Dec 08: Year of Intercultural Dialogue
Ready to visit one of the most cross-culturally diverse regions in the world? As the European Union celebrated the ‘Year of Intercultural Dialogue’ throughout 2008, there were many conferences and events devoted to promoting cultural diversity and knowledge among its 27 member countries. In order to recap some of the cross-cultural insights of the year, a special seminar was offered in December to explore knowledge, mobility, dialogue, and exchange within the region. The ‘Crossing Cultures’ one day seminar included a special study to explore Europe’s cultural differences and perspectives featuring three representative countries – France, Germany, and Italy.
The seminar launched directly into the study which evaluated the understanding of Germans, Italians, and French of their own cultural heritage and that of other countries. In an effort to understand mutual knowledge between cultures, the study examined cultural stereotypes, references, and practices. Well, there may be no surprise that old stereotypes still ring true. The French and European audience that attended this seminar broke out in laughter when we learned the following: Germans are considered hard-working, reliable, disciplined, and organized (and somewhat demanding); Italians are considered friendly, cheerful, loud, and optimistic (and somewhat attached to their culture); the French were considered cultured, pretentious, attached to their culture, and demanding (and somewhat cheerful). Oh la la.
The conclusion of the study showed that German culture still remains poorly understood, including in Germany. Yet the Germans have a better understanding of their neighbors compared to their own culture – they were also the population that travelled the most outside of their own country. The French and Italians demonstrated mutual knowledge in certain cultural aspects, including a touch of cultural chauvinism. The study also found the intensity of cultural, artistic, tourist, and business exchanges between these countries and others could have an effect on national differences. In addition, the study did not include American references which, as one speaker noted, ‘we must (painfully) recognize that US media and pop culture have a great influence on European lifestyle and culture, especially on the younger generation’.
In reflecting upon the study and the future of cross-cultural understanding in Europe, the panel speakers emphasized the importance of not only understanding one’s own culture but also increasing knowledge and understanding of other cultures. In addition to formal education, it will increasingly require informal learning through interactions and networks created with family, friends, and colleagues. Another speaker noted the importance of recognizing the legitimacy of culture, infrastructure of cross-cultural education, and historical heritage. The panel agreed that new media and the internet provide new opportunities for improving cross-cultural learning across borders. This was further demonstrated by the number of European initiatives devoted to intercultural education through cultural centers, educational institutions, and knowledge networks.
Sitting in the audience and listening to the session was truly a multilingual experience as we were given audio phones that translated the presentations from French, German, and Italian. I made it through the French and German presentations sans audio, but finally had to plug into the Italian channel as I have not yet learned una lingua molto bella. All of the speakers were multilingual and did not use English throughout the presentation. It was very interesting to observe how the dialogue between the panel speakers and their presentation styles were influenced by their cultures. The British/French speaker presented a thorough analysis of the topic… mais ça depend, the German speaker provided a more factual account… das ist alles, and the Italian speaker offered the audience a very poetic view of cultural diversity… una historia importante.
As the dialogue progressed amongst them, it was amusing to observe the cross-cultural communication issues that often occur among multi-cultural teams – the French and British speakers needed more time to review, critique, and explore the issue whereas the German speaker gave a direct and concise answer, followed by a reflective and colorful interpretation from the Italian speaker. It was an interesting and enjoyable experience in intercultural dialogue. And it was refreshing to see that cross-cultural understanding and knowledge is more important than ever.
