How cross-cultural understanding can help us to see each other | Simone Buijzen | TEDxSittardGeleen

Summary

The video script highlights the complexities of cross-cultural communication and the importance of understanding cultural perceptions. It discusses real-world examples of how cultural misunderstandings can lead to costly mistakes for brands, such as mispronunciations or offensive imagery. The speaker emphasizes that culture shapes perceptions, and understanding these differences is crucial for successful global interactions. By appreciating and learning from diverse perspectives, we can work together to solve problems more creatively and effectively.

Takeaways

• 🌐 The importance of understanding cultural differences in global business, as misinterpretations can lead to costly mistakes.
• 🏎️ A humorous example of how a car brand's name, when mispronounced in Chinese, could imply a negative connotation, emphasizing the need for cultural sensitivity in branding.
• 🗣️ The significance of correct pronunciation and translation in marketing to avoid negative associations, as seen with the car brand and Gerber's baby milk in South America.
• 👣 Cultural perceptions of body parts, such as feet, can vary greatly and impact business practices, especially in Asia and Arab cultures where showing the soles of feet is considered disrespectful.
• 🌍 The impact of geography and history on shaping a culture's collective perceptions and behaviors, including examples of how the Dutch adapted to their environment and became proficient in water management.
• 🤔 The difficulty in recognizing one's own cultural biases, which becomes apparent when interacting with cultures that have different perspectives.
• 👓 The metaphor of 'looking through different colored glasses' to describe the challenge of understanding other cultures' viewpoints and the need for mutual comprehension.
• 🌱 The potential for learning from other cultures, as they may have developed unique strengths and solutions due to their historical and environmental challenges.
• 📈 The idea that cultural diversity can lead to innovation and problem-solving, as different cultures bring their own set of skills and experiences to the table.
• 🤝 The call to action for respecting and leveraging the talents and gifts of individuals from different cultures to work together towards common goals.
• 💡 The inspirational message that by understanding and embracing cultural differences, we can achieve greater success and find solutions that may not have been possible within a single culture.

Q & A

What is the main challenge faced by the communications manager from the West when introducing a luxury brand in China?

The main challenge is cultural misunderstanding, particularly the incorrect pronunciation of the brand name 'Bends' which was mistakenly heard as 'rush to the death' in Chinese, leading to a negative brand image.

What was the cost implication of the mispronunciation issue for the luxury brand?

The mispronunciation issue cost the brand millions of dollars as they had to change the pronunciation in all advertising campaigns and promotional materials.

Why did Gerber's baby milk not achieve the expected success in South America?

Gerber's baby milk did not succeed in South America because 'Conibear' means 'to vomit' in Spanish, which made parents reluctant to buy the product for their children.

What cultural faux pas did the financial service provider from Amsterdam commit in their advertising?

The financial service provider's advertisement showed a picture that was highly offensive in Asian and Arab cultures, where showing the soles of the feet is considered disrespectful.

Why is it important to understand cultural perceptions in cross-cultural communication?

Understanding cultural perceptions is crucial to avoid offending others, to communicate effectively, and to build successful relationships in a globalized world.

What is the definition of culture according to the script?

Culture is defined as the collective perceptions that people have with each other, acting like glue or DNA within a group of people.

How does the speaker describe the impact of geography and history on culture?

The speaker describes that culture is often determined by circumstances such as geography and history, influencing how people live, trade, and interact with each other.

What is an example of how the Dutch have adapted to their natural surroundings?

The Dutch have adapted to their natural surroundings by becoming proficient in water management and land reclamation, which has led to successful businesses in these areas.

How does the speaker illustrate the concept of different cultural perceptions?

The speaker uses the example of looking through different colored glasses to illustrate how different cultural perceptions can lead to misunderstandings unless one starts to understand and appreciate the other's point of view.

What is the speaker's experience working with an Asian team in the context of the Shining Star Foundation in Malaysia?

The speaker finds the Asian team to be flexible, innovative, and capable of solving problems with the means and network they have, inspiring the speaker to learn new ways of problem-solving.

What is the speaker's final message about the importance of cross-cultural understanding and collaboration?

The speaker's final message emphasizes the need to respect each other's talents and gifts, to understand each other's cultural perceptions, and to work and evolve together to find solutions that one culture alone might not discover.

Outlines

00:00

🚗 Cross-Cultural Marketing Mistakes: Benz's Misstep in China

This paragraph discusses the challenges of introducing Western brands into foreign markets, specifically using the example of Mercedes-Benz in China. The company encountered issues with the pronunciation of 'Benz,' which sounded like 'rush to death' in Chinese. This resulted in marketing failures and financial losses until they changed the pronunciation to 'dashing speed.' Similarly, Gerber faced issues in South America due to a mistranslation, where their name was associated with vomiting. The paragraph highlights how small cultural nuances can have big financial impacts.

05:01

🌍 Cultural Sensitivity: Understanding Offense in Global Marketing

This paragraph emphasizes how different cultures have varying perceptions that can lead to misunderstandings in communication. An example is provided where a web designer in Amsterdam used an image of feet on a homepage, unaware that feet are considered offensive in many Asian and Arab cultures. The author explains how cultural filters shape the way people interpret visual and verbal messages. This lack of awareness can cause significant marketing failures if not addressed properly. The importance of understanding and respecting different cultural values is stressed for effective communication.

10:04

🔍 The Importance of Cross-Cultural Perception in Communication

This paragraph delves into the broader concept of cultural perception and how it influences behavior and communication. The author compares cultural perceptions to wearing colored glasses—people are unaware of their own cultural biases until they encounter someone with a different perspective. Using this metaphor, the author explains how cross-cultural understanding can help avoid misunderstandings and facilitate better global communication. By interacting with other cultures, individuals can gain insights into their own cultural norms and those of others, fostering mutual respect and cooperation.

Keywords

💡Communications Manager

A communications manager is a professional responsible for overseeing an organization's communication strategies and messaging. In the context of the video, the role involves introducing a brand to a new market, which is crucial for the brand's success in that market. The script mentions the challenges faced by a communications manager when introducing a luxury brand to China, highlighting the importance of cultural understanding in this role.

💡Cultural Misunderstanding

Cultural misunderstanding refers to the misinterpretation of cultural cues, symbols, or language, often due to a lack of familiarity with another culture. The video script provides examples of how cultural misunderstandings, such as incorrect pronunciation or translation of brand names, can lead to significant marketing blunders and financial losses.

💡Luxury Brands

Luxury brands are companies that produce high-quality, premium products often associated with a higher social status. The script discusses the success of Western luxury brands in Asia, emphasizing the potential for growth but also the cultural nuances that must be navigated to achieve that success.

💡Pronunciation

Pronunciation is the way in which a word or name is spoken. The video highlights the importance of correct pronunciation in different cultures, using the example of how the mispronunciation of 'Bends' in China led to an unintended and negative connotation, impacting the brand's reception.

💡Cross-Cultural Communication

Cross-cultural communication is the exchange of information between individuals from different cultural backgrounds. The script emphasizes the complexity and potential pitfalls of cross-cultural communication, especially in a business context, where misunderstandings can have serious consequences.

💡Perception

Perception refers to the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted. The video script discusses how different cultural perceptions can lead to misunderstandings and the importance of recognizing and respecting these differences to foster better communication and relationships.

💡Cultural Sensitivity

Cultural sensitivity is the ability to be aware of and respectful towards the cultural differences, practices, and values of others. The video script underscores the need for cultural sensitivity in business practices, particularly in marketing and advertising, to avoid offending different cultural groups.

💡Branding

Branding is the process of creating a unique name, symbol, or design that identifies and differentiates a product or service from others. The script illustrates how branding can be significantly affected by cultural factors, as seen in the examples of mispronunciation and mistranslation affecting brand image.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability refers to the ability to maintain certain processes or conditions without depleting resources or causing long-term damage. The video script mentions that cultures facing daily challenges have often developed sustainable practices, which can be a valuable lesson for others.

💡Innovation

Innovation is the process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay. The video script praises the innovative approaches of cultures that have had to solve problems with limited resources, highlighting the creativity born out of necessity.

💡Cultural Exchange

Cultural exchange is the act of sharing and learning about different cultures through interaction. The video script encourages cultural exchange as a means to understand different perspectives, values, and problem-solving methods, which can lead to collective growth and development.

Highlights

Introduction to the challenges of introducing a Western luxury brand in China and the importance of understanding cultural nuances.

The humorous realization that the pronunciation of 'Bentley' in Chinese was mistakenly associated with 'rushing to death', illustrating the importance of correct translation.

The costly implications of mispronunciation and the need to rebrand and adjust ad campaigns, highlighting the financial impact of cultural misunderstandings.

The story of Gerber baby milk's failed South American launch due to a translation issue, emphasizing the need for cultural awareness in marketing.

The cultural significance of feet in Asia and the Arab world, where showing the soles of feet is considered offensive.

A case study of a financial service provider's cross-cultural communication blunder with a web page design, demonstrating the importance of cultural sensitivity in design.

The concept of culture as collective perceptions and its influence on behavior and communication within a group.

The impact of geography and history on the development of cultural practices and business solutions, such as the Dutch expertise in water management.

The idea of 'looking through glasses' as a metaphor for understanding different cultural perceptions and the challenges of communication.

The importance of recognizing and respecting the unique talents and gifts each culture brings to the table for collective growth and problem-solving.

The story of how the perception of a symbol can vary greatly between cultures, using the example of a shirt symbolizing fertility in India versus a WWII reference in Europe.

The innovative banking system developed in Africa using simple mobile phones, showcasing the creativity born from necessity.

The speaker's personal experience working with an Asian team and learning from their flexibility and innovative problem-solving approaches.

The call to action for embracing cultural diversity, understanding different perspectives, and working together to evolve and find new solutions.

The potential for cross-cultural collaboration to lead to unprecedented growth, development, and the discovery of innovative solutions.

The conclusion that by respecting and leveraging each other's cultural gifts, we can achieve more together than we can in isolation.

Transcripts

[Music]

imagine you are the communications

manager firmer Cedar's bends and you're

getting this cool job you can actually

start introducing your brand in China

now you know that luxury products from

the West do very well in the whole of

Asia so you know you're gonna be a

success but China is a bit of a weird

place for you it's different than what

you're used to so they they pronounce

bends differently and whenever you

actually demonstrate what your cars are

all about they look at you weird but hey

you don't understand the culture so you

really don't know what's going on it

will be okay and then after a while you

find out that the pronunciation of bends

is actually completely wrong so the

Chinese the way they say bends is wrong

they say and my apologies to the Chinese

amongst you because I don't speak

Chinese but I was helped for this and

what they say is then see which is

actually rush to the death so you have a

car in which you can rush through the

death now you don't want to pay a lot of

money for that do you so you don't find

that out as a foreigner

and when you do and these it can be

easily corrected at least that is not

too hard to do but of course it's

already cost you millions of dollars

because you have to now pronunciation

and every ad campaign and everything

differently so it is easy to change it

is called over the translation is now or

the pronunciation

now is venture which is called dashing

speed so that's much better for your car

now Gerber a brand of baby milk actually

didn't get the skyrocketing success they

were waiting for in South America and

they didn't understand and they started

asking why and then it turned out that

parents didn't want to buy the baby milk

for their children because Conibear in

Spanish means to vomit this it sounds so

so easy to to not do but it's actually

hard to miss if you don't speak the

language and you don't really get

involved and these are costly but small

mistakes and they're just the tip of the

iceberg there are many layers of

cross-cultural problems and many layers

of cross-cultural communication mistakes

now let's talk about feet we are happy

with feet right we are relaxed about

feet feet can't really offend us not

here but they can offend us of they can

offend people in Asia and in Arab

cultures their feet are considered very

unclean and when they're unclean that

means that you can't show them so if you

show the soles of feet to Asians or to

Arabs they are very offended you should

actually not show them at all not

covered not bare so my clients a

financial service provider in Amsterdam

asked me to look into his cross-cultural

communication that he was doing for his

markets in Asia and his son and in the

Middle East so he had a service he said

if you use this service then you don't

have to worry about everything is ok now

his enthusiastic web designer

looked for a picture for the front page

that would be actually very close to

that feeling so when all is happiness

and enthusiasm he showed me this so this

is exactly what you shouldn't do this is

exactly what is the most offending thing

that you can do in Asia and in Arab

countries now when I told the web

designer he had processed this through

his own set of values when I told him he

actually still wasn't impressed and he

thought yeah you know people can

actually be difficult but everything and

uh well you know leave it there and I

said well there's no point to actually

even start selling your product if this

is what you put on your home page so

people filter this through their own

ideas people get confused also about

what perceptions are in different areas

of the world generally we offend without

knowing it we make each other sometimes

angry without knowing it between

cultures we don't want to offend we

don't want to make people angry but we

misinterpret and once we do that we

actually start retracting getting

annoyed getting into our own normal way

of behaving and we cannot communicate at

all anymore

wouldn't it be fantastic if we would

understand each other's perceptions if

we would understand what somebody else

sees when they look at us what somebody

else feels when they look at us when we

do the simplest things somebody else

might be offended and we don't know

wouldn't it be great if we would know

that because if we would know that we

would actually be able to to connect to

each other and not feel offended or feel

disrespected or even fear each other now

clap the culture what is culture

actually culture is actually

a perception the the collective

perceptions that people have with each

other it's like glue it's like DNA

within a group of people so culture is

determined by circumstances often it's

determined by geography and history now

if you have hot climates people live

outside they live outdoors so they they

trade in the streets they work with each

other in the streets they meet and they

also spent their money outside of the

house when you have a cold climate

people stay inside say in Scandinavian

countries it's cold and hot outside so

people stay inside inside of their

houses inside of their rooms and that's

where they spend their money on also

it's not a coincidence that IKEA

actually started in Scandinavia so the

Dutch have actually also adjusted to

their natural surroundings we are a

small country by the sea with a lot of

neighbours and these neighbours actually

spoke other languages so we learnt many

languages and we're very known for this

people are very amazed that we speak so

many languages and that's because we

wanted to trade we had to protect

ourselves against the water so doing

this we actually learned how to protect

land how to reclaim land and now we are

the best water managers in the world

because of the challenges we've had

we've created some real business all all

over the world have any of you ever

looked outside of the window when you

land at Schiphol Airport every single

centimeter of our country is organized

and I I have been with foreigners next

to me in a plane and they were just

looking outside and going what it's so

organized

we had to that's how we survived so this

is what has become part of who we are

perceptions are actually something we

are not aware of

we meet other people to meet other

people that are different it's like

looking through yellow glasses all of

your life you don't know that you're

looking through yellow glasses because

there's nothing else that's all you see

but actually if everybody around you

also has yellow glasses that will be the

end of it the moment you meet somebody

with pink glasses that look at the world

in a different way then it gets

complicated because you don't know

they're wearing pink glasses they don't

know that you're wearing yellow glasses

so actually it's sometimes very hard to

communicate unless you start

understanding you have actually met

somebody with other glasses and this is

how we start understanding other

cultures by meeting them by starting to

understand how they think when I went

abroad that was when I understood what

it was to be a Dutch person I didn't

know how we thought that was just normal

I never thought about it but the moment

I went outside of my country I

understood who we were who we

collectively are and also what we what

others think about us and would others

feel about us I started understanding

that wouldn't it be great if we could

look through each other's glasses and

see how somebody else sees the world and

see how somebody else these

possibilities and success were we don't

if you look at different perceptions

this is one that actually causes a lot

of emotions here in Europe we cannot not

react to this picture this is so intense

for us because of our history but I've

seen a boy with this kind of shirts many

of times in Asia and in India in India

this is the symbol of fertility there's

nothing wrong nobody understands in

India that we think about Second World

War when we are old in the net in Europe

or in the Netherlands or in the West we

lose youth

in the East East and in Africa we

actually gain wisdom there's a

difference in perception like the Dutch

have actually been excelling in water

management there is a way of every

culture to excel and we have to find out

what other cultures have become good in

because of what they have gone through

in their existence what they've had to

battle so if you look at Asian and

African nations you will see that they

have learned a lot of sustainability

because of what happened in their lives

because of what happened in their

existence they had to face daily

challenges that we didn't have to face

or don't have to face anymore so they

have actually created creative muscles

and they actually know how to solve

things that we don't know anymore if you

look at Africa people in Africa most

people in Africa at the first phone they

ever used was the handful they never had

the system of landlines and we are all

happy with our smart phones right but

let's be honest guys they run out of

power continuously you have to update

them continuously

and you have to buy a new one every two

years so are they so great the Africans

have actually created a banking system

with a simple telephone they've actually

created a lot of potential just by this

small device it's sustainable it's

practical they use it as a radio they

use it as a flashlight and they actually

do it in a far smarter way than we do I

am an advisor voluntarily to my shining

star foundation in Malaysia and in this

role I actually work as the only

Caucasian with Asians I see that my team

is flexible I see that they are

innovative and they actually asked me to

structure the organisation but they are

doing all the fence

ethic work and they solve all the

problems in the end with the means they

have with the network they have I am

very inspired by the way they want to

grow professionally and personally and

spiritually and I really learned from it

as a Dutch person with a good education

to understand how to solve problems in a

different way so what I would like to

say to end with is we actually are a

fantastic group of amazing people we all

have different talents we all have

different gifts we need to respect each

other we need to find out what each

other's gifts are and we need to start

working and evolving together it will

take a bit of energy from all sides but

there is so much to gain there is so

much to work with and we can grow and

develop and find solutions we could

never have found in one culture between

cultures so let's grow let's evolve

let's be bright together

[Music]