Cultural assumptions

Some missos from Malawi discussed subtle cultural bloopers at college the other day. They observed that:

• Westerners need to think afresh about servant leadership in cultures where respect for leaders is shown precisely by them not doing mundane tasks.
• Western teachers and leaders see their number one task as getting the message across, but other cultures value relationships more highly. This disconnect may mean that it can actually be a blessing to speak the language badly, as it forces you to focus on relationships.
• When you try to communicate something cross-culturally almost every word you use can conjure up different things.