Full name: Bi Thin Sao

Class: 10E4
Semester 7
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION I
END-OF-TERM ASSIGNMENT
Material analysis
Source of communication: a post by Dr. Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa on her website.
Nguyen, T. P. H. (2013). Nhm Dn v Bnh Dn. Retrieved December 16
th
, 2013 from
http://www.phuonghoa.edu.vn/bai-viet-cua-toi/669-nham-dan-va-binh-dan
Cultural patterns and many different elements and dimensions included in the term
diverse across countries, communities and individuals all over the world. This analysis
provides an insight into some manifestations of cultural pattern of a person who has
experienced considerable changes in her living places and living environment. Material for
this paper is a post by Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa on her website and this post told about the
authors daughter.
On the occasion of her daughters wedding, Mrs. Phuong Hoa wrote a with quite a
fierce pride. This text can be considered as a narrative reflecting the writers memory for her
daughter, Ha Thu. In the note, the writer recalled many events from the past days her
daughters childhood, to recent days her daughters wedding, characterizing Ha Thu as a
brilliant, determined and special girl and, furthermore, a perfectionist as well. When Ha Thu
was only a little girl, she was seen as a clever but quite wayward child rather than an obedient
and innocent one. That little girl fought against some female neighbors jokes on her
mother, Mrs. Phuong Hoa, argued with the judges of a competition for children where she
was a contestant, and even objected to her teachers ridiculous punishment at the kindergarten.
When she was five years old, her family traveled abroad to Germany and lived there for years.
The small girl this time had to look after her brother, taking him to the nursing school, going
to school, buying food and helping to cook because her parents were busy working hard for
their living. About five years later, Ha Thu came back to Vietnam with a lack of Vietnamese
competence. Having studied hard with a great effort, she was admitted to a secondary school.
Then, at grade seven, Ha Thu even successfully ran a student newspaper despite some bad
gossips that she only wanted to show off at first. Additionally, Ha Thu keeps a habit of
planning her work hourly, recording her spend daily and arranging travels for relaxation so
meticulously that others only have to follow her. After high school in Vietnam, Ha Thu
studied abroad in Germany again. The young girl also asked his parents not to interfere with
her decision on marriage in the future. This has come true when this year Mrs. Hoa and her
husband were invited to their daughters wedding, which the bride and groom perfectly
prepared by themselves from A to Z.
In terms of cultural pattern analysis, this paper would like to emphasize on two
elements and two dimensions namely social relation orientation, self orientation, in-group
collectivism, and future orientation.
Full name: Bi Thin Sao
Class: 10E4
Semester 7
In the first place, this paper would enlighten briefly about the concepts discussed.
According to Lusting and Koester (2009), cultural patterns are share belief, values, norms,
and social practices that are stable overtime and that lead to roughly similar behaviors across
similar situations. Cultural patterns differ from regions to regions as well. Two elements of
cultural patterns mentioned here are social relation orientation and self orientation. While the
former refers to the way the people in a particular culture locate themselves in the
relationships with others, the latter means how an individual identify himself, what makes
him act, how changeable the self is and what types of people are appreciated (Lusting &
Koester, 2009). Additionally, this paper also uses two GLOBE dimensions of cultural
patterns to analyze the text. In-group collectivism and future orientation respectively refer to
the extent to which people show pride and the tie in their family and the extent to which
individuals get involved in future-oriented behaviors (Lusting & Koester, 2009).
Regarding the first element, social relation orientation, Ha Thu prefers equality,
directness and independence. She dared to raise her voice to argue with the judges and
refused to continue the competition even she had had to wait a long time till 1.00pm to her
turn. The little girl said that 1.00 pm was time for childrens nap rather than competition.
Moreover, in another occasion, Ha Thu also objected directly to her teacher punishment
because she supposed she did not deserve that unreasonable penalty. She seemed to think that
she did not have to obey or follow wrong things which were even said by adults. When
growing up, the young girl and her groom arranged the weeding on their own without asking
their parents for helps. Obviously, they are not dependent much on their family. In fact, Ha
Thu can be considered an exception in Vietnams culture, and it seems that years in Germany
also had strengthened her independence.
Going along with social relation orientation is self orientation, in which Ha Thu has
shown as an individual forming her identity by herself and relying on herself too. This can be
seen by Ha Thus running her own newspaper, and staying strong in spite of others gossips.
By this she made herself different. Moreover, her self reliance could be revealed: she refused
the offer to carry stuffs for her, making her own decision on her marriage and not allowing
her parents to worry about or influence her love affair. Apparently, she behaved more like an
independent German person although she is Vietnamese.
The third aspect to mention in this analysis is in-group collectivism. Clearly, people in
Mrs. Hoas family express great pride and cohesiveness with one another. Ha Thu denied her
neighbors jokes on her mother. While some women tried to say that Mrs. Hoa was too fat,
the little girl disagreed loudly by shouting that her mother was as beautiful as a princess.
After that, she told Mrs. Hoa she just had said that to help her mother and she totally knew
that her mother was as big as a closet. Moreover, the loyalty and the love for the family can
be concluded from what the small child had done to give her parents a hand when they were
making effort to earn the living abroad. About Mrs. Hoa, her pride for what her girl has done
was expressed visibly through the note she posted. The strong family membership and close
bond in family were explicit here, which means they are high in in-group collectivism. At this
dimension, Vietnamese culture seems to dominate.
Full name: Bi Thin Sao
Class: 10E4
Semester 7
Last but not least, on the scale for future orientation dimension, Ha Thu seems to be
high. The manifestation is that she has had a habit of planning and preparing everything
carefully since her secondary school. Her study and her work are scheduled in detail, her
spend is written down day by day and even her relaxation or travels are developed
specifically beforehand. In addition, in the note, Mrs. Hoa also revealed that her daughter had
saved money earned from selling her own newspaper, tutoring others, etc and then spent them
on her studying abroad. Saving for later is an expression of Ha Thus high future orientation.
In general, living in both Vietnam and Germany partly makes up and strenthens Ha
Thus characteristics. With regards to two elements namely social relation orientation and
self orientation, she could be an exception in her nations culture; however, some of
Vietnamese culture could be found in her high in-group collectivism. Lastly, her over-
carefulness in making plans and her preference to arrange events, her wedding in particular,
on her own show us a perfectionist. Therefore, it should be bear in mind that cultural patterns
of the region an individual live in could influence him or her; however, every element and
dimension of culture patterns vary and diverse among members in the same group or region.
In conclusion, by the element of social relation orientation, Ha Thu is a person
striving for equality, directness and independence; by the element of self orientation, she is a
self-reliant girl; by the dimension of in-group collectivism, Ha Thu and Mrs. Hoas family are
high; and Ha Thu is high in future orientation. Obviously, the culture patterns of living
environment have an impact on the way people communicate and behave. Furthermore, the
differences could exist not only among groups but also among members of one.
Reference:
Lustig M. W. & Koester J. (2009). Intercultural competence. 6
th
ed. Allyn & Bacon.