The
following questions were asked:
1) Anbura, what did you think of the Leba?
2) Leba, what did
you think of the Anbura? (For answers see table below)
Anbura opinions of Leba |
Leba opinions of Anbura |
Friendly,
sociable, cheerful, active, open-minded*, no hesitation, * After hearing the Leba
description, some Anbura thought that the Leba were not necessarily open-minded. The reason for
this is that Leba do not consider that some
foreigners might be uncomfortable shaking hands. |
Negative*, unsociable*, shy, formal, unfriendly*,
passive *After
hearing the Anbura description, some Leba thought that the Anbura were
not necessarily unfriendly; Anbura do socialize
when the conditions are right. |
Each
culture read their descriptions to each other, afterwards, I asked
3) Have your opinions changed about the
other culture after learning more about it? (For Answers see Table Above)
4) How can we avoid such misunderstandings?
Many people think that their “way of doing things” is natural. For the Leba, it is natural for girls to shake hands with as many foreign boys as possible. For the Anbura, since Anbura boys are week, it is natural for boys only to socialize with foreign girls with an Anbura girl as an intermediary. If both sides think that their way of girl/ foreign boy fraternizing is the natural way of doing things and don’t consider that other cultures might have other customs, this will lead to misunderstandings. Thus, we concluded that one such way to avoid a misunderstanding was keep an open-mind.