Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

      I first arrived in Singapore about a year ago for my undergraduate degree. Initially, I felt culture I would not have much trouble adapting to the culture of Singapore. However, I realized without understanding culture it would be very difficult to survive in an intercultural environment.

      In my home country, you have to buy a ticket to travel to a particular destination and people stand in a queue. But people rush to board the train at the station and they don’t stand in a queue for boarding a train. In Singapore, people stand in a queue and wait for people inside the train to come out and stand on the sides of train door.

      An embarrassing situation occurred during my travel in the MRT within the first few days of my arrival. In my home country there are no reserved seats for old people. As I was new to the country, I did not know about the concept of reserved seat. I rushed to occupy a seat in the train, which turned out to be a reserved one. I received quite a number of stares from the people in the train. Wondering what was wrong, I looked around struggling to understand the situation. To my surprise, I realized after looking at the picture which had information about the reserved seat that I should not have rushed to occupy that seat.

      In conclusion, I feel it is mandatory to know the cultural differences especially when you are travelling to a foreign country. It helps you blend successfully into the society. For cultural conflicts, that occur unexpectedly make an effort to understand the situation and act accordingly. Maybe, even asking a question to the people around you may help.