"HAVE you taken your lunch yet?"This common greeting in Sin-

gap ore throws Westerners for aloop. It is not a question that begsan answer but is simply the equiva -lent of "hello'!

How ya going?In a company where I did trainingwith a multicultural group of em-ployees' the Australians were con-tinually irritated with this lunchquestion, whereas the Singaporeansfelt likewise with the Australianphrase, "How ya going?"

They would say to themselves:How am I going? What do theymean? Am I walking funny? Do Ilook like I'm in a rush to go some-where?

Cultural differences such asthese in language find intriguingoutlets in our non -verbal commu-nication.

. Symbolic gestures that signifya particular meaning are called"emblems" - gestures that replacespeech and are usually culture-bound.

Pioneer anthropologist Des-mond Morris took 20 gestures thatexisted already in Europe in the1600s and went around the worldresearching to see if they could beidentified as universal gestures.

He found they had differingmeanings or no meaning whatso-ever in many countries.

Some of these original gesturescan be seen regularly in Singaporeand carry the same meaning asin my home country, the UnitedStates.

For example, the ring (indexfinger and thumb creating a circleand the other three fingers raised)means OK. The thumbs-up ges-ture means "good'!

The- fingertip kiss means deli-cious' as in Italian cuisine.

Cultural differences: Part 1 of 3

Food for thoughtTo overcome communication barriers, learn thecommon greetings and gestures of various cultural groups

In countries where eating is an important part of the culture, knowing some food-related gesturesI will help you adapt to the local lifestyle more easily. PHOTO: AFP

I

I want to ta paoI have discovered that culturalthemes around food provide someinteresting Asian differences.

Closed fingers pointing to themouth a few times indicate "let's

eat'; the background of which re-fers to the Malay custom of eatingfood with your fingers, also preva-lent in countries like Sri Lanka and

. India.Making a shovelling motion

with your index and middle fingerstoward your mouth also commu-nicates "let's eat': coming from theChinese custom of using chop-sticks. The fingers take on the lookof the chopsticks.

Cooking is shown by vigorousarm movements, as when you stir-fry food in a wok.

Takeaway food is taken forgranted now. I remember growingup in Chicago in the 1950S whenChinese restaurants began to cropup throughout the US.

It was the first I knew about or-dering food that could be carriedaway in little paper containers.This precluded the norm of whatwe know today as fast food.

Singaporeans say "ta pao" fortakeaway and only need to makethe gesture of holding the straps orstrings to a container and bounc-ing it up and down to impart thismessage without speaking.

Another gesture carrying thesame meaning is when one mimesthe action of folding banana leaves,which are also often used to packand take away food in the Malay-sian and Indonesian tradition.

Appreciating these culturaldifferences will help anyone whohas to regularly work abroad or ina multicultural setting ease intolife there.

Next Friday: More about hand gestures

Article by Bob Feldman, who lifts clients'communication and presentation skillsto higher levels through his training,coaching and speakiflg engagements.For more information, visit www.bobfeldman.net

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