1. Food Culture
There are 2 ways that my family go about eating. First, we adopt the conventional method of using utensils of course, e.g. spoon, fork and chopsticks. Alternatively, we use our barehands to savour some of the delicacies from Pizza Hut or KFC (which is a lot more convenient in certain occasions!). When my maid saw the latter, she was a little disgusted. According to the practices in her hometown, they use their right hand to eat; NEVER their left hand. Does anyone know why? :)
In addition, there was once when my family went to a relatively traditional restaurant to celebrate my grandma's 70th birthday. On the table, we were just given a spoon made of glass, and a pair of chopsticks. My maid had a lot of difficulty trying to use the chopsticks, probably because she has never used that before. However, my aunt was being difficult with her, because she thought that the maid was being disrespectful, e.g. she said: "the least she could do is to try to eat with those chopsticks..."2. Language Barrier
In Singapore, many of the people from the older generation are relatively fluent in Bahasa Melayu, and that also includes my parents. As my maid did not receive much education, thus her command of the English Language is extremely weak, and this of course caused much problems amongst the family!
There was once when my maid cooked french fries, and my brother asked for ketchup to go with it. She was extremely puzzled, because ketchup in Bahasa Indonesia refers to sweet sauce. How would you react in my brother's situation if you saw sweet sauce on your piping hot fries?On another occasion, my mum was talking to my maid in the room, and she told the maid to pusing kipas angin, and the phrase in Bahasa Melayu refers to turning the fan. However, it was very unfortunate for my maid, because the very same phrase does not make any sense in Bahasa Indonesia. In fact, pusing stands for headache. Thus, what registered for my maid was: headache of the fan. Eventually, she got scolded by my mum, because my mum thought that she was trying to be funny.
To summarise this post, I would like to say that one should be tolerant of differences in culture, and not make assumptions that any culture is universally correct or accepted, because that is usually not the case (as we have seen from the numerous examples brought up in class as well). Hence, it would definitely serve us well in the long run if we are better exposed to various cultures (both by reading and having first-hand experience)!
6 comments:
The examples drawn by you are very interesting cases. Actually these are common issues people encounter when they happen to associate people from different cultures.
As for the reason for using only the right hand for eating in certain cultures,it is mainly due to hygiene. The left hand is by convention meant to be used for toilet related cleaning purposes. And since in these cultures, people use spoons only to serve food and they would always eat with their hand, they prefer to use the right hand for this purpose and keep it clean at all times.
Hi Desmond, I agree with you: we must all try to be understanding and tolerant towards cultural differences, especially in this increasingly globalised world. I find the case about eating with the left hand and the chopsticks very interesting. Since the maid finds eating with the left hand disgusting, should we adapt to her and try not to eat with the left hand? Should the maid learn to use the chopsticks since it will mean showing respect to the family? If we have to constantly change the way we do things according to the cultural context, there will be no end in sight. So I belive that the best way to go about it is to understand and empathise. Cheers.
Wei Chung
Thanks, Desmond, for this original approach to the assignment. It's intertesting hearing about your family's norms from the maid's perspective. My question is: How did you find out about her views? Did you ask? She certainly wouldn't offer these insights on her own, right?
p.s. I would love my fries covered in ketchup like those in the photo! That seems like a very American thing to do!
Hi Des,
It is a very interesting approach that you came up with there. I like how you have viewed from your maid's perspective. Good job!
Perhaps the way of eating by having the sauce covering the fries has integrated into Singapore's culture, as can be seen from yummy cheese fries.
Actuall, I feel that its quite unreasonable to expect your maid to be able to use chopsticks. Some Chinese kids don't even know how to use chopsticks properly. It takes some time to learn how to use those critters. The left hand is used to clean up after doing one's business in the Malay custom. That is why even our Malay counterparts only use their right hands to eat with.
It is a common misconception among the Chinese in Singapore that Bahasa Melalyu and Bahasa Indonesia are the same language. Its more like they are different dialects. That explains the misunderstandings. Good posts and points brought up dude!
Thanks for the responses!
I would take this chance to reply to a few of the posts.
Wei Chung: I really agree with what you have pointed out, which is to understand and to emphatise. Afterall, it takes two hands to clap. In the case of the maid, she should also get herself mentally prepared before applying to work in another non-muslim country like Singapore.
Brad: Thanks for the comments. As I have been taking Bahasa Indonesia as an elective in NUS, I have been communicating with my maid a lot. You could see her as my good friend... In fact, thats my relationship with her now (which of course creates a lot of problems sometimes). Think about it: how awkward would it be if you treat your good friend as a maid?
Jem: Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu are really two distinctly different languages. In fact, Bahasa Indonesia is the national language of Indonesia, and there is actually more than a few thousand dialects spoken in Indonesia!
Those fries are of course... yummy =)
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