The Moment of Dream Come True

    I am taking three courses this semester, two of which - "Competition and Strategy" and "Marketing Strategy" - are very tough; only the third one - Managing Across Culture- is very interesting.   My course-selecting strategy is two to focus on my marketing profession and one to develop my personal communication skills.

I am so glad that I am taking Managing Across Culture course.   It has lots of fun!!   Below is my final project proposal.

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    I am a Taiwanese exchange student at IBS. English is not my first language and also, in Taiwan we rarely use English in our daily lives.  Even in academic settings, all of the lectures were taught in Chinese.   As a result, the most difficult, unconformable yet important situation for me is participating and debating with other students in class, especially in English.

     In American classrooms, participation has a big impact on grades. I understand this and I’ve tried hard to ease my fears of speaking in the class. However, during my first week of school in IBS, I was very shocked seeing that while the professor was still talking, a number of students were raising their hands, trying to catch the teacher’s attention to be the first to be called. If the professor kept talking, not paying attention to the person, he or she would continually raise his or her hand for a few minutes till the professor called that person. 

    This situation also happened among students. If I were the person who was speaking and if I saw someone raise his or her hand while I was speaking, I would think he or she must disagree with my arguments, then I would feel very upset and didn’t want to speak any more. In Chinese culture, interrupting people while they are talking is deemed to be rude. Taiwanese students, similar to American, are also greatly encouraged to participate in class, but we usually wait until the professor or the student finishes speaking rather than raise our hands during.

 
    Due to my intimidation to speak in class, today - one of my nice professors told me, “you have to participate; you need to be very “PERSUASIVE.” “In the real business world, only if you can persuade others than you can be a LEADER,” she stressed with a very firm intonation. I know she is right, but this is also difficult for my personality. I could say this is also a culture difference. In Taiwan, we never argue in class. Instead, we respect each person’s different point of view since nothing is just right or wrong. 

    All in all, communicating across language barriers, embracing the American way of participation, and debating with people in public are three most uncomfortable situations I am struggling to change this semester.


PS: Thanks Jill's warm encouragement.

Eileen,

This is a really insightful paper. Thanks for sharing it with me.
Interesting to hear your thoughts on the American college system. I
can only imagine how different it must all seem!

During all these new experiences, you're really getting such an
amazing perspective on how the world works. I know it's probably hard
at times, but in the end, you'll grow so much this term.

If you ever want to talk about the crazy and stupid things Americans
do, please feel like you can always talk to me.

xoxo (加油！）,
Jill