Before I entered NUS, I was holding a temporary job in a charity organisation. One day, I was told that Tom, who is of a French nationality, would be flying down to Singapore to do some voluntary work with us.
Tom stayed with us for about two months. Throughout the two months, I hardly talked to him (because I was very shy). Thankfully, the rest of my colleagues could entertain him or else we would have appeared to be very unhospitable hosts. The only times when I was involved in his conversations would probably be during lunch, where the whole office would usually go for together.
Somehow, the conversation during lunch one day led up to the topic on whether we usually finish the food on our plates. One of the staffs was sharing that as Chinese, we are taught to finish the food on our plates. Although I am brought up in a similar environment where I am taught to finish my food because it comes from hard-earned money and should not be wasted, I am not sure how accurate my colleague's statement is when it is generalised as part of the Chinese culture. With regards to this, I did a Google search. One of the websites indicates that finishing all the food on your plate is considered rude because it shows that insufficient food was served to you and that you want more. However, another website, which contains information on Chinese dining etiquette, mentions that there is no strict rules about finishing all the food on your plate. Hence, I am not exactly sure which accruately describes Chinese culture.
Back to the conversation with my colleagues, Tom shared that in France, people will leave some of their food behind to indicate that they enjoy their meal. To finish all their food would appear to be somewhat rude. I tried to do a Google search to get more extensive research on this. However, I could not get any search result. Instead, I discovered a website stating instructions on how to follow French table manners. It did not mention anything about finishing the food on your plate.
This short conversation made me more aware that different cultures will have different dining etiquettes. If I were to go over to France one day, I will need to take note of their cultural etiquettes and try my best to conform to them if I want to be considered as part of them. Even among my Chinese counterparts, we may have differing views over a particular cultural issue. In this case, it is whether or not finishing the food on our plates is considered rude. Hence, the safest thing to do is to understand your counterpart well, observe how she goes about managing her food and follow suit.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that there may be a certain set of cultural ettiquettes used to describe a certain culture, which we can easily do a Google search on to find out more. However, people will differ, and so will their opinions on their own cultural ettiquetes. Some people may not adhere so strictly to their set of cultural etiquettes while others may choose to do so. Thus, understanding your fellow counterpart, whom you will be establishing a long term partnership/relationship is also crucial in order to understand and adapt to his/her cultural behaviour.
On the point of understanding your fellow counterpart, communication is neccessary in order to forge a personal bond and mutual understanding. If i were to continue to be so shy, both me and my counterparts will definitely feel very awkward, especially if either of us is in the foreign environment. Guess it is time for me to step out and be less shy!
