress to ensure the order had been placed. Perhaps it was due to the different concept of time that the customer had, he could be very time conscious and wanted things to be done quickly.

In such a situation, where people of different cultures are involved, parties involved must develop cultural self-awareness. The waitress had to be more versatile in responding to the situation; she could have requested for an English-speaking waitress to help take the order instead. She could have been more empathetic towards the customer’s frustration as well, instead of being indignant at his complaint. Patience is also required when dealing with such scenarios.

Potential Research Project Topics (Blog Post #3)

In conjunction with the skill builder for Documenting Reports 1, write a description of the issue/problem/product that you would like to research. Be sure to follow that description with your topic’s general research question. Also, explain why an attitudinal survey would be needed in order to study this topic.


Currently, there are no statistics on what percentage of the Singaporean population gays constitute. The main reason for this is section 377A of the Penal Code (Singapore), which criminalizes "gross indecency" between people of the same gender. So constitutional rights for gay people are basically nonexistent, and penalties for crimes of homosexual acts are up to 2 years imprisonment.

However, during the Penal Code review in October 2007, the Singapore government declared that private, consensual, adult homosexual sex would no longer be punishable by law but its illegality would remain as a statement of the values of the "conservative majority".

General research question: Is Singapore going to legalize gay marriages in the near future?

Hypotheses: Singapore will/ will not legalize gay marriages in the near future.

The objective of this report: To allow the Singapore government to hear the opinions of the people and, from there, consider legislations that would better protect the rights of homosexuals in Singapore.

Significance of this topic (homosexuals in Singapore):

Firstly, the proportion of gays and lesbians in Singapore is likely to be similar to that in other countries, although there is little hard data. They form quite a substantial part of our population, thus, it is nearly impossible to turn a blind eye to the injustices they seem to face.

Secondly, in January 2006, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) granted S$100,000 to Liberty League, an organisation affiliated with an ex-gay movement. This movement promotes gender and sexual health for the individual, family and society. The fact that the government invests heavily in this area shows the concern it has for this issue of homosexuality among Singaporeans.

An attitudinal survey would be needed to find out Singaporean’s level of acceptance towards legalizing gay marriages. If Singapore is generally still too conservative and unwilling to accept it, then it is unlikely that any changes to the legislation regarding the rights of homosexuals will be made in the near future.

Sample survey questions:
1. All adults in committed relationships should be allowed to marry or enter into civil unions, regardless of their sexual orientation, as proposed by liberal religious groups and some secular organizations. Agree/ disagree/ neutral.
2. You would accept if the government decides to pass a bill that prohibited same-sex marriages. Agree/ disagree/ neutral.
3. You would be likely to vote for a candidate who support gay rights, including gay marriage. Agree/ disagree/ neutral.
4. Gays should be allowed to adopt children. Agree/ disagree/ neutral.