The author (middle) with my two boys, and a group of Papua New Guinean Highlanders. They approached us on a bookstore, and took picture with us as they said, part of their school project :)
Papua New Guinea Independence Day; with Papua New Guineans in national outfit
Author (at the right on white top). With Papua New Guinean nationals and Carolina (middle left), a Colombian Zumba Education Specialist
Author with fellow Zumba Instructor Network; after the training at Port Moresby
Author with Papua New Guineans students
Author with Papua New Guineans students
It is a great pleasure, that me and my family
are privileged to be bared on variant cultures around the globe concluded by
our travels. We have journeyed different
countries in Asia like Hongkong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and
Cambodia. We used to live in Bangkok
Thailand 11 years ago, where I had given birth to my elder son. My husband, who was a Telecom Engineer then,
worked in Bangkok for 4 years. On 2009,
he was offered a job in the Pacific, a company that is run and owned by a
Filipino couple. After three years of
working in the Pacific, my husband in graciousness of his bosses, were able to
string us along with him, together with our two boys. Now, we’ve been living and dwelling in Papua
New Guinea for more than two years. Our
kids likewise undergo international schooling here.
Papua New Guinea’s geographical location is
adjacent to Australia. It is north of
Australia and as close as an hour and a half travel by plane (Cairns). In two years of inhabiting Papua New Guinea,
we were fortunate to go down under the different states of Australia such as
Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, and very recent, in Cairns. We usually spend two weeks for leisurely
break during holidays. Again, it was a
treat to experience and unmask the Australian culture and came to a discernment
why Australia is indeed a first world country.
But first, allow me to share with you the
cultural background of Papua New Guinea
PAPUA NEW GUINEA CULTURE
SOURCE: http://traveldragon.com/files/pictures/0019/0010/1_view.jpg
SOURCE: http://traveldragon.com/files/pictures/0019/0010/1_view.jpg
Papua New Guinea (PNG) was granted its political
independence from Australia in 1975. Upon independence it inherited the
political, economic, administrative and education systems which the Australian
colonial government had established after the Second World War (Kulwaum, n.d.).
Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally
diverse countries on Earth. Over 800 languages are spoken by a population
of about 7.5 million. Papua New Guinea’s internationally
renowned cultural diversity is under tremendous stress, as village-based life
styles are being replaced by cash economy and urban life styles. Due to
rapid social change, Intangible Culture Heritage safeguarding in Papa New
Guinea is not just about documentation and recording. It is a matter of
survival of local cultures. (UNESCO)
LANGUAGE and CULTURE
I concur with Bagano (n.d.) when he maintains
that language is an integral part of culture, and human culture cannot exist
without it. Through language, culture is
transmitted from one person to another from one generation to another.
Here in Papua New Guinea, while language is no
barrier, however, accent presents a hurdle.
Tone is well known in Asian and African languages, but less so in
languages of Papua New Guinea. As discussed
earlier, Papua New Guinea has at least 830 living languages, falling into at
least nine major language families on the level of the Indo-European family
(Amto-Musan, Arai- Kwomtari, Austronesian, East New Britain, Left May, Sepia,
Sko, Torricelli, Trans-New Guinea) (Cahill, 2011). Therefore, there are several types of tone
systems of PNG, distinct from pitch-accent systems. When you speak to a national, they have
different ways of pronouncing syllables, vowel for that matter. For example, when we say “buckle”, we
pronounce it as [buhk-uh l], while in Papua New Guinea, they pronounce it
[buhk-oh l]. When we say
laboratory, it is pronounce as [la-bo-ra-to-ri], in Papua New Guinea, they say
it [lab-to-ri]. These different tones,
accents, and pronunciations further vary depending on which province or tribe a
Papua New Guinean originates, hence, a struggle for comprehension.
During our sojourns in Australia, much that we
clashed with language barrier. Language
barriers may be based on speaking different native languages, but it can also
result from differences in regional accents (smallbusiness.chron.com). Australian accent is one of the hardest to
encompass if I may say so, the more when they speak impervious. When we say “Good Day”, we say it [gud dei],
Aussies pronounce it [gud dai]. When we
say “mate”, we utter [meyt], Aussies say it [mayt]. It was a good thing though that my husband is
accustomed to the accent.
CULTURE IN WORKPLACE
Papua New Guinea has a diverse groupings of
persons in workplace in the basis of “race” or
“nationality”. Dissimilar to
other foreign countries where our Overseas Foreign Workers usually seek greener
pastures, most OFWs are on the associate and on a lower-ranking employment
positions. Yet here in Papua New Guinea,
Filipinos are on supervisory if not on managerial positions, and the nationals
or Papua New Guineans are on the subservient or placed on a lower order or
occupation rank. Moreover, Australians
which dominate the number of expatriates here, are customarily designate as the
bosses’ bosses. It is strike in this
order, Papua New Guineans in the rank and file positions, Filipinos as
supervisors and managers, and Australians/New Zealand are the CEOs, COOs, CFOs,
and BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
However, this order varies from corporation to
corporation as more companies require degree holders employees especially the
multinational companies. Majority of
Papua New Guineans are non-degree holders as education in this country is
beyond the affordable costs of education for the nationals. Those who have resources and fundings settle
to study abroad in the neighboring country of Australia, and some in Cebu
Philippines (there is a company here that arrange for study in Cebu). However, most of the nationals finish only up
to high school. And for those who were
not able to make it to state owned and funded universities (only five state
universities all over Papua New Guinea) here because of the cap in numbers of
students to accommodate, concluded to rather take short courses, certificates,
and diplomas. Understandably for this
matter, most Filipinos working abroad are in white collar jobs and degree
holders. Therefore, more opportunities
came to a rise for Filipinos in this country as compare to the locals. Furthermore, Australians being the citizens
of a First World Country, are undispitable to be placed on the highest
corporate positions. Therefore, I
concord that indeed, skin color and race are to be the “cultural social marker”
in an enterprise and institution on its broader sense, that is highly practiced
in this country.
In addition, many Australians opt Filipinos as
counterparts in getting the job done.
Filipinos have knead in excellent customer service, meeting the deadlines,
and determination and wit in workforce.
Papua New Guineans likewise love Filipinos as their bosses. We go on lengths for “pakikisama” purpose, we
are respectful of their behaviours rooted from their culture, be it acceptable
or unacceptable at times. We are sincere
in imparting our knowledge and specialties with the locals. And most of all, we share the same passion
for music. Filipinos introduced the use
of “karaokes” in this country, and the locals are now hooked in using it as
part of their leisure time.
REMINDER
Language barrier will always form part of major
adjustments in a foreign country, be it in Asia or the Pacific. Berardo (2007) concludes that what native
speakers often don't realize is that frequently it is not the other person's accent
but their own way of speaking that creates the greatest barriers to effective
communication.
Hence, Berardo (2007) suggests several
strategies in overcoming language barriers:
1. Speak slowly and clearly.
Focus on clearly enunciating and slowing down
your speech. Even if you’re pressured for time, don’t rush through your communication. Doing so often
takes more time, as miscommunication and misunderstanding can result and you’ll ultimately
have to invest additional time in clearing up the confusion.
2. Ask for
clarification.
If you are not 100% sure you’ve understood
what others say, politely ask for clarification. Avoid assuming you’ve understood
what’s
been said.
3. Frequently check for understanding.
Check both that you’ve understood what’s been said and
that others have fully understood you. Practice reflective listening to check
your own understanding (e.g. 'So what I hear you saying is...') and use
open-ended questions to check other people’s understanding. Ask, 'what's your
understanding of this process?' instead of 'is that clear?'
4. Avoid idioms.
Business language is often contextual, and
therefore culture specific. For example, in the US, base- ball terms are used
extensively: ‘Straight off the Bat,’ ‘Ballpark figures,’ ‘Out in left field,’ ‘Touch base,’ ‘Strike a deal’. As a good general rule, if the phrase requires knowledge of other
information— be it a game or metaphor—recognize that this may make your
communication more difficult to be understood.
5. Be careful of jargon.
Watch the use of TLAs (Three Letter
Abbreviations) and other organizational language that may not be understood by
others. If you use them, provide in parentheses a description of what these are
so others can learn to use the same language you do.
6. Be patient.
Cross-cultural communication takes more time. If
not at all times, certainly initially you cannot expect your communication to
occur with the same speed and ease as when you are communicating with someone
from your own culture.
Don’t worry because overtime, as you get use to
each other’s way of speech. Eventually
you will both learn and gain confidence in exchanging dialogues as a foreign
speaker and a native speaker. All you
have to do is smile and ask again.
CONCLUSION
On a foreign country, like in Australia, where
stories of racial discrimination appears to be terrifying, indeed to a point
that it is true. As we experienced in
the flesh on several occasions the indifferences from them being different
breeds. Even the Australian Aborigines
(black Australians) are not discounted from this act, as they are being
discriminate on their own land by their own race. However, we can never cogitate collectively
that they are all “racist” because clearly, they are not. There are likewise a number of Aussies who
are kind, friendly, and considerate to other races. In the same manner that we as Asians or
Filipinos, shall never be felt looked down upon or singled out.
It is in our culture, that truly, acceptable
as it is, that many white Aussies are domineering and racialist, but again skin
color can never define our individualism.
Filipinos are educated and well-mannered. Evidently, as there are more than 300,000
Filipinos working in Australia. For
times that we encounter Australian bigotry, we just shrug our shoulders off and
move on. We never feel bad at all,
because we know who we are, and these acts of discrimination shall never let us
down. If they think they are
condescending because of their education
well, we are also educated. If they
think they are first-class because they are high-paying individuals, well, my
husband is not by par (hubby is a Filipino by the way). Our only differences are the skin color,
citizenship, country of birth, height, and accent, nevertheless we are “NO
DIFFERENT” from them. This is how we
manage inequity and prejudice whenever we are not in our homeland, we perceive
ourselves as equal when and where it matters.
More so, we make it a point to always impart this kind of mindset to our
kids, as they are uniformly expose to multi-cultural environment in school.
Lastly, it’s interesting to note that culture
can be defined in so many different ways, but they all share a general theme of
knowledge, beliefs, art, law, morals, and customs. On my exposure to different cultures, I
learned that culture determines our roots, tradition, arts, and beliefs, but
never can define our own values, principles, and individual personalities. For values, principles, and personalities are
molded at home, school, environment, and church. Parents role in shaping our individualism is
the underlying most substantial part of culture that are deem to be continued
and developed.
Thus, relatively, “Culture is a system of basic
common values that help shape the behaviour of the people in a given society”.
CITATIONS:
Berardo, K., 2007. Retrieved from
http://www.culturosity.com/pdfs/10%20Strategies%20for%20Overcoming%20Language%20Barriers.pdf
Dr Gabriel
Kulwaum, Adminstrator, Manus Province, PNG
http://www.pngbuai.com/300socialsciences/education/policy/development/kul-devolution-chap1.html
Dr Juliet P. Bagano, Communication and Culture, BSU Open University
CAHILL, Michael, author. 2011. Tonal Diversity in Languages of Papua New Guinea. SIL Electronic Working Papers 2011-008. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
FURTHER READINGS:
http://www.australia.com/en/things-to-do/art-music-culture.html
http://www.everyculture.com/No-Sa/Papua-New-Guinea.html
NOTE:
I wish to add also
that this essay is clearly not about race but about culture, and if there is value
judgment, it is judgment grounded in my own culturally-produced biases
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