When a test doesn’t go as expected, or a homework assignment goes missing, my son sometimes claims “that teacher just hates me.” But as Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” And, while that’s true in general, it’s particularly true in intercultural communications–taking…
DetailsI sent an invitation to a former colleague the other day to invite him to attend an upcoming workshop as my guest. “Hello old friend,” he responded. And, I thought, how nice that he thinks of me so fondly. Until about an hour later when I thought, “Hey, wait a minute, what does he mean…
DetailsSimply speaking louder not working? There are some things that non-native speakers may automatically do when speaking across a language barrier. Turns out, these are good habits to transfer to same language communication. Taking interest in your communication partner, really trying to understand and connect, are always good practices. Here are three tactics to help.…
Details“I’m totally f—ed,” my generally polite father announced as he entered the room, open book in hand. “What!?” we screamed, taken aback. “I’m f—ed,” he repeated. “That means I’ve made a mistake, right?” I should clarify—he said this in Portuguese, and the book in hand was a Portuguese/English phrase book. And, yes, he did make…
DetailsA colleague who is passionate about orchestra was saying how proud she was that her son was also interested in orchestral music. I guess this would be the equivalent from a son for a parent who was interested in world cultures? What do you want on your birhtday cake for your 12th birthday? The Pyramids…
DetailsRemember the old adage ‘the best way to remember your story is to tell the truth?’ Well, it’s the same with Intercultural Communications. The best way to interact with others is to be keenly aware of yourself…but also hyper sensitive and receptive to the individuality and autonomous experience of others around you. Good news? These…
DetailsIf you are already tweeting, posting and selfie-ing away, then this article is not for you. This article is for those people who secretly, bashfully confide at a dinner party “I’m not on any of those things, but I really should be.” But the real question is…should you? At 50+, doing something just because everyone…
DetailsI volunteered to man the water table at International Night at my son’s school the other night. I joined the other parents lingering back behind the self-serve station. For fun, I decided to spell “SAA” (acronym for the Science and Arts Academy) with the water bottles, and ‘voila!’, the quiet water station became a spark…
DetailsAs we prepared for our son’s Bar Mitzvah last month, we began to get questions such as “What should I wear?” “What do I need to do?” Half of our family is not Jewish, and the half that is Jewish came from a Reformed tradition, but by geography and a Rabbi we liked, we ended…
DetailsThe first paragraph I will hopefully delete before publishing: I most often get writer’s block by triviality–Interculturalism has to do with anti-racism, and there is awful cr#@ happening in the world because of intolerance, and I can’t help but belie my position of privilege by writing about making Panettone Bread Pudding in the middle of…
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