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.