There is nothing like a harmless little 'fox pass' to lighten up the environment.
"Fox pass?" you ask.
At work today, I spoke with some colleagues who shared with me the following stories:
 
Here's what Ashok had to say : A French friend of mine, in Chennai for a visit, took it upon herself to learn Tamil, in earnest. She decided to test her prowess at a local store, where she wanted to buy some sweets. She went up to the vendor and asked for 6 "mutti" instead of 6 "muttaai." The man burst out laughing, as did his colleagues.
A single letter can make all the difference.
 
Kirtana said : Indeed! I remember being asked, in my second year of college, if I was a junior or senior. I could have just said 'my second year,' and avoided embarrassment. Instead, I chose to reply, "I'm a so-pho-more." Sure, it isn't incorrect, but for that extra syllable, I suffered being called 'quaint' and 'bookish' by - the Dean of History!!
 
And myself : All so true. I remember traveling in France by the TGV from Paris to Avignon in the South, some years ago. I was feeling thirsty and decided to buy some juice when the man in the train came by with refreshments. When I asked how much the drink was in fluent French, he rattled off in a speed close to the TGV with something that sounded like "deux." which means two in French. Unaware of having missed the ending sound “z”, I confidently gave him two francs. He looked at me like I was from a different planet! Turns out, towards the South of France, certain dialects pronounce "douze" and "deux" almost the same. He meant 12, not 2! You can imagine what this did to my morale especially when I was during that particular trip, representing India as a French scholarship winner!
 
Learning or even speaking a language for your entire life - cannot protect you from the smallest of blunders that can be made when you visit a different country. We all need to pay close attention to the way people speak and the diverse dialects of the same language wherever we travel. Most importantly, we need to learn to laugh at ourselves when we make minor verbal faux pas. I sure did!

small details, Enormous Consequences

After working for the past decade for many multinational companies, I have seen the emergence of "Culture" as a key word to understanding efficiencies and opportunities across borders. Having worked with so many nationalities in the course of my career, "faux pas" have been a common occurrence but we sort of learned as we went along, and shared the bad experiences with colleagues, and hoped they would not be repeated. In the meantime, of course, the danger of loosing a multi-million dollar deal because of a cultural blunder was always looming, though I am happy to say it never happened to me. My sister, however, did report about a major crises at French bank in Tokyo, and the result were disastrous for the company and the person who made the mistake.... It was all about coming 10 minutes late and the idea of loosing face. When I went for my business trips to Japan, I made sure I was 2O minutes early and waited downstairs in a coffee shop. I did calculate that with an elevator trip of 30 seconds, it would be fine if I asked for my bill just 5 minutes before I went up to their office. I also remember a Pakistani parent who refused to enroll his child at an international school, because the principal received him sitting down with his feet up and towards him. The principal considered it to be a sign of casualness and approachability, but the parent considered it to be an insult. Having shared so many stories, and realizing that small details can have such enormous consequences, I started advising people informally until more and more companies were budgeting for cross-cultural training. Culture was no longer just by the way; it became a very real career, and an opportunity to share more stories with a greater impact. Please join me and share your own cultural adventures! » read more | kirtana's blog | add new comment     Multi-cultural Melded Moral Identity I would first like to appreciate that sharing our personal experience is of great value in the learning space. In this perpetually evolving world, where dynamism is the only constant factor, information available to today's children could leave contrasting impressions in their fragile minds. They are in their formative years building the blocks of their value system that may one day become either a mighty skyscraper or a fragile castle of cards. It is worse for children who are part of their parents' travel calendar, which no doubt takes the career of the parent to heights but where does that take the child? Cultural differences in society that children are exposed to at school, at play, in the media – in all forms and in every interaction inside and outside home - leave them confused. The uncanny element is that adults believe in a culture and value that they have grown up with and try hard to instill the same value system in their children irrespective of the geography that they are in, often missing the fact that the cultural references and the value taught may be non-aligned. The not-so-pleasant end is ... Will children of the future, with disappearing geographical borders and melding-cultures be multi-cultural or find themselves with no individual identity??? » read more | kirtana's blog | add new comment     Karma Chameleon Recently, I received an email from a friend in Ecuador who asked me for a few tips about India, including what kind of reading I would suggest for an intermediate spiritual person (not a complete novice), and what kind of cleansing ritual I would suggest to a person to evoke good karma. I'd like to share my response with you. » read more | kirtana's blog | add new comment     Success and Indian-ness Indian Entrepreneurs have long made it to the esteemed Forbes' list of the world's wealthiest. What makes Indian Entrepreneurs so powerful? We asked a group of Indian Business students what they think: » read more | kirtana's blog | 1 comment 12next ›last »